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|  | | Fruit Farming, Uganda | | Thousands of Ugandan small-holders see the production and sale of fruit as their path out of poverty and subsistence farming.
And despite the political instability which forced thousands to flee their homes in Amuria two years ago, many of Self Help’s beneficiary farmers who returned just this Spring found that their high value crops such as orange trees and pineapple plants had survived the looting of rebels, and the long-term neglect which followed the mass evacuations.
Farmers across the project area quickly set about rehabilitating what remained of their orange groves, while others saw that pineapple allotments which had become tangled in undergrowth were still producing fruit.
‘It was incredible to see that the improved variety pineapples which we had distributed to beneficiaries were still growing, and were producing fruit as if nothing had happened’, said Self Help’s Ugandan director Nelson Wajja Musukwe.
Self Help had been in the middle of a programme to develop fruit production amongst farmers in Amuria when the project was suspended, and had put in place plans to produce 400,000 pineapple suckers, 350,000 orange tree seedlings, and 200,000 mango seedlings for distribution to an estimated 18,000 farmers, as part of the five year integrated development programme for the area.
Groups of participating farmers had received training in fruit production, and had started growing trees and producing fruit on their lands at the time of the project’s suspension.
Raphael Oloput fled with his family to the Asamuk Internal Displacement Camp (IDC) at the time of the rebel invasion, and only returned to his farm at the end of last year.
Although his livestock had been stolen, his home destroyed, and parts of his farm damaged by bush fires, many of his pineapple plants had survived the ordeal, and in the spring began producing fruit once more. |
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| Many of the 340 pineapple suckers which Self Help had given Raphael two years ago had grown into mature fruit bearing plants, which give him a much sought after commodity that he will be able to sell at market when the fruits have matured, later this Summer.
Similarly, Francis Otim in Atuil village returned to find that not only had his pineapples survived, but so too had many of the orange trees which he had planted in a grove to the rear of his home not long before the evacuation.
Francis Otim, who works alongside Self Help as a Community Development Assistant for his area says that the loss of his oxen for ploughing, and the damage that was done to his property will take several years to redress, and that he believes that the greatest potential for earning money will be in the sale of oranges from the 42 trees which survived the rebels.
A 56 year old father of five, he says that he was able to use the knowledge he received on a training course on fruit tree management organised by Self Help to rehabilitate his grove, and says that as a result he expects to produce a large number of oranges, for consumption by his own family and for sale, later this year.
Nelson Wajja Musukwe says that as they get the Amuria project fully restarted in the year ahead, he is planning to organise a series of farmer to farmer training initiatives, and in this will bring pineapple farmers from the district to visit and stay with farmers in the Coyunga area of Uganda, where pineapple production has been widespread since the 1950s.
‘Farmer to farmer initiatives can be a highly effective way of introducing new ideas to an area, as farmers visit others who are doing the activity, and can see, and learn from their own contemporaries what needs to be done, and the benefits which can be had from a particular activity’, he added.
Self Help Uganda is also looking at developing new nursery growers in the Amuria project, so that improved seed stock for fruit trees and other crops that are coming out of the country’s agricultural research stations can be multiplied, so that adequate amounts of good quality seed are available to farmers in the area for years to come.
‘At present the research institutes are producing clean planting materials, but they do not have the capacity to get into mass production. We will be looking to identify and train individuals and community groups to undertake this task, and thus ensure that adequate good quality seed is available within each locality, long after the Self Help project has left Amuria’, Nelson Wajja Musukwe said. | | Related Topics | | | | | |
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| | | | | Self Help Africa is a limited liability company. Company number: 105601 Charity No. 6663 (Ireland)
The organisation has offices in Ireland at: Annefield House, Dublin Road, Portlaoise, Co. Laois Tel: 00 353 (0)57 8694034 - Fax: 00 353 (0)57 8694038, and in the United Kingdom at : Second Floor Suite, Westgate House, Dickens Court, Off Hills Lane, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1QU. Tel : 0044-(0)1743 277170
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