In preparation for establishing a coffee seedling raising project at Suubi Secondary School, 20 of our students attended a two-day soil preparation and potting skills training at St. Jude Agroforestry Training College in Busense, on September 5th and 6th.
The beginning of the session saw students briefed, by an experienced St Jude staff member, about the skills required to successfully pot seedlings.
The importance of using good quality, composted soil in the pots was highlighted. Students were soon busy collecting the right type of soil.
This was then put through a sieve to make sure the soil is open and aerated so the small seedling can easily establish their roots once potted.
Next, small plastic tubes were filled with soil and a seedling was placed in each tube.
By the end of the training a large quantity of seedlings had been potted by Suubi students. Although this was quite time consuming it will be very satisfying to watch as the seedling grow in readiness for transplanting into the ground.
Earlier in August the Suubi students had worked side by side with Setem volunteers, from Catalonia, to start setting up the coffee seedling shade house at the school.
Setem volunteers and the Suubi students worked side by side to level out the ground where the coffee seedling shade house would be placed.
Although a pick and hoe is not something the Setem girls are used to using back home in Barcelona, they soon got the hang of it.
By the end of the day the ground was level and holes had been dug to put the support poles for the structure into the ground.
Shortly after this the Setem volunteers left and the students broke off for second semester holidays. With students recently returning to school this project is now expected to kick on.
Students have been busy completing the structure and covering it with palm fronds so the seedling will be protected from the sunlight.
The next step with be for papyrus mats to be added for exterior walls before potting gets underway in ernest.
Teachers and students, with guidance from Deo who is part of the original Suubi Centre Coffee project, will be steering this project. Once it is properly established, it will not only be a great resource where coffee seedling raising skills can be passed on to participating students, but it will also become one of the sources of income to sustain Suubi Secondary School in the future.
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