How to construct best goat shelter

By Beatrice Nakibuuka

Goats whether raised for meat or milk, need basic protection from the elements such as wind, rain and heat.
Provision of a simple shed with low cost housing materials in dry areas may be enough for goats to produce efficiently especially milk.
To keep your goats safe, there is need for you to provide them with that perfect shelter.
How elaborate your goat shelter is depends on where you live, how many goats you plan to have in the shelter and how much you can afford.
If you have or plan to rear many goats, you need to make sure you have a large structure or plan to build more shelters over time.
In other words you may need to have a relatively big piece of land because different groups such as bucks, does and kids to be weaned need separate housing areas.
Miriam Ankunda, a vet assistant at Shimmer Africa, warns that if they are all kept together, they may be fighting for resources such as food which will cause non uniformity in their growth as some may be weak and not get enough feeds.
You need to have a store place where you keep the goats’ feeds and care tools.
A suitable goat shelter should be well-lit with natural lighting and have adequate ventilation, but it needs to be free from breezes, particularly at ground level. Some of the things to consider when deciding to build a goat shelter include:

Kithinji Musyoka tends to goats in a raised shelter. PHOTO by Edgar Batte

Flooring
Gravel floors are the best option for goats although some people prefer wood. The dirt in the gravel absorbs urine and when the gravel is covered with straw, it helps keep the goats warm.
Sheds with mud floor may be suitable except in places where high rainfall is observed such as central and western Uganda.
Ankunda says, “Farmers should therefore avoid concrete flooring because it is cold and hard on the goats’ bodies even though it is easier to clean. Farmers should also remember to keep the floor of the shelter dry always because dampness can be a breeding place for various diseases among your goats.”
The shelter should be constructed in an elevated area or slightly slanting to prevent water and urine stagnation.
This also helps with drainage in your shed which should be good, to counteract any buildup of smells and urine.

Bedding
Regardless of type of flooring, you need to use some sort of bedding for warmth and comfort.
If you have to use a concrete floor, make sure to put down three to four inches of saw dust to insulate the goats with enough warmth while they sleep.
Dr Paul Zziwa, a freelance vet, says goats can be deep littered, with the bedding being topped up regularly then being mucked out completely every month. You need about 20 square feet per goat for sleeping space.

Fencing
Goats are notorious for getting out of enclosures, so you will need some tight shelter to protect them from bad climate but also a considerably strong fencing for them.
“Fencing is important for the safety and health of your goats. Fencing for goats needs to be secure, not just to keep them in, but to keep predators like dogs out. You will need perimeter fencing around the entire goat area or your property boundary, and then cross fencing within the goat area to keep goats separated from each other,” Ankunda says.

Kidding place
If you plan to breed your own goats, you will need kidding enclosures and the number of cages you will need depends on how many goats are kidding at a time.
“The kids may be left with their mother for the first three days but afterwards isolated into a special cage where they are bound to receive special attention. The same place should have bedding for the kids,” Zziwa says.
Also, regardless of the breed, you need an area for doing routine care, such as hoof trimming or clipping. If you are keeping dairy goats, you can use the same space for milking.

Costs
Of the two common types of goat shelters, experts at Give A Goat Farm advise farmers to invest in a raised goat house as opposed to the pen type.
The farm which was established in 2013 by American Scott Panella helps prospective and active goat farmers by providing housing, fencing, food, medical care, and education.
According to Panella the cost of a simple goat house, including material, two to three days of labour and transportation for all is approximately Shs800,000.
“Great dairy goats tend to produce more milk and live healthier when the proper treatment and management is in place. By building the raised goat house the risk of worms is less and the droppings can be used as fertiliser in gardens. Goat houses consist of one male/buck room and one or two female rooms depending on how many goats have been provided,” read in part guidelines authored by Panella.

