Report from BHW Team Following Visit

Key people:
Alex Minge - pastor
Vincent – trained in FFF
Naphtali – assistant pastor
Sam – pastor, son of the pastor at Nakudi Village

Jerry Field and Kevin Honore visited for two days on the 3rd and 4th of August 2024. We also met with the team again on the 9th of August for more discussions. In the village we visited several of the farmers who were trained. Those that remain engaged are very positive about the programme and want to see it continue. 

Context

In 2022 three BHW team members met the Choice Baptist team in Kampala after BHW's new partnership facilitator had been communicating with Alex Minge throughout the Covid period. They attended church on Sunday and met with the team for initial discussions. The BHW team was impressed by the calibre and vision of the Choice Baptist leaders. Two of them were invited to attend a later gathering in October 2022 held in Jinja, Uganda.

After these interactions it was decided that we would fund some Foundations for Farming training. US$2,571 was sent in June 2023 and the same amount was sent again in December. This funding was used to train 60 farmers in the Nakudi village community. They had already done research in this area as they were wanting to do agricultural training before they found out about Foundations for Farming and Bright Hope World.

The purpose of this visit with Kevin and Jerry was to assess the impact of that training and discuss with them their plans for the future. 

Background

Vincent was initially trained in Foundations for Farming in 2012, funded by Tear Fund. He received follow up training in 2015.

The area where they did that training has a lot of intensive farming, most people survive through farming. They say they have seen a steady decline in the soil in that area with a lot of deforestation, excessive tillage and burning fields off to clear them. All of these have contributed to the destruction of the soil structure. They have seen the appearance of a weed they called “Oluyongo” or Striga, which they know as a sign of soil depletion and infertility. There is virtually no use of fertilizer or lime in traditional farming as the farmers don’t have access to the products or cannot afford them. 

There are normally two rainy seasons in the area, the shorter one from February to April, and then the main season September to January. The dry season is from May through to August. Last year the longer season extended right through until January, which confused the local farmers. 

Recent Events

Training and Follow-Ups

The group have been training and following up in two villages, Nakudi and Bunjwanga, which are about four to six hours drive east from Kampala near the Busia border with Kenya. The father of Sam, Daniel Ouma Oguma, is the head pastor of the local church in Nakudi village which is why they are targeting this area.

They initially trained 60 people in these two villages. After the initial training they visited monthly for a few months, but now are visiting every three months. The main points trained were the use of mulch and having a smaller area planted but doing it at a high standard.

To help villagers see the potential in Foundations for Farming they made some small 20m x 10m farming plots. Here they planted maize, cassava, beans and sikumawiki a local brassica vegetable.

The training provided to the farmers focused heavily on the mulching of the fields. Overall, we saw some very well mulched fields. There was a concern over some comments from farmers that the mulching was the end of the farming process, but the idea was that the use of a hoe to dig, and even dig to remove weeds was removed, so work was easier. 

Of the initial 60 trained in the two villages, now around 35 have carried on trying to do the methods. The drop in numbers is due to the thinking of those farmers. 

Overall, the group was a little frustrated by the lack of uptake by most farmers who were trained. They are realizing that traditional mindsets have been keeping people from introducing the Foundations for Farming techniques. Some of the mindsets they are struggling with are:
• Seeing the potential of greater yield out of a smaller area.
• Having the vision that they can achieve an increase in yield.
• Funerals take too much time so they cannot work in the fields.
• Being convinced that change is a good thing.
• If they missed one or two training sessions that they would be removed from the programme, because that is what government training programmes do.
• How can I find enough mulch to cover 1 acre of my farm?
• An old saying “You don’t count your cattle if you want them to grow”. Meaning measuring your field and yields is a bad thing, re a superstition that if you do the result will not be good.  

Livestock

A livestock programme has been established with a pair of rabbits given to each trainee. The purpose of this is to provide meat for families, plus an income, and also access to manure to help with farming inputs. There have been some issues with this programme, with many unexplained deaths of rabbits. Also, thieves have taken to stealing rabbits. However, from the initial pair given, because they reproduce, most people still have many rabbits in the hutches.

The team is looking at how to engage some local expertise in rabbit farming and to understand why some of the rabbits are dying. Their plan is to get a local farmer trained to have an expert on hand to help the farmers. 

Cassava

An improved variety of cassava has also been introduced to try and help farmers. These cassava stalks were given to the farmers at a late stage in the season, due to the group being a bit confused by the unusual rainy season that came. Many farmers only planted the stalks from March to May, which is just prior to the dry season. This has caused some of the stalks to fail in germination. 

Callandra Trees

These trees have been provided for the farmers to plant to help with the environment of the area. They are a legume thus add nitrogen to the soil and could provide a valuable resource in the future.

Personal Stories

Daniel Ouma Oguma

The local head pastor was part of the Foundations for Farming training programme. He planted some plots of maize, cassava and eggplant. His maize plot was 6m x 8m and yielded 25kg from the area, which is equivalent to 5.2 ton to the hectare - a great result! He used mulch, potholes and raw cow manure to grow the crop, but no top dressings.

