With simple means, agricultural cultivation methods and local livestock farming can be improved and made more profitable. 

This project by ATU Uganda shows that living conditions can be through a more productive and sustainable agricultural strategy, based on methods of Organic Agriculture and Conservation Agriculture (CA), using no synthetic pesticides. Another positive side effect is that it empowers young people, women and men in the Masindi region.

Project Visit

From 14th-18th May 2018, our Margriet Samwel-Mantingh visited the Appropriate Technologies Uganda (ATU) project in Masindi. Together with the project partners and a representative of St. Joseph Farm, an exchange was organised with eight of the 20 communal peasant groups. After initial coordination difficulties, the composition of the peasant groups has now stabilized and the project objectives are known to the participants and have been internalized.

The groups visited reported on the various training sessions that have been successfully completed and helped to initiate change. The demonstration objectives were shown in terms of conservation agriculture (CA), kitchen gardening (small scale cultivation of vegetables), the establishment of seedbeds and the production of organic fertilizer.

The farmers will continue to receive training on: how to build chicken and pigsties with locally available resources, and how to ensure and implement a healthy animal husbandry. At St. Joseph Farm, the breeding of pigs and sustainable, productive chicken farming has begun. Demonstration fields with sustainable cultivation of potatoes, corn, beans, kasave and pineapple are also accessible to visitors. Also, the cultivation of vegetables on a small area was demonstrated (Kitchen Gardening), which  is especially important for landless families.

Unavailable transport

For the farmers, the transport of the products is a problem; the unpaved roads are poorly preserved and often very narrow. Means of transport such as a cart or a car or bicycle are unavailable. There are no horses, donkeys or equipment to facilitate the work of the farmers. Some villagers are landless and therefore unable to grow many products, but could improve their livelihood by, for example, keeping chickens.

Project Outlook 

In the Masindi region, the soil is fertile and many agricultural products could be grown profitably, there is also a growing market for pigs and chickens in Uganda, therefore, the project team is confident that there are good opportunities for improving farmers’ living conditions. However, for the local partners and agricultural experts, the existing time frame is extremely short to successfully implement the project.