We were based at an Agriculture College, which delivers residential training to young farmers on all aspects of farming. As well as basic courses in sustainable agriculture they also offer courses in livestock management, farming as a business and bee keeping.
A huge percentage of Ugandan people rely on subsistence farming to support themselves and their families. A lot of the farming knowledge that would normally be passed from generation to generation was lost in Northern Uganda when families were broken up during the 20 year conflict. The partners I work with are trying to replace this knowledge with training, both in groups and on site. They also provide some seeds and other inputs but the intention is always as a boost to start people, not so they become reliant on the hand outs.
Another challenge is climate change. Farmers say that the weather patterns are changing noticeably here in Uganda with the rainy seasons starting and finishing later. They are noticing dry spells when there should be rain and then heavy rain which washes everything away.
We started with a tour of the college looking at the information about soil analysis, lots of different crops, the bee keeping training area and the livestock area.
Upland rice, nearly ready for harvesting
A row of pineapple plants
Cotton
The new chicken house - these really are organic free range chickens!
On the second day we went on a trip to a nearby village to hear first hand from the farmers. Most of the group travelled on the tractor and trailer but they insisted I went in the 4*4 car!
The village meeting tree!
It was great to talk to the villagers. Most of the men had only a few words of English and the women spoke no English at all so it was good to have an interpreter. It was shocking to see the women sat on the dirt floor behind the men sitting on the chairs, with the one exception of a female spokesperson. All the women could see was a row of backs! We tried to get the view of the women but they were too shy to speak. Most of the work seems to be done by the women, including guarding the crops against the frequent raids by a nearby troupe of baboons. This makes it difficult for the women to participate in the monthly village planning meetings as they have to be with the crops. Although one of the men explained that he did guard the crops if the woman was sick or away from the village! So still some work to do on gender main-streaming then!
On the final day we heard the initial findings of a botanical study of the area commissioned by my placement organisation. We heard about the many plant species in the area, including 4 on the global list of threatened plants. The most important plants for the local economy are shea nuts, mangoes and avocados. But many of the trees are threatened with 80% less woodland than there was in 2000. The main reasons are clearing woodland for agricultural land, fuel for cooking and tobacco curing and charcoal burning. These people need to make a living but if a way to stop the deforestation isn't found soon then these trees that are so important for their livelihoods will be lost.
On Friday morning we packed our bags to head back to the main road and a network signal so we could catch up with work, friends and family. The college location has virtually no internet signal and a very limited phone signal so we were looking forward to getting back in touch with the world. However, first we had to negotiate the mud road, which, with the heavy rains while we were at the college, had become nearly impassible. The shortest route to the main road couldn't be used, even by a 4*4 vehicle so we had to go an extra 20 km around. I was very glad I didn't have to drive!
What would you pay for a 4 wheel drive experience like this in the UK?
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