Goat perimeter (Fencing)
Panella says one way to keep goats safe is by building a fence. “Fencing has been a successful way for us to keep the goats healthy and happy. We also bring in a mound of stones and bricks for them to climb on as a “play” area which can also help with hoof care. Fencing cost can vary depending on the size of the fence and the area we are separating for the goats, but the average cost including labour is approximately Shs575,000,” Panella says.

Dimensions
Considering the height and width of the shelter, goats need to have about 15 square feet of housing if they also have an outdoor area. Make sure that your building is in an area with good drainage and, if it is open, that it faces away from the prevailing wind.
Zziwa says, “During the building process, it is important to consider how easy it will be to muck out old bedding. Having to bend over or stretch a long way while mucking is uncomfortable and hard on your back. The shelter should therefore be built a little taller than you are for easy mucking.”
When creating goat housing, consider where you will store feed, straw or other bedding, and other goat-related equipment.
Zziwa advises that goats should not be tethered while they are in the shelter except if they are outdoors. The roof should be strong enough not to leak when it rains.
Feeding & drinking place
You need to have space for feeders and drinkers, which will keep things cleaner and prevent wasting of feed. All animals should be able to eat or drink at one time.
Having easy access to water for your goats while they are in the shelter is important. This will prevent you from the hustle of transporting the water to the goat’s shelter all the time.

Okello tasting sweet money from honey

By TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY

He is a man from the classroom; however James Okello Alele put his thoughts together and went back to his village to start keeping bees since chalk work was not yielding fruits any longer.
At the moment, Okello’s Akilo apiculture farm located at Ogur trading centre, 27 kilometres north of Lira town along Kitgum Road, boasts of a total 168 beehives, a honey processing plant, 30 cows, coffee, eucalyptus woodlot and goats.
At the entry into his home, a disclaimer which reads; ‘do not make unnecessary noise, bees are busy’ reminds one that bees do well in a silent environment, exactly what his home is.
Okello 60 revealed on Monday that he has discovered a goldmine in adding value to honey.
“I get a gross average of Shs8.5m to Shs10m per month from the bee keeping project,” he said.

Okello shows off his honey product. Photo Tobbias Jolly

How he started
“What I got from class could not allow ends meet 10 years ago because three of my 12 children needed to go to institutions of higher learning I baked an idea to invest in bee keeping so that I can earn from it to educate my children,” he said.
The Church of Uganda in 2007 came up with a project to support bee farmers, a factor that prompted him to register and get seven bee hives to start.
It was not easy at the beginning since he needed to balance between farm work and classes.
“That year I fetched Shs600,000 from honey sales. Half of the money was spent on restocking with the balance paying tuition for my children.”
However his income projection was not yet coming as he expected, this made him register his enterprise with Naads a year later as a CBO with 25 other bee keepers.
He says after forming a group, it became easier for them to look for better markets.
“We received training from Naads. After the training, we were appointed to train other prospective farmers and in return I was paid Shs6.5m. This was my turning point for I invested the money in my beehive project,” he said.
Using the money, he bought a motorcycle to help him mobilise bee keepers, look for market as well as expand land and buy 30 modern bee hives and metallic stands.

Innovation, value addition
After realising a profit of Shs35m at the end of 2015, Okello says he needed to shift to another level in bee keeping and honey business.
“Several field visits to central and western region to bee keepers opened my eyes and made me realise that I was losing a lot of money in selling raw honey. I then invested in a honey press that cost me Sh3m and other equipment totaling to Shs5m,” he said.
Using the new equipment, no part of his products would be thrown away as wastes.
“We now extract the honey, grade and package them into classes before sell. We use the wax for making candles, this significantly doubled my earnings from bee keeping,” he noted.
According to his records, Okello earned a gross income of Sh113m from the project in 2016 which he used to establish other enterprises.
“My profits were big compared to 2015 when I earned only Shs35m as gross income. The money I got last year has helped me to put up a new permanent structure at Sh50m, buy cows and introduce two acres of banana and coffee plantation combined,” he said.