The cassava he planted managed to grow well because of the mulch which retained the water. After just five months’ growth you can see the difference from the neighbour’s crop which is over a year old.

He then got hold of some eggplant seed which he is growing and selling to local marketeers which is giving him an income of 30,000 shillings per week (US$8.20).

His rabbits are doing ok. Despite some deaths and theft, he has over ten remaining from the initial pair that was given to him.

Nerema Beatrice Onyango

Beatrice planted some cassava in March, with some very good mulch.  She says the stems came to her very late, so some did not germinate. She likes the concept of mulch because it is hard work just for a short time all at once, then she is done. She does weed, without a hoe, just pulling them out by hand if she sees them. Her field is 16m x 21m. She planted the cassava stalks at 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet but didn’t use anything to measure, just estimated. She plans to keep adding to the size of the field by adding more mulch.

Constant Mugeni

Constant was very interested in the training but wanted to try many different options to prove to himself what was the truth. He planted the provided cassava sticks in four ways:
• Un-mulched, no manure, traditional method
• Mulched only
• Manure only
• Mulched and manure

Currently, although he says after planting there has been very little rain, there is a significant improvement in the patch where he planted using mulch and manure, so he is seeing the benefits of the training he received.

He also planted maize. He planted 196 seeds and yielded 21 kilograms, which he measured with scales. This calculates to 5.8 ton per hectare equivalent, which is a very good result. He used mulch and cow dung in the potholes to achieve this yield.

The rabbit pair he received has been a challenge. He has experienced deaths and theft. One pregnant female died when she was about to give birth to a litter. His biggest challenge is where to sell the rabbits, as he says the local villagers do not eat rabbit meat. The team encouraged him that there are markets for the meat, and they will help the locals achieve that in the future.

Paul Wandera

Paul comes from Bunjumnga village. His plot is on the side of the main road into the area.

Paul has seen benefits from the rabbit pair that he was empowered with. He has set up a system to collect the rabbit urine. He has many bottles stored but currently isn’t sure what to do with them. He was thinking of just sell them, but no one else in the community knew what to do either. We encouraged him to dilute 10 parts water to 1 part urine and apply to the base of plants.

He has also followed the training methods to make some compost manure. He dug three holes, 2.5 feet deep. In the first hole he collected animal manure and grass and leaves. After three weeks he put the material from the first hole into the second hole, and then started to fill the first hole again. After another three weeks he repeated the process into the third hole. In total the material will be composed for 9 weeks. Paul says he is unsure how to use the finished compost. He dug holes because that is what they trained him, and it helps to precent animals scratching and spreading the compost around.

He has used the techniques to plant tomato plants and maize. His tomatoes are planted in a covered area, with just two plants to start with as he wanted to try the Foundations for Farming methods in a small way. He is very happy with the result thus far and will be harvesting soon.

The maize he planted, he just used potholes and mulch. From an area 6m x 12m he harvested 45 kilograms that he weighed. This is 6.25 ton to the hectare equivalent - a great result especially since no compost, fertilizer or top dressing was added. The soil here still has fertility! 

We encouraged him to apply his compost manure at a rate of one cup per pothole, and then to apply the rabbit urine at 10:1 dilution rate as top dressing once per week the next time he plants.

Partnership's Influence within the Community

The local church has faced some challenges in the last few years. This time last year the church was closed. Three years ago, they had nearly managed to complete a brick structure for the church, but an earthquake came and destroyed the whole thing. Then another local church engaged with a very bad man as a pastor and caused havoc in the community. 

Now the locals have managed to restart the church. A simple structure has been built and a vibrant church meets each Sunday. Daniel is the head pastor and is helped by two young men, Sandy Evans the assistant pastor and Samuel Wandera the secretary. They say that the FFF programme has been the cause of the church re-establishment.  

Plans for the Future

They have been asked to look at the programme for the next two to three years and make a plan. They should focus on going much deeper with the 35 farmers who have stayed with the programme to get them to a higher standard which will then demonstrate to the community what can be achieved. They are good people with a vision to see this community transformed. They have made a good start, and we would recommend that we continue to support their programme. 

We will get a budget from them with the plan they develop

Comments

They seemed a little discouraged with the progress of the farmers so far, but this has been a great start from what we saw. We encouraged them with what they have started and the results so far. It seemed they were very much emphasizing mulch as the key, which we explained was only one of the key elements of Foundations for Farming. Some of the methods that they taught are a little out of date, re the composting in holes, and they could focus more on the standard methods, actually measuring plant spacings rather than just estimating. 

They are very much seeing that mindsets need to change. We gave them the videos and other information, including the short version of the Bright Hope World FFF manual. This contains the mindset and truth coaching section. It will hopefully also show some more up to date information on composting techniques.