Build A Farm! Feeding children and training youth

The Mama Rose Farm project started in February 2023. Our aims are to sustainably develop 8 acres of land to restore land damaged from traditional farming, and reduce effects of malnutrition for over 400 disadvantaged children aged 3-14 years at Sky Is The Limit School and Noah’s Ark both based in Fort Portal, an extremely impoverished area of Uganda.

We are training 10 farm staff in organic farm practices to decrease dependency on food aid, building a farmhouse for safe food and equipment storage. We support the basic needs of the school community to improve their health by increasing consumption of vegetables, meat and fish, which in turn will support their educational performance. Funding will be spent on training in organic farming, farm improvements, a farm truck to ease transportation of the produce. 

The recent report shows impressive progress. 

Increasing food sovereignty to battle malnutrition in over 400 children, caused by poverty.

Mama Rose organic farm is committed to battling Malnutrition among the children at Sky is the Limit school,  Noah’s Ark and at the Farm. Various vegetable gardens have been set up to meet this cause. Amongst the vegetable gardens we have grown are Green Pepper, cabbage, egg plants, carrots, onions, cull cull flower, Sukuma wiki, sour egg plants and purple egg plants. These specifically will provide the children with vital vitamins and minerals needed to fight off diseases and proper mental growth.

We have also planted beans on an average of 0.5 acres which we hope will be harvested in early January.

Bananas have also been planted and they occupy an area of 3/4 acre, we expect to get the first harvest around June 2024.

Approximately 3 acres of Maize Long 10 which is an improved variety was planted, we hope to harvest in February. This particular variety is high yielding and will provide the children with the much needed proteins and carbohydrates for their growth, strength and wellbeing.

Pond improvement.

There are currently 3 ponds that have been improved, The bigger one measures approximately 3800 square  feet and has been stalked with 4000 Tilapia Fish fingerings. The small pond measures approximately 1400 feet and has been stalked with 2000 cat fish.

We hope to stalk the third pond measuring 3300 square feet early next month. We hope by March/ April 2024, all these fish will have matured and supplied to the various branches of SITL fraternity.

Pasture improvement.

Aof land pproximately 1.5 acres has been opened up for pastures. With consultation we were advised to cultivate kikuyu grass, elephant grass(Sugar Napier Grass) and Mulato which enable high quality milk yields. 

We have equally competed animal husbandry in dairy cattle management, goat rearing, poultry management, rabbit rearing and aquaculture.

Improving the health of 30 children living with HIV/Aids.

The farm initially grew 40 gardens of Mushrooms and an addition of 40 more mushroom gardens was put in place, this was the first farm product to harvest back in April. This activity has been going on to date. Mushroom harvesting is ongoing and up to date, we have been able to supply Noah’s Ark 30kgs and 25Kgs  to the farm.

Providing basic shelter and sanitation facilities for 11 farmworkers in the farmhouse.

The house has 3 spacious bed rooms, a living room, a kitchen and store area. To increase the sanitation at the farm, a Ventilated Improved Pit latrine has been constructed with 2 door Inlets and a bathroom at the side.

The farm house will improve monitoring the workers' time keeping because they will be sleeping at the farm which will improve on production turnover, time management and cohesion and team work amongst the workers. At the moment the farm house front/ back doors have been fixed, all windows have been fixed and plastering has also completed. 

Painting and floor tiling will be the major activities left to work upon so that the house can be habitable by Christmas 2023.

Providing training opportunities in organic farming to reduce dependence on food aid.

Mama Rose Organic Farm partnered with Micah Farm Institute: which is a Ministry of Education approved Agricultural institution located in Ibonde Parish, 6 Miles along Fort Portal, Bundibugyo Road.

Micah farm institute has trained 10 farm workers in Organic Farming Practices both crop and animal husbandry, All the workers have gained basic skills and are able to carry out activities independently which has helped the trainees utilizing these skills to improve on nutrition for their families. 

Some farm workers like Harriet and Violet have been able to pass on the skills they have learnt to fellow community members especially in mushroom growing and tending of bananas, setting up nursery beds for various vegetables such as cabbages, Sukuma wiki, egg plants, carrots and cull flower.

Restoring the land's depleted resources caused by traditional farming methods.

Through the training and guidance from Micah Farm institute, new skills and practices such as soil conservation through soil testing to establish soil nutrient content, mulching, inter cropping, crop rotation have been learnt and are being practiced.

Against this background, there have been challenges that affect the normal operations of the farm with the main challenge being Unpredictable weather: rains and drought:

Due to global warming, there has become a lot of uncertainty in the traditional methods of cultivation that rely on the two seasons: the first season running from February to July and the second season running from August to January.

With the changes in the weather patterns Mama Rose Organic farm successfully applied to the Support Network of Mechanical Engineers to put in place an overhead irrigation system that will enable all year round production of crops to break the traditional cycle of seasons.

This will enable the farm to give a constant supply of foodstuffs to both Noah’s Ark and the school plus sell off the surplus to cater for the worker’s wages.

 We wish to thank all our GlobalGiving donors for helping us to start this important project. With your help, for many years to come, the children at Sky Is The Limit school will have fresh, nutritious daily meals that will benefit their ability to learn and to play. THANK YOU!