Market
Okello says he has readily available market for the products and that on several occasions he is overwhelmed by the demand.
“Golden Bee and Natural Bee companies in Kampala are some of my clients. I also supply supermarkets in Lira town, Jinja, Kampala that provides my biggest share of the market as well as in South Sudan,” he said.
A kilogramme of processed and packed pure honey costs Shs20,000, while a five-litre jerrycan goes for Shs100,000.

Vision
Akilo apiculture farm now employs six people who attend to the apiary.
“I pay each of these workers Shs100,000 per month and the earning has had a great impact on their lives,” he narrated.
Okello revealed that he has been able to settle tuition of his children, build a new home, drill a borehole as well as establish a coffee plantation and livestock.
He said that he now plans to establish an apiculture demonstration unit at the farm to train prospective bee farmers in Lira District.
“I drilled a borehole and my plan is to grow crops in the dry season through irrigation whose flowers can provide forage to bees throughout,” he noted.

Irrigation for increased crop production

By Michael J. Ssali

Unpredictable weather conditions are on the rise and farmers must resort to irrigation in case of prolonged droughts when crop production can prove very difficult.
Due to the favourable climatic conditions we have enjoyed in Uganda irrigation sounds a new idea among farmers but in other countries such as Egypt crop production has never been possible without it.
Irrigation and water conservation are among the strong measures being taken to increase agricultural production for a fast growing population amid climate change conditions.
For plants to grow well there has to be sufficient supply of water in the soil all the time.
Normally this need is fulfilled by rain but when there is inadequate rainfall and insufficient water within the rooting zone of the crops they wilt and die.
To sustain plant growth during times of rain scarcity the farmer must artificially supply water into the root area of the crops.
The water may have to be carried in containers and poured over the root area of the crops such as young coffee or passion fruit seedling or it may be carried in pipes to be sprinkled over the crops.
In situations where irrigation water is scarce, the water is put into containers like plastic bottles or cans which may be placed slightly above the rooting area of the plant.
A tiny hole is made at the bottom of the container to allow small drops of water out of it into the ground to keep the plant’s root area moist. This kind of irrigation is referred to as drip irrigation.
The farmer must closely monitor the amount of water in each container and ensure that more water is made available when the containers are dry.
Some farmers put fertilizers in the water to enhance soil fertility. In other cases of drip irrigation the water is supplied through pipes to the plants where a small nozzle lets out drips of water into the plants’ root area.
It is important to ensure that the water used for irrigation does not contain plant damaging chemicals or high salt concentrations. Drip irrigation does not support weed growth.

E-mail: ssalimichaelj@gmail.com

The success story of a city farmer

By Edwin Nuwagaba

Behind Shell petrol station on Jinja Road, and across the road near the railway line is a stretch of land. On it, there is a man digging. As other people pass by the wire fence that separates his garden from the pavement, others stop and call him.
He immediately drops the hoe and goes to sell them vegetables which are always available on his farm stall. Digging and attending to these customers is Charles Kwebingira’s typical day.

When he, with several workers, were laid off from the Uganda Railways Corporation, he did not walk away cursing. Instead, he approached the management and asked them to rent him part of the railway land for cultivation. It was easy, because while he still worked with the railway line he used a small part of the company’s land for farming.

“They charged me Shs1m for two years and I started working, but they did not charge me fees the third year because they realised I had helped them cut the expenses they used to pay salaries to people who were slashing the land,” he says. Kwebingira’s job before leaving the company was to slash the grass and shrubs along the railway line.

While there are other farmers on this land, Kwebingira is the one who does full-time farming and on a relatively large scale. His garden sits on two acres. Most of the food items on his farm gate are freshly harvested. They include egg plants, bitter tomatoes, sukuma wiki, greens like gobbe, doodo, tomatoes and other vegetables. “People like buying from me because I sell them fresh vegetables,” he says.

His customers range from passersby, who usually are returning home, to stall owners in his neighbourhood like Kibuli, Namuwongo and other places. He is lucky because he does not have to involve middlemen as all his customers find him here. He makes about Shs10,000 every day. And he is not bothered by Kampala City Council because he sells his products within the fence of his garden.

