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The 2021 Foundations for Farming (FfF) training among refugees, mainly from South Sudan, and locals was successful in the camps and locals in the village of Nawanyago.
The farmers had farming inputs distributed to enable them to practice what was trained. About 210 refugees and 40 locals were trained in seven refugee camps and one local village.
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New innovations often receive many challenges because some are not willing to adapt or to make the mindset changes to be successful. The FfF method of farming has been adapted by some of the farmers in the refugee camps and the locals. However, the greatest challenge is that many areas lack grass for mulching. Other areas have more than enough grass to be used as mulch. The shortage of grass for mulch has caused some farmers to continue practicing conventional farming methods because they see the challenges of looking for grass as being too much. Although some farmers try to buy grass to use as mulch, it becomes expensive and the farmer at the end of the day may work at a loss.
Refugees cannot easily access the lands of the locals for grass and have to pay the locals in order to access the swampy areas for grass.
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The need to promote the practice of Foundations for Farming requires the formulation of group farming which requires initial capital for inputs and land hire.
This encourages the farmers to use the principles they have learnt when they all gather at the same land, work on it, market the produce as a group, and share the profits while maintaining the capital which is monitored by Life Gospel Ministries.
Refugees who work in groups have been able to harvest good crops and made good sales in the camps.
Rev Isaiah Dada, one of our Foundations for Farming programme volunteer extension workers, heads a group at Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in Yoyo 3 zone and they had a great yield of maize and beans which they in turn sold to some of the NGOs working in the camps. The group received some support from an outside donor.
Supporting farmers in groups works better than letting farmers work individually as at the end they reap no profit. Therefore, regular training of farmers should be strengthened by supporting groups to encourage the practice of Foundations for Farming.
Also, some of the areas of Foundations for Farming requires in-depth separate training, such as thermal compost and chicken soup, to enable trainees to practically witness the change related to the process of obtaining the finished product.
The support for the refugee's programme requires steady funding as partners are approved on a stable funding of programmes. Irregular funding affects continuity of rendering services in the refugee camps.
The rains have begun and there is presently no active programme related to Foundations for Farming. Any training /travel requires finances. In Uganda there are two seasons and support needs to be along these lines for each season.