Grow Food for 100 Homes in Uganda (Wakiso area)

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)
  

LAHU maintained supporting the vulnerable households with food supplies as a response to food insecurity brought about by Covid 19 pandemic.

Many families have been affected and there is much panic mostly in vulnerable households. In the Mwererwe community, we grow food which parents share for consumption and any surplus if any is taken to the markets and the sales supplement the ongoing farm activities.

However, in Gangu Community, they have no land for growing food at the time being, therefore the food grown in Mwererwe is ahared among the two communties supporting 15 families during the pendamic.

Through the pandemic, we managed to plant; Irish Potatoes, beans, cabbage, yams, sweet potatoes and we are hoping to harvest every 2 weeks if the weather stays the course. 

The families in Mwerwerwe are excited about the project as it grows and gets to a more sustainable stage.

• Food_distribution_Report.pdf (PDF)
  

SUMMARY OF PROGRESS ON THE FARM AND FOOD DISTRIBUTION SINCE EMERGENCE OF COVID 19 PANDEMIC

Farming

Since March 2020, the farming continued despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The 33 parents converge thrice a week to work together on the farm. Since March 2020, they have grown three types of crops and vegetables. 

1. Yams.  The already existing garden of yams was weeded and pruned for better growing. Even though the yams are not ready for consumption now, in the next two months they were harvested for consumption. 
2. Beans. Parents grew beans on one acreage of land and they have harvested 150 Kgs which they shared among themselves. This increased food/source in the beneficiary households
3. Irish potatoes. Parents grew Irish potatoes on one acreage of land, they will be ready for harvest at the end of the month of July.
4. Vegetables include; Sukuma, dodo, Nakati and bugga. They have prepared a garden to plant cabbage. 

Summary of food distribution to the beneficiaries. 

• Mwererwe Community (40 parents) each received in six separate distributions:  1.5 kg of posho, wheat, rice, beans and sugar, plus 1 kg soap
• Gangu Community (10 parents) each received in three separate distributions:  2 kg of posho, wheat, rice, beans and sugar, plus 1 kg of soap

Challenges faced

• The COVID 19 has disrupted all the programs and there has been limited project monitoring by the LAHU team, though some monitoring has occurred.
• Some parents come from a far distance and this limits their participation in farming program.
• The room identified for a Library at Gangu may need more resources to make it feasible for a library which may call for the community or school contribution.
• Limited transport affected effective distribution of food to the beneficiaries because during lock down, no vehicles were authored. LAHU hired motorcycles but it was not as effective as using a car. 
• Excessive water affected crops on the farm especially beans. 

Lessons 

• During the lockdown we have learnt that it’s possible to work from home even though there is no physical contact with the farmers. 
• Organizations need to set up disaster preparedness programs to respond to any eventuality in case of future calamity. 
• We need to conduct a workshop with our partners and share LAHU values, norms and principles to avoid backlashes which may affect partnership relationships. 
• The farming practice will create sustainability for the lunch program with the honesty commitment by the parents.