Self Help in Uganda

Oct 20th, 2009 3:34 PM UTC
By Kara Arsenault

Here’s another Food Security in Focus post, this time from our partner organization Self Help Africa, a group that helps families and communities learn how to grow enough food and earn a sustainable living. In this entry, we hear from Vincent Momoba, a farmer in Uganda who works with Self Help Africa. He describes first-hand how low-cost access to inputs like seeds and fertilizers can help farmers produce more food and earn additional income.

-Kara Arsenault

I am a peasant. I make my living from digging. I always have, and I think that I probably always will.

Fifteen years ago I came back to Buloga village. I had been away from here for a number of years, but returned with my young family.

When I came back I followed my brothers and started producing cotton. It was difficult to compete with big producers however, and the market for cotton was poor because of all the cheap foreign clothing. No one here grows cotton any more.

Things changed when I went to a meeting organized by Self Help Africa in Buloga Primary School.

They talked to us about how we could farm sustainably, gave us some information, and arranged to give a group of farmers the seed to start growing groundnuts.

The arrangement was fair – we had to pay back the seed we received at harvest time, but if the crop didn’t work out we didn’t need to pay.

The groundnuts were a success for me, but then I tried to grow mangoes from cuttings provided by Self Help Africa and it failed. The conditions here are too dry, and two years later I had only two of the 30 saplings that they gave me.

I started producing cassava with good quality cuttings last year. I planted six acres, and have inter-cropped them with other crops. We will be harvesting in a few months, but things are looking good.

If I process my cassava tubers into chips and maybe even flour I might get five million shillings ($US 2,500) for them. If this happens I will spend some money on school fees for my children, but most of it will go back into the land.

I am a traditional guy. I don’t need luxuries like men of today. As I said, I am a peasant. I will dig more land, and I will grow new things on my farm.

-Vincent Momoba

TAGS: Food Security in Focus, From Our Partners