Grow Food for 100 Homes in Uganda (Wakiso area)

The banana plantation has proved to be a great addition to our projects at the farm.

Since food productivity is meant to supplement lunch program, we shall be able to serve the children with green banana meals on top of porridge, posho and cassava & beans.

March of 2022, we have added another acre of new banana trees that will mature in about 18 months. With this addition, we shall have more food for the kids as we work towards a more sustainable status selling the excess to the markets.

Acccording to the current monotoring report, the farm is  progressing well.

Did you know?  Food for our Lunch Program is sourced in two ways for year-round production:

1. We grow food on a 10-acre piece of land (we have expanded over the last few years from 3 acres)
2. We buy dry goods to fill the gap during the times of the year when the farm is not producing

As we have expanded, on of the challenges we have faced is theft of crops close to harvest time.

To ensure that what we grow is used for the beneficiaries of our program, we put up a fence in December around all 10 acres.

Please take a look at the video and images. This was not a challenge we expected to face, though are grateful for your continued support as we evolve our efforts. 

LAHU-USA is committed to facilitating empowering, sustainable change in both urban and rural Uganda. We strive to give community members the tools, training, and support to maintain and grow each project, and believe that this holistic approach fosters permanent change that will improve lives.  

With your help we can improve the lives of millions of Ugandan children and their communities!  

In 2020 during the heights of COVID-19, we put a lot of time and effort into growing more food to help our community members in need during the pandemic. We expanded our Community Farm and planted one acre of matooke (green bananas). We dug 330 holes to start and we expect the first harvest within 18 months.

The matooke plantation was set up as a pilot to test for sustainability and to add value to our farming project. Our parents who are part of this cooperative farm have told us that a farm in Uganda is simply not a farm without matooke. This is a versatile staple food in Uganda and we hope the pilot will be successful so that we can expand to three acres by 2023. 

Besides feeding the community, we plan to sell the excess to the local market creating a sorce of income that can be used to purchase basic needs for our direct beneficiaries.  

As we get more funding, we will expand the plantation to its final stage.

Thank you for your support!

Our GlobalGiving donors helped us to collect the funds to erect a greenhouse for growing vegetables, year round.  This project is a key part of ensuring that we can feed our school children with a healthy diet (regardless of weather conditions).  Uganda is extremely fertile, but the extremes of heat or rain can create conditions that are not conducive for the growth of vegetables.  A greenhouse will allow the farm teams to be more productive.

The work on the greenhouse has progressed rapidly.  At the end of April, the structure was erected and the ground was prepped for the first planting.  Our on-site agronomist worked with interns to train the parents on how to activate the soils for greenhouse farming.  We will continue to report on progress and post pictures of the new plantings and harvest.

Links:

• Greenhouse irrigation completed
• Greenhouse picture 1
• Greenhouse picture 2

PROGRESS REPORT FEBRUARY 2021

February 18th, 2021

Summary

In February 2021, progress on the farm has been mainly harvesting and weeding.  The harvest consisted of Irish and sweet potatoes, which was shared between 33 families in Mwerwerwe.

a)      Progress at the Farm

-  We harvested all the Irish potatoes which were grouped in two categories:  (a) feeding and  (b) seedlings for replanting. The total harvest was 900kgs ( 1984 lbs ) from an area of 2 acres, which shows progress with a better harvest from our last planting. We will plant beans in the same space after the soil replenishes itself and Irish potatoes will be planted again in a future season.

- The sweet potatoes were planted five (5) months ago on one acre and harvest started about 2 weeks ago.

Table summarising the progress at the farm: See Attachment

Challenges 

1. It has been noticed that some of the Irish and sweet potatoes can be affected by disease before harvest. The kind of disease is unique and seems to have no solution at this time but we are talking to the ministry of Agriculture to see if they have any information that can help to advise us on the way forward.  
2. We are at the stage where we will enroll new members to reinforce the team. The source of labour at the farm for weeding and harvesting is the parents of the beneficiaries and yet over time, the number in our cooperative has reduced (due to COVID restrictions), causing the lower than expected productivity. We have bridged the gap by spending a little extra on hired labor and look forward to being able to welcome new cooperative members shortly. 

Links:

• http://www.lahu-usa.org

• Farming_progress_February_2021.pdf (PDF)