The corn looked very lush, they do use fertilizer as the soil nutrients are depleted. When the corn is ready to harvest it is chopped down by machete and left on the field till the stalks are dry. Then the corn ears and husks are separated. All corn grain is used for human consumption, but all left over plant matter is fed to cows.
The onion production was interesting as we were able to see the use of irrigation. Seedlings are produced from onion seed (collected from their own onions) in 3 weeks. In the picture you see water flooding the seedling beds. These seedlings are then transferred to the main fields and planted 5cm apart to allow the bulb room to grow. When the bulbs are harvested they are kept in a shed until they are sold, often to Nairobo, Kenya. The workers get paid between 1 and 2 dollars a day. Everything is done by hand except the plowing of the fields which is done using a tractor or oxen. Very labour intense!!
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