One thing that keeps a smile on his face is that, he is not limited by seasons. Vegetables are available at his stall every day of the week. It works this way; as one egg plant is germinating, another is flowering and the other one is ready for harvesting.
That happens because he plants in stages. “There are even times when they are so many that they get wasted,” he says. He adds that bitter egg plants which are enjoyed by many city dwellers, can last up to two years, while he picks them on a daily basis.

Not only does Kwebingira reap financially, he also returns home with food for his family. His home is in Kibuli, close to his garden so he doesn’t spend money on transport to and from his home, or when going downtown to the Container Village to buy farm inputs.

He is happy. “I get some money to use on a daily basis. I am paying school fees for my five children and I also bought a piece of land at Shs4m in Kabale which I hope to develop very soon.” He is currently developing another garden on the other side of the railway line.

Kwebingira sells produce directly to his customers thus eliminating the need for middlemen or transport costs to the market. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA

Improved farming methods
Two years ago, like many farmers in Uganda, Kwebingira’s methods of farming were poor. His harvests and profits were largely dependent on the weather. But now he has gotten wiser.

He has just finished digging a small dam from where he will be fetching water to spray his crops. In recent months also, he started applying fertilisers to enrich the soils. “Ever since I started applying fertilisers, my profits have increased,” he says.
Much as almost everything appears blissful for this city farmer, there are a couple of challenges he faces. Because his garden is within the city centre attracts many thieves. A private security guard for a nearby bank has been helping him patrol his garden, but thieves still keep coming. “Whenever I got them and took them to police, policemen always asked me to feed them until the time they would be remanded to Luzira prison. And I had to pay Shs10,000 for their transportation to the prison. If I didn’t, police would release them and they would come back to my garden,” he says. But now the incidences of theft have reduced a bit.

More to that; “Because customers see that I grow the vegetables myself, they always want me to sell them many things cheaply. But I always tell them that I have to sell at the market price because farm inputs are very high.”

However, since most of these are his daily customers, he has to compromise. He sells five egg plants at Shs500, greens at Shs200, tomatoes range from Shs400, Shs500 and Shs2000 and about a bunch of about 20 bitter tomatoes at Shs200.
Kwebingira says he has been farming a long time, and he has become weak. He wants to acquire capital and start up a business. Nevertheless he does not regret venturing into farming, and urban farming at that.

Well, as food prices and other commodities rise, it would make sense for city dwellers with access to any size of land to start practicing urban agriculture. It doesn’t have to be to the size of Kwebingira’s garden.

Homeowners willing to put some effort into this, can be sure to keep the cost of their grocery bills down, as well as earn money by selling their surplus produce. The Ministry of Agriculture could also step up and encourage urban agriculture to boost food security.

Farmer finds goldmine in local breed chicken

By DAVID MAFABI

Steven Mukweli, a resident of Bungokho in Mbale, is a self made millionaire.
A dropout at 17, Mukweli decided to venture into poultry farming.
The man who started with just seven birds, today boasts of over 20, 000 exotic and 1, 600 local breeds.
“Farming was the only option. I started with a handful of free-range birds but today the story is different,” he said.
Mukweli, who has gone a step further into breeding, says anyone can make it. In the tips below, the farmer shares how best one can make cash from eggs, hatching and chicken sales.

The farmer is pictured holding a water container for his exotic birds. PHOTO by David Mafabi 

Egg hatching
Mukweli who two years ago graduated into the business of hatching chicks at his farm says for proper results, farmers should provide nests for laying hens and that the nests should be close to each other in a slightly darkroom.
According to him, hatching chicken eggs is an extremely rewarding experience, which requires good planning, dedication, flexibility and observation by the farmer.
“Put some soft material such as dry grass or coffee husks in the bottom and use sand, soil or small stones to support the nests so that they don’t collapse or drop the eggs as the hens enter and leave,” advised Mukweli.

