The wells closer to the village dry out and farmers will queue up in the evening, sleeping next to the wells in order to get the water that seeps through during the night. Nurseries would exhaust the limited water resources even further, so the farmers at Dalli don't even consider nurseries a possibility. They have been given nursery plants from other projects before, but the farmers say these plants die at the end of the rainy season unlike the plants they have direct seeded. Now they say that they don't believe in nursery plants anymore even when other projects having access to adequate water supply give them the plants. Direct seeding is inexpensive compared with other methods, especially when it is carried out by farmers themselves.
Perennials provide a permanent vegetation cover and annuals can be intercropped.
Perennials have the distinct advantage of providing food in drought years when the annual crops fail. In order for seeds of a species to be made available to farmers it must first be screened through a direct seeding test at Eden's field station. See work accomplished . See Farmers' Comments . See work accomplished .