Daisy is one of the women most affected by climate change in Hoima district. We are empowering 100 smallholder farmers to plant a total of 1,200 bamboo seedlings around their farms that will act as sources of cooking fuel and provide an opportunity for bamboo value addition. They will also be supported to improve their soils using biochar, organic fertilizers and pesticides. Furthermore, each of the beneficiaries will be supported to own a clean cooking Gasifier stove.
Kitoba sub-county in Hoima District has experienced extreme environmental degradation as a result of human activities which include; wetland reclamation, massive deforestation for agriculture, timber and wood fuel and poor farming practices among others. Due to these activities, chimpanzees that used to live uphill were displaced and river Waaki down the valley has almost dried up. It is harder for smallholder farmers to produce enough food due to degraded soils and changing weather patterns.
Through this project, 100 smallholder farmers will grow 1,200 bamboo seedlings around their farms. Bamboo is a famous fast-growing option for land restoration that can revegetate. The farmers will also be trained in sustainable farming using organic fertilizers, compost manure and applying biochar as a soil amendment. Additionally, 100 gasifier stoves will be distributed. Gasifier stoves cook fast, reduce firewood consumption, and are smokeless (they reduce exposure to indoor emissions).
Apart from the enormous environmental benefits of restoring land with bamboo, there is a huge potential to increase household incomes through value addition. This ranges from creating bamboo nurseries, to creating products for use in construction plus using off-cuts for cooking. Organic farming offers higher incomes as the soils will regain fertility naturally hence better yields. Once the villages start to get benefits, they will continue with the project on their own and can be replicated.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
