Report on Foundations for Farming Training Undertaken in May

Nawanyago-Village, Kamuli District, Uganda

Training

The training was conducted at Nawanyago for two days beginning on the 14th May 2021.

The training was attended by 30 farmers from the village of Nawanyago. The farmers, which mainly consisted of women as the major supporters of families in this village, greatly appreciated the training and confirmed it was the first training of the kind received in the area and are committed to seriously put into practice the knowledge acquired.

The farmers were served with breakfast and lunch for the two days of training.

Besides the food, the farmers were provided with farm inputs which consisted of tools and vegetable seeds. The tools consisted of hoes, of which each farmer was provided with a hoe at the end of the training, and each provided with seeds which consisted of cabbage, tomatoes and green or sweet pepper. These inputs will inexcusably involve each farmer that attended the training to participate in individual or group farming as will be decided by the farmers who promised to form a group to promote the practice of Foundations for Farming principles and practice.

Challenges

The farmers deeply wish the program to continue under close monitoring by the ministry. However, the ministry does not have the resources to do so without the help of Bright Hope World. One time training without follow-up supervision can cause farmers to lose interest in the practice. If the ministry and BHW are to realize the objectives of the training and empowerment of the farmers then follow-up needs to be done.

The training was conducted using both video and lecture method. The video which was run for the introduction lesson unfortunately could not run for the other lessons as the CD was spoiled or corrupted possibly by bad copying. Better copies of the video are needed and the pocket projector was ruined. Also, this version does not run on Bluetooth so as to use Bluetooth speakers.

Way Forward

There is a need for regular supervision of the activities of the farmers in relation to the practice of the farming practices taught (Foundations for Farming) and to be encouraged to visit gardens of colleagues through organized field visits before harvesting of their produce.

There is a need for a better video that runs all the lessons and Bluetooth speakers that may not need electricity.

For the practice to run, there is need for a volunteer extension worker to monitor the farmers. This can be facilitated with a one time bicycle, gumboots, a rain coat and file.

The next training will be at the refugee settlement of Bidibidi, the world’s largest refugee settlement in the world.

Thank you so much for supporting the training. The farmers greatly appreciated the training and are willing to form themselves into a group immediately to put into practice the acquired knowledge working together towards development.

Bidibidi Refugee Camp 

Introduction

The training took place on the 28th and 29th May 2021. The journey from Jinja was planned so that we arrived in Yumbe, the district that hosts the refugees, on 26th May so that on the 27th May we could have a meeting with the extension workers which we had representing Foundations for Farming in Bidibidi. We had earlier trained several refugees in 2017 and 2018 on Foundations for Farming with participants picked from each of the refugees camps. Bright Hope World financed this training alongside Trauma Counseling and Healing training (SUD05) following consecutive ethnic conflicts in the camps as a result of an influx of refugees from South Sudan. The training for Foundations for Farming was a workshop resulting in each camp having a FfF representative. Meanwhile the Trauma Counseling and Healing workshops has resulted in peaceful relationships among the different refugee tribes to this day.

Although we had planned to have the training of 30 farmers in one venue, we realized we have two extension workers in Bidibidi (volunteer extension workers for Foundations for Farming) namely Rev. Obadiah Batali (Episcopal Church of South Sudan) and Pastor Isaiah Dada (Charismatic Church). The 30 farmers were therefore split into groups of 15 with the training running concurrently in two zones.

Training

I had to commute a distance of 12 kms between the two zones taking lessons along with the two volunteers, each teaching in his own zone, i.e. Rev. Obadiah Batali teaching in zone one and Pastor Isaiah Dada teaching 15 farmers in zone three.

The training went smoothly and the farmers were each given a certificate of attendance, a hoe and vegetable seeds that comprised of tomatoes, cabbages and green pepper. The farmers promised to make use of the inputs and put into practice what was taught. They thanked Bright Hope World for the support of extending training and giving them inputs to use for planting gardens. They said they have never been given any hoes in the camp and to get a hoe would require selling a portion of their food ration which would mean they miss food for two weeks in order to buy a hoe plus seeds. The farmers were so thankful and requested that they be visited and be encouraged in such a way.

They were so touched and moved by the insightful teaching on alley cropping (agroforestry) which has greater economic benefits as trees generate a lot of money, especially in the future when they return and embark on planting crops alongside trees. While teaching on alley cropping I explained widely how pine trees are fetching lots of money among tree growers. Further more, to a smaller extent by practicing alley cropping they improve the environment, especially in the refugee camps where trees have been destroyed they play a greater role in afforestation alongside providing firewood for their families and fodder for their animals. We encouraged them and promised to find them the relevant tree species that can easily produce firewood and fodder for the family and animals. This we will check with the Uganda tree seeds project at Namanve for them to raise a nursery bed and each take a few to plant a 6m by 6m plot for the said purpose.

Refugees Food and Life in the Camp

Refugees have a reduced food ration of about 5 kgs of maize (not flour) per person per month. The camp village representative who was invited to the training revealed that at their last meeting with the camp authorities it was decided that the refugees will be given hard cash to purchase food which in this case is about US$10 per person per month. This therefore necessitates refugees finding means through engagement in agriculture to substitute their food and improve on their income.

The camp representative was grateful for the training especially on learning that there will be tools and seeds offered to the farmers - a rare thing happening in the camps.

He urged that the youth be availed with educational opportunities in terms of increased scholarships after hearing the testimonies of the students supported by Bright Hope World in the camps (UGA04c).

Challenges

Transport between the camp and the nearest town where we stayed is expensive. The camp does not have facilities for accommodation so we had to travel back to Yumbe at the end of each day hiking the prices of guest houses with rents per night ranging between US$60-US$100 per night. Cheaper accommodations are risky and visited by drunkards, drug addicts etc.

Transport from Yumbe to the camp is about US$60 per special hire roundtrip. This varies from one place to another.

Farmers have asked for regular visits to motivate them to hard work.

Way Forward

There is a need for regular supervision of the farmers' field practices once in two or three months.

The next training will be at Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement in Arua district about 600 kms from Kampala in Westnile. This will continue one after another in different camps covering 7 refugee settlements.

Comments

In all we are so grateful and by the time they get trained all the camps greater achievement will have been attained as they promise to greatly involve themselves in serious planting.

After we trained Pastor Isaiah he did plant a Foundations for Farming garden by his home and impressed some organizations dealing in agricultural activities such that they offered him a gift of a brand new phone that would have cost him $200 and a solar charger.