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|  | | Animal Traction, Uganda | | By introducing a traditional farming method of one area of Uganda to small-holding landowners in another, Self Help is transforming the lives of thousands of farm families in it’s Kamuli project area.
In the past year alone more than 92 farmers across the project area have been provided with ox-ploughs, and have received training in animal traction methods of ploughing and opening up of their land for agriculture.
‘As soon as we started work in the Kamuli area we noticed that unlike in Amuria, the farmers in this area almost all used hand hoes for ploughing, weeding, and planting’, says project manager James Arikot.
‘Many of them had the oxen, but they were not being used as working farm animals – as there was not that tradition in this locality, the animals had not been trained, and the farmers did not have the ploughs and equipment, or the knowledge of how to work oxen in this way’.
Working alongside their community and local government partners, groups of farmers were selected for training in the area, and were provided with ox ploughs which were bought by the project in Amuria, where animal traction is more commonly practiced.
The results, in a short space of time have been dramatic, as farmer William and his wife Miria Chabandi attest on their farm holding at Makoka in the Buyende sub-county.
‘In past years we were able to open up just over one acre for farming purposes using hand hoes, but since we have received the training and equipment, and have trained our animals, we are farming over four acres’, he said.
As a result of being able to increase his land holding under tillage, William has been able to supplement his traditional cassava and maize crops with groundnuts and beans. |
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| And the benefits have been felt amongst the wider community too, with William and Miria Chabandi having hired out their ploughing oxen to close to a dozen farmers in the local community just this year alone.
‘This has not alone provided them with another opportunity to generate income for their family, as it has also increased substantially the productive land in this area’, says Self Help’s Paul Ariko. ‘At present there are 92 farmers who have similarly introduced animal traction on their farm, and a growing number of landowners who are interested in doing likewise in the years ahead’.
The trained oxen are not alone being used to plough the land, as they are also employed for weeding, for planting of crops such as seed potatoes, and to carry produce from the fields to the homestead, and sometimes also to the market. | | | | | | | | Technologies & Approaches | | | |
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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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