This project will provide an on-going supply of locally grown food to 300 families in rural districts of Masaka and Rakai. Vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and livestock products will balance diets and help fight malnutrition. The project will provide hope and keep people from leaving their land for the slums in larger towns in Uganda in search of better of opportunities that are not even there. This self-help project will serve as a model for farmers who struggle to survive with subsistence farming.

Activities

The project will provide start-up seed supplies and training for kitchen gardens, fruit tree nurseries, and animal husbandry and goat keeping will be the prime focus. This project will go together with the giving of goats to the selected farmers since they will use the goat dung to for manure and urine as a pesticide for their gardens.

The Need

Uganda ranks among the highest level of poverty in the Eastern hemisphere. The Ugandan people are no stranger to hunger. With the current world-wide food shortage driving up prices, the country has been hit especially hard. Without adequate in-country food production the problems will continue. Uganda now has become the food basket for Africa and many neighboring countries are purchasing food from Uganda and are offering higher prices than the local market which makes matters worse that the farmers are tempted to sell all what they have in store leaving not much for themselves which can’t sustain their families for long.

Long-term solutions require an investment in local food production in more improved farming systems for high yields. Providing the training and resources for food production and fruits start-up will strengthen the ability for families to provide for themselves and increase their incomes through the sell of foods and fruits. It will also keep farmers from leaving their rural villages with many ending up in slums in the larger cities. A special effort will be made to include people in the Masaka and Rakai areas. Their problems are often more acute because their location and lack of roads makes services less accessible.

Project Goal: Reduce Hunger and Malnutrition for 300 Families in Rural Areas of Masaka and Rakai districts.

Objectives

1. Strengthen existing grassroots efforts to provide resources to feed 300 families averaging five people per family, through start up supplies for local production of fruit,vegetables and livestock products.
2. Provide training for 300 farmers (men and women) and their families in areas of livestock management, fruit and vegetable production, rainwater harvesting, and composting to improve quality and quantity of food produced locally.
3. Provide on-going support for project participants through consultation and support through Farmer to Farmer Program.
4. Start up nursery beds for vegetables and fruit trees to be distributed to farmers.
5. Search for markets where the farmers can sell their products and build a network of contacts with processing industries where the farmers can process their products for value addition and since food in Africa has become so expensive the demand is high and there those who will be involved in production will be assured of market and hence improve their incomes.
6. Give out heifers to model farmers one milk cow each and when it produces the calf will be given to another woman farmer.
7. Build the capacity of farmers through trainings and networking with micro-finance institutions and banks so that our farmers in this program can access agricultural loans to improve on their farming project.