Egg selection
Mukweli says that at this stage a farmer needs to choose eggs which the hen can comfortably sit on and hatch as anticipated.
He says the right eggs one should select for hatching must have no cracks, avoid too big (twins), too small, too pointed, too oval and too spherical.

Conditions
Mukweli explains that he has over five cocks and advises that each farmer must have a cock on the farm that mounts the hens. According to Mukweli each cock should be given eight to 10 hens to avoid competition and fighting.
He says during laying and hatching, the chicken house and the nests should be free from parasites such as lice and mites as these might make the hen abandon the eggs.
Zainabu Muyobo, also a poultry farmer in Manafwa district advises famers to prioritise good health saying the birds should be feeding very well.
“You need to provide enough water and feeds at this time because the hens will stay on the eggs to warm them for hatching for 21 days,” says Muyobo.

Profits
The farmer explains that ideally hens are bred domestically mainly for eggs and meat but investing in massive production is a viable business idea because you can get meat, eggs, and hatch more chicks, which can also be sold at one’s wish.
“And the revenue potential for this kind of business investment is estimated at about Shs50m annually and in order to achieve this, one should have at least an initial capital investment of about Shs3.5 million,” he said.
Mukweli says that chicken droppings collected daily have enabled him get free manure for his gardens where he has also embarked on fruits and banana growing.

Market
According to Mukweli the birds especially from his farm are on high demand.
“Custormers find me at my farm,” he says.
He earns about Shs500, 000 weekly from the sale of local chicken and eggs, which has enabled him transform himself from a poor rural farmer to a model farmer in Bungokho.
“I also earn Shs700, 000 from selling broilers and exotic eggs in Mbale municipality hotels and businessmen, so all together I earn more than a million shillings a week from my farm when the chicken begin laying eggs,” Mukweli revealed.
Mukweli says as a poultry farmer he has earned a lot of money from the sale of local chicken eggs because they begin laying eggs after about five months and have a long laying period.

Management
Mukweli says although the chicken are locally bought within the community, his birds undergo nine different vaccinations.
He also disinfects his chicken houses every time new birds are brought in.
He explains that visitors on the farm are limited because some of the diseases are transmitted by humans.

Incubating guidelines
Keep the temperature between 98 and 101 fahrenheit (The optimal temperature that you are striving for is 98.5).
Keep the humidity between 55 and 70 per cent.
It will take 21 days for the eggs to hatch.
Gently rotate the eggs 1/4 to 1/2 turn three times a day for the first 18 days
For the last three days of incubation do not rotate the eggs.
Don’t wash the eggs before putting them in the incubator, leave them as they are.
The eggs for incubation must be bought from from somebody that raises chickens, ask for fertilised eggs because you want to incubate them.
There is no way to guarantee fertilisation but the chicken raiser will give you good eggs that have probably been fertilised.
Keep the humidity on the low end of the scale 55-65 for the first 15 days but try to get the humidity up to around 65-70 for the last few days. This will help the hatching.

Hatch
A hatch generally requires specific design and specifications for handling the parental stock together with the cocks, brooders, young chicks and feeds.
The bottom of the nest can be dusted with ash to prevent parasites from co-habiting the facility.
The parasites normally suck blood from the brooder hen on top of disturbing the peaceful settlement of the hen on the eggs.
Local chicken
Mukweli says hatching health local chicken starts with procuring disease free birds and that this requires the buyer to be every observant while buying birds.
“For instance they should not have falling feathers, running nose, red eyes, fallen comb, pale comb, and bloody comb. And these symptoms might be a pointer of Newcastle disease, fowl pox and coccidiosis,” said Mukweli.
He explained that to improve the quality and output of poultry, a farmer is advised to cross breed their chicken and that in cross breeding, one cock should mount not more than 10 hens.

