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|  | | Upland Rice Growing (Uganda) | | | | | | At first he didn’t think it could be done.
But with just weeks to go to his first harvest, farmer Isaeirye Bamwetwakire is confident that he is on course to reap a bumper crop of upland rice on his farm at Chinawampiri in the Namwendwa district of Kamuli.
Isaeirye is one of 12 farmer in his parish and 500 across the project area to have received upland rice seed from Self Help, as part of a campaign to diversify farming activities and promote new crops and income generation amongst small-holders.
And the efforts to introduce upland rice is also supporting a recent government drive, to discourage traditional paddy field rice production because of the serious impact the activity has been having on Uganda’s fragile wetland eco-systems.
A father of seven, Isaeirye Bamwetwakire is confident that his decision to introduce rice production will deliver a huge boost to his farm household income when he takes the grain to market, in a months time. |
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| A traditional Ugandan maize and groundnut farmer, he admits that he was a little unsure when the proposal to grow upland rice was first put to him, last year. ‘Rice is traditionally grown in swampy paddy field conditions, but here was a variety which would grow in normal soil, and in fields which were otherwise being used for maize and groundnut production’.
‘The yields from this improved variety upland rice have been fantastic, and from the once acre plot on which I am producing I am expecting upwards of 900 kg of rice – which will achieve a far higher price than I would get for my more traditional crops’, he said.
Isaeirye Bamwetwakire initially received 27 kgs of seed from Self Help at the start of the initiative, and following his first harvest he will return twice that amount – but it is a price which he believes is well worth paying.
‘I understand the system of revolving the seed in this way, and know that Self Help will distribute the seed that I return to two other farmers – to allow them to enjoy the benefits which I am seeing’, he added.
‘Everyone will benefit in the end, as there is a very good market for the sale of rice, and the demand even at local level is greater than the farmers in this area can currently cater for’.
Self Help’s Ugandan project director Nelson Wajja Musekwe says that the upland rice initiative is a good example of working hand in hand with its government partners, as it not alone enables the seed that has been developed in the government research stations to be distributed to the farmers on the ground, it also supports the effort to find alternative methods of growing rice to the traditional paddy field production – which has had a huge adverse impact on the wetland eco-system, and has resulted in the endangerment of a range of species including the Crested Grebe, the national bird of Uganda. | | 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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