Village Men are Following the Women’s Lead
People who fled their homes and villages due to conflict and extreme danger during the country’s civil war have been moving back to the area during the past five years. Some villages had been abandoned for over 15 years, so people had to start over again, from scratch.
The farmer in this picture has taken advantage of all the conservation agriculture (CA) instruction the program offered. A simple but effective practice is mulching to retain soil moisture and improve soil fertility and composition.
She started out by planting a few test plots, with and without mulching, and readily saw the difference. Even though there has been less rain, and an invasion of army worms is devastating corn yields in the region, she will get a higher yield from her mulched plots.
When she was just learning about CA, she had a hard time convincing her husband to try it. Now that he has seen the results he is fully on board. What’s more, other men who have observed the improved yields are asking the women to teach them what they’ve learned. In this way, the overall resiliency of the community is improving. Participants are moving from covering their basic needs to earning incomes and making improvements on their farms and in their lives.
Photo caption: Mulching improves soil and yields
Uganda Teso is Led by World Renew and Local Partner Katakwi Integrated Development Organization (KIDO)
12 communities, 802 households, 4,812 individuals