Facts about indigenous chickens
• Meat and eggs are tastier and preferred by most consumers to those obtained from commercial breeds
• Initial investment is less than that needed to keep commercial breeds
• More tolerant of harsh conditions, including diseases, than commercial breeds
• Can be fed on cheap, locally available feeds
• When allowed to range freely, they need little feeding or other care
• Women and youth often control income from chickens
• Local markets are readily available for both eggs and chickens
• Droppings are rich in nutrients: can be used for compost making, pond fertilising and as feed for livestock.

Mugisha is an agro-ecologist in the middle of degradation

Mugisha has managed to conserve over 30 varieties of beans on her farm.

x

Mugisha showing the award she won from National Agriculture Research Organisation. Photos by Christopher Ahimbisibwe

“You are welcome to my farm,” Joy Mugisha says with a beaming smile. We are in Ngoma-Nungi, Kiziba ward, Kagango division in the new municipality of Sheema in Sheema district.

Mugisha’s house is sorrounded by over 100 acres of well utilised land that contains 20 acres of banana plantation, five acres of coffee trees (both robusta and clonal); 25 acres  of a cattle farm, 10-acre garden of beans and 10 acres of eucalyptus trees.

The 54-year-old Mugisha, an agro-ecologist, who only holds a certificate in agriculture (pest and disease), has made her home an island of conservation and productivity in the middle of the degraded hills of Kagango.

“I use my little knowledge of conservation and environment protection for improved productivity and sustainability”. 

She says that she started farming in 1986 and currently practises mixed farming.

High productivity and sustainability

Because of her research and best practices, she has seen her banana plantation improve in productivity

“When I planted my banana plantation 20 years ago, I used to harvest bunches of bananas weighing four kilogrammes, the yield improved to 10 and now I harvest bunches weighing between 35 to 40 kilogrammes” she says.

She plants over seven varieties of bananas including improved varieties and other local ones.

“I like local varieties because they are easy to manage. That is why I have more of them than improved varieties’.

“I plant trees because I know they are important in the rainfall cycle. I also get poles from the forest to support my climbing beans and also for fencing my farm. I remove all polythene bags in my farms to allow easy movement of water in the soil. These are some of the reasons why I won an award with the National Agriculture Research Organisation for best local practices’.

She says she practices super stem cutting, chopping banana suckers and mulching the plantation to get good and improved yields on her farm.

“In order to have high yields, I rear animals so that they can supply me with cheap and sustainable organic manure for use in my banana plantation and all other crops,” she says, adding that most farmers struggle buying manure and using synthetic manure, which degrades the soil.

Seed conservation

Probably what has made Mugisha stand out is her seed conservation efforts. She has managed to conserve over 30 varieties of beans on her farm.

Mugisha's bean varieties

 “I love to look at the varieties. They are beautiful, nutritious and a rare combination of qualities. I want to preserve them for posterity,” she says.

She has some of the most sought after local bean varieties, which are resistant to climatic conditions such as kasiriira, kanyarwanda, mahega, gantagasize, kishoga, kanyamunyu, kanyobwa, kiribwa ogwejegiire and kankurye-mbarukye.

 Farmer-to-farmer networks

Mugisha has become a centre of attraction for both local and national farmers who come to her farm to learn how she has managed to maintain high productivity, stability and sustainability. She has also formed a women’s association group called Kiziba Women’s Group who have constructed a seed bank for their produce.

Risk management

While soil erosion and sedimentation are wreaking havoc to agricultural yields in Uganda, Mugisha says that she has surrounded her farmland with trees which help against soil erosion and also act as wind-breakers.

She says that the greatest risks on her banana plantation and her coffee plantation is the banana wilt bacteria that affects her bananas. As a researcher she has tried to control such risks by cutting the affected plantations and also using acalacides that can kill the virus and also control the spread.  

She says farmers need to know the seasons so that they can reduce on the banana leaves. "The more leaves on a banana tree the more heavy it becomes  and the more easy it is to be felled by the wind and the reason for putting  plant support on each tree," she says.

Post-harvest handling

For sustainability purposes, Mugisha says that she has been able to use local technology such as a crushing machine, moisture meter to measure the amount of water in the harvested crops and use of a weighing scale to measure the weight of the banana bunches.

