Build A Farm! Feeding children and training youth

We’re so pleased to announce that our new organic farm development project at Sky Is The Limit starts this month in Uganda, a country with the most organic producers in Africa and whose president supports sustainable agriculture methods that regenerates the environment, increases the country’s wealth and protects the health of its people.

Named after ‘Mama Rose’, who was the founder of Sky Is The Limit School in Fort Portal, Uganda and an incredible woman who dedicated her life to helping children. Rose passed away on 9th December 2021 due to the Coronavirus.

Our partner Mama Rose Organic Farm project at Fort Portal aims to address the basic needs of the 397 children and 10 farm workers at Sky Is The Limit School by:

• increasing food sovereignty to battle malnutrition in 397 children, caused by poverty (or however many children are at the school)
• improving the health of 30 children living with HIV/Aids
• providing basic sanitation and shelter for 10 farm workers in the planned farm house
• providing free training in organic farming to upskill workers (we aim for 60% of workers to be women) and support knowledge sharing with wider communities
• giving the children increased variety and access to highly nutritious daily meals to support their increased health and wellbeing.

The farm will restore and protect the land for future generations by:

• training staff in organic farming methods will help restore the ecosystem for future generations, and promote organic farming in rural Uganda.
• sing approaches that work with nature to produce bigger harvests, reduce deforestation and that keep regenerate the soil and make best use of water healthy

With organic practices and careful and adequate food storage and processing, it is likely that the Mama Rose Organic Farm at Sky Is The Limit School will harvest excess produce to sell at local markets. The income derived from their efforts will be re-invested in the farm and its staff.

Mama Rose Organic Farm Project at SITL will be divided into four stages:

Stage 1 – Begin farmhouse construction, fencing, ground preparation, 10 staff training, purchase laptop

Stage 2 – Complete construction, fencing, ground preparation, crop planting, purchase farm truck

Stage 3 – Fish pond improvements, crop planting

Stage 4 – Purchase livestock and feeding/water troughs

It is envisaged that the project will be operational by February 2024.

The project aligns with Uganda’s National Agricultural Policy and the United Nations‘ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Uganda’s National Agriculture policy is in line with the SDGs which commit Member States of the United Nations to globally:

• end poverty in all its forms (SDG 1)
• end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition as well as promote sustainable agriculture (SDG 2)
• protect, restore, promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (SDG 15).
• Organic Agriculture has the capacity to achieve all of the three United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On February 13th, the 10 farm workers (5 women and 5 men who live local to the 8-acre farm - began their training with the Micah Farm Institute, a dedicated training centre for organic farming practices in Fort Portal, accompanied by Christine, the farm manager, and Brian, the project supervisor.

It will take some time for the farm to be fully operational and meet the nutritional needs of the children. In the meantime, our School Meals programme continues. Since 2014, we have funded over half a million school meals to children at Sky Is The Limit School, which improves their ability to concentrate and provides them with the vital nutrition they need for healthy development. For some of them, it is their only meal of the day.