Helping villagers to improve their farming practices

The Katine Community Partnerships Project

Many of the farmers in Katine sub-county have lived through turbulent times during which farming has been disrupted and as a result, some of the agricultural experience and skills have been lost. For some local people the transition to an economy where individuals grow their own food after a period of aid and disruption is not easy.

The ground-breaking Katine Community Partnerships Project brings together FARM-Africa, the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Guardian News and Media, and Barclays. Together, we are working to improve the lives of at least 25,000 people living in 66 villages in Katine sub-county, Soroti district over three years. The innovative project is supporting community development in several areas. Communities are improving their health through better access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. More children are receiving primary education. In addition, communities are increasing household incomes.

FARM-Africa’s support

Drawing on our experience accumulated over 20 years of working with rural communities, FARM-Africa is the technical adviser to the livelihoods part of the project. We’re helping local people to improve agricultural practices. This in turn increases the amount of food that they produce, so they can sell excess to pay for education, medicines or basic household needs.

Communities are benefiting from our advice in various ways:

• Research groups comprising of hundreds of farmers living in 18 villages are using improved technology and farming methods to increase crop and livestock production.
• Farmers will receive advice on how to maximise the benefits of these bigger crops by selling them for a good price at both local and national markets.
• Farmers' groups have been formed to facilitate the sharing of knowledge about how to combine traditional farming knowledge with new techniques to increase food production.
• FARM-Africa is training 36 Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs). The CAHWs help communities care for their animals so they remain healthy and are a good source of nutrition and income. They identify common animal diseases and treat these with simple veterinary drugs.
• Demonstration plots are being established where farmers can learn how to grow new crops, with a particular focus on crops that are essential to household nutrition and income.

Helping villagers to improve their farming practices

The Katine Community Partnerships Project

As part of the Katine Community Partnerships Project, FARM-Africa is helping smallholder farmers to increase food production. Communities are receiving the training, equipment and guidance they need to use agriculture as a path out of poverty.

Magdelena's story

Magdelene is one of the 10 female members of the 30-strong Chan Pwonyi Farmers’ Group which was set up with help from FARM-Africa to provide training and guidance to farmers in Katine. She lives in a small village with her 11 children. As food is scarce in the area she eats only one meal a day.

Until Magdalene joined the farmers’ group, she had little access to new farming practices which would increase the yields of the crops she grows.

Better harvests mean more to sell at market – earning valuable income for food and other household essentials. As a member of the group she received some improved cassava seeds which she has planted in the group’s demonstration garden. She gets up early to cultivate the plot and expects to sell the cassava for a good profit.

She has also taken advantage of the savings and loan scheme that the group offers. She was able to take out a loan of Ushs.10,000 to buy beans and millet, which she sold at Katine market for a good profit, enabling her to repay the loan. She then took out a second loan to buy mats to sell in a neighbouring district. With her profit of Ushs.18,000 she was able to invest in household items and a chicken, as well as more mats to sell at market in the weeks to come.

In her own words

Thanks to FARM-Africa’s involvement in the Katine project, Magdalene says, ''I now have knowledge on new farming practices, and I want to take out more loans, buy more produce from farmers and sell more at the Katine market.''

Working Papers

Scaling-up Success - FARM-Africa's new strategy for development
Adobe PDF - 444kb

Web Links

The Guardian and Observer Uganda project - Katine