Grow Food for 100 Homes in Uganda (Wakiso area)

Currently, parents harvested food which they shared with the school to help with the lunch prgram. In addition, parents prepped the section to prepare for cassava planting that way there is enough food for the 1st quarter in 2023.

The farm did very well last quater and we look forward to a better one this year.

We managed to supply the following: Beans (350kgs) Cassava (500kgs), Posho from dried Corn (100kgs), Green Bananas (65 Bunches). More than 150 children this past semester without filling the gaps.

The farm also has challenges as in we require more labor to maintain the supply of the food. In order to have enough or more food this year, we need to raise more funds. 

It will be a dry season starting Mid January of 2023 and irrigation is key for us to be able to manage the food supply.

All in all the farm is going the right direction and we thank all our donors

Links:

• Lunch Program Endeavors

This Summer we achieved a milestone that has been on our project roleout since 2019! This past month, we managed to open our first libary at the community school. Our goal has always been feed the children to help them go and stay in school. The library was launched this July and we now have a functioning library with over 1000 books catering to ages 5 - 18 years old. We hope that this will improve their reading capabilities etc.

This season, we have also managed to grow more food which will put us in a better position to feed more chidren and their families. Below is what has been or will be grown this season: 

1. Beans

- Planted beans on 2 acreage piece of land 

- Beans in the banana plantation have grown up to 7 leaves

- Spray of beans to kill insects and add fertilizer was completed

- The whole garden of beans has been weeded

-  Another section of land has been prepared to plant more beans

2. Maize

- The familes prepared land and planting to be done in the coming week

3.Cassava

- Cassava was planted along the edge if the farm and is acting as a temporay fence.

 4. Sweet Potatoes

- 2.5 acres of sweet potatoes were planted on the farm. (we hope for harvest in a couple of months)

5. Matooke (Bananas)

- We added another 2 acres of the banana plantation and we now have over 4 acres on Matooke

Challenges:

The main challenge is we still luck manpower as many of the community members are elderly and unable to tend to the farm which leaves a gad that must be filled with additiona paid man power. In order to get the man power, we require more funding!

Links:

• Our Annual report

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!