After harvesting, she sorts the seeds for easy marketing and conservation.

In the garden, every plant is marked according to the botanical name and class. This has helped her to know the different bean varieties.

Plans

Mugisha says that she wants to start a demonstration farm for farmers to teach people how to practise modern farming.

She wants to install an irrigation system which will help her during the dry season. With an irrigation system, I will be able to have continuous seasons throughout the year.

Invest in agriculture

Mugisha says she earns over sh4m monthly from her. "People should invest in agriculture and food production because it pays well," she says.

By Deusdedit Ruhangariyo

Roundup: FAO chief warns of soaring hunger in Africa

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva gives a speech during the official World Food Day ceremony in Rome, Italy, Oct. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Jin Yu)

ENTEBBE, Uganda, Sept.4 (Xinhua) -- The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Jose Graziano da Silva has warned that there is increasing hunger in Africa due to factors including prolonged drought, floods and conflicts.

Graziano da Silva said this on Thursday while concluding a three day visit to Uganda where he held discussions with the government about advancing sustainable agriculture and strengthening collaboration and strategic partnership for a hunger-free country.

He told reporters here, 40 km south of the capital Kampala, that over the last three years hunger has increased in Africa and yet it is decreasing in other parts of the world.

He said the agency would in about two weeks announce new figures of the hunger situation.

Graziano da Silva was speaking after meeting Uganda's Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Vincent Bamulangaki Sempijja.

Sempijja said that although Uganda is not yet facing a food crisis, it faced a shock after it was invaded by the Fall Army Worms which destroyed crops, especially maize.

He said the attack came shortly after the country had undergone a prolonged dry spell which reduced production.

Sempijja added that the influx of South Sudan refugees into the country exerted more pressure on the food situation.

"We would be having a lot of food but we now have over 1.5 million refugees. This is a big challenge of top of challenges like drought," he said.

Since fighting broke out in South Sudan in late 2013, more than 1 million refugees have crossed into Uganda. Other refugees are from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi among others.

FAO earlier this year announced that in Africa, famine had broken out in Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan.

Last month, FAO and the World Food Programme in a food security report said the rising violence and displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo was pushing the country to near famine levels.

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis said 7.7 million Congolese face acute hunger - a 30 percent increase over the last year.

Zimbabweans receive food ration from a World Food Programme (WFP) distribution center at rural Mupinga area in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, Oct. 6, 2015. About 60 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of acute hunger as food production situation is set to further worsen with the looming El Nino, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Monday. (Xinhua/Stringer)

To relieve the pressure on Uganda regarding the refugees, FAO said in the last several years it has implemented more than 3 million U.S. dollars' worth of projects to support the refugees in Uganda.

Some of the support includes providing them with locally-adapted and diversified seeds to grow quick-maturing, high-nutrientfoods as well as with kits for livestock treatment, poultry production and micro-irrigation.

During Graziano da Silva's visit to Uganda, he also signed a memorandum of understanding with the agriculture ministry. Key issues in the agreement include ensuring food security, creating jobs for women and youths through agriculture and adapting to climate change.

Africa's largest silent crisis

The influx into Uganda of South Sudanese people fleeing violence – one million since July last year – has become the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world.

It is Africa’s biggest human exodus since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Despite the sheer scale, it is largely a silent crisis not covered by many major media outlets. We must not ignore this emergency.

This week, I am in Uganda to meet some of those who have recently arrived – the majority of whom are women and children – and to reaffirm the support of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to the Government of Uganda in its refugee support efforts.

Those efforts are truly exceptional: Refugees are not only being provided with land to build shelter and grow crops but are also granted freedom of movement, the right to work, and access to health care and education.

In addition to South Sudanese, many people and families who have fled conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are benefitting from this.

It’s a unique approach that goes right to the heart of effective refugee protection, which must involve finding long-lasting solutions that enable people and families to live in safety, reestablish their livelihoods, and reclaim their lives.

