During drip irrigation training at UNIKIN experimental station, new technology was introduced.
The training of University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN) agricultural technicians at the UNIKIN farm has received notice. In June 2024, University of Maryland Eastern Shore faculty and staff — including Drs. Nadine Burton, Simon Zebelo and Stephan Tubene — trained UNIKIN agricultural technicians on plasticulture and drip irrigation systems.
Plasticulture, a mulch used to cover the soil before planting a crop, is an efficient technique for weed control and moisture retention while ensuring water is brought to crops through drip irrigation. On the UNIKIN farm hills, a newly plowed piece of land was utilized by UMES scientists to introduce the plasticulture technology to UNIKIN, considering the hilly land and following the topographic contour lines.
In January 2025, upon their return to the UNIKIN farm, Drs. Caleb Nindo, also of UMES, and Tubene discovered major changes implemented by the farm manager, Dr. Mafwuila, and his team of agricultural technicians.
These changes included establishing an irrigation system, the plasticulture and a related drip irrigation system at the UNIKIN farm as the basis for training Ndjili Brasserie’s smallholder farmers, who primarily grow vegetables for the Kinshasa market.
This ingenuity was inspired by the training they received the prior year from UMES scientists. Twenty farmers from the Ndjili Brasserie area surrounding the UNIKIN farm have been trained at the farm on the best cultural practices, including crop plant spacing, grass mulching and comparative analyses of different crop systems.
Nindo and Tubene also used the farm facility to train farmers on various technologies and processes, such as crop rotation, legume inclusion in the cropping system and postharvest technologies.
Ndjili Brasserie’s farmers were knowledgeable of the improved agricultural practices learned at previous training sessions.
Clockwise from top left: Dr. Caleb Nindo of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore looks over the UNIKIN experimental station implemented technology. Dr. Caleb Nindo, second from right, and Dr. Stephan Tubene, right, check out the UNIKIN experimental station implemented the new technology of plasticulture for training. During drip irrigation training at UNIKIN experimental station, new technology was introduced. Posing for a photo are farmers trained on seedlings reproduction, plant and animal pests, and diseases management, water management, postharvest and food processing at the UNIKIN experimental station.
