By improving farming methods in rural Uganda, our project will support 200 poor women to increase their incomes. Women provide most of the farming labor in Uganda but lack access to modern farming technology or larger plots of land. Thus, they only farm for family consumption and make little or no income. We help farmers to pool their land and provide modern technology, high-quality inputs, and agricultural training for women so that they can farm for profit and work their way out of poverty.
Most rural Ugandans are smallholder farmers, growing only enough to feed their family and not to sell. Most of these farmers live in poverty or extreme poverty and don't have enough food or money to buy basic goods. Women and children are most affected by this poverty, and many children are malnourished. Women do most of the farming, in addition to managing childcare and household chores. Most these women lack access to modern farming equipment or knowledge about modern farming approaches.
We understand that subsistence agriculture is a mindset, which is why we start by training women to change their mindset towards farming, from subsistence-only to profitable. We encourage farmers in a village to pool their land and farm together. We then provide modern agricultural equipment (such as tractors) and improved inputs for increased crop production. Finally, we provide training on the equipment and new farming techniques, financial management training, and ongoing supervision.
PMA expects farmers' income to increase significantly once they can sell their produce. We also expect malnutrition rates to decrease due to improved family gardens with more nutritious food and the extra income to purchase foods they cannot grow. Furthermore, with higher incomes, we anticipate additional positive economic and social outcomes, such as an increase in entrepreneurship (e.g., beekeeping, clean water distribution) and families keeping their children, including girls, in school.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