FAO believes that agricultural support to build rural livelihoods is key in achieving this goal in Africa. This is why in recent years we have implemented USD 3.6 million-worth of projects to support South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, providing them with locally-adapted and diversified seeds to grow quick-maturing, high-nutrient foods as well as with kits for livestock treatment, poultry production and micro-irrigation.

Other projects have created new income opportunities and helped address home energy issues by teaching people how to convert waste into fuel that can be burned in energy efficient stoves.

And our flagship approach in Uganda – Farmer Field Schools and Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools – have been pivotal in helping integrate refugees into host communities, by allowing them to acquire new agricultural skills and know-how.

FAO is also working with Uganda’s national Resilience Measurement Unit to ensure that the Government can accurately assess refugees’ resilience dynamics, generating “knowledge for action” that can guide funding decisions and help to ensure that support reaches the most vulnerable.

Greater donor support is needed if we are to intensify these efforts to effectively respond to the scale of this crisis.

It is vital that funds be mobilized so that refugees can provide food for themselves sooner rather than relying on food aid, and so that refugees and their host communities can have a real opportunity to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty and build a sustainable future for themselves and their families.
By: JOSÃ GRAZIANO DA SILVA
The  Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 
Copyright: Project Syndicate

Here's What Climate Change Looks Like To Uganda's Coffee Farmers

If you’ve ever bought coffee labeled “Uganda” and wondered what life is like in that faraway place where the beans were grown, now’s your chance to see how climate change has affected the lives of Ugandan coffee farmers — through their own eyes.

Rising temperatures and prolonged drought can make coffee trees less productive and increase their exposure to pests and diseases. This is especially a problem in Uganda, where nearly all of the coffee is produced by small farmers who have little access to irrigation or other modern farming conveniences. Coffee is by far the country’s most valuable industry: It accounts for one-fifth of export revenue, and about 1 in 5 Ugandans rely on it for part or all of their income.

Yet climate change could slash the country’s coffee production in half by 2050 —a loss worth $1.2 billion, according to a 2015 economic analysis commissioned by the Ugandan government.

Because Uganda is a relatively small player in the global coffee market, disruptions there won’t necessarily affect the price of your morning joe in the U.S. But within the country, a disturbing new reality is taking root. To find out exactly how Uganda’s coffee farmers view their experience of climate change, I recently equipped a dozen of them with disposable cameras.

None of the farmers had ever used cameras, and the ones I gave them were pretty low-quality. But I was amazed by the more than 300 images that the farmers delivered. Many are candid, well-composed and achieve a level of intimacy that would be hard for an outsider to capture. You can access the full Flickr album here.

The photos show the struggles of everyday life for small family farmers who are facing drought on Mount Elgon, one of Uganda’s oldest and most prestigious coffee-producing regions. We see cows and chickens; children on their way to school; people bustling around water sources; and plenty of manual labor around the farm. That might all sound a bit mundane, until you realize the photos are really a window into the minds of a vulnerable population living on the front lines of climate change.

I set up this project in March with a group of coffee-focused agronomists at the Kampala offices of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), a nonprofit research organization. We found our 12 volunteers — six married couples spread across low, middle and high elevations of Mount Elgon. We gave each a quick briefing on how to operate the camera, then asked them to document the impacts of climate change. We left those parameters intentionally vague so the farmers would feel free to define “climate change” in their own terms.

A week later, we got the cameras back — and with them, an unfiltered glimpse into how the farmers understood their situation.

Among the intriguing images is a sort of still-life, shot on the farm of Sam Massa and his wife, Robinah Muzaki. They live in a mud-brick house in the mist-shrouded upper slopes of the mountain, surrounded by coffee trees that Massa’s great-grandfather planted more than 100 years ago. The photo shows artifacts from the farm that represent the effects of rising temperatures: leaves affected by fungal disease; a stem-borer beetle, which lays eggs inside coffee trees, causing branches to wither; a clutch of red coffee berries that Massa says “are not properly matured.”

“When you open the inside, there’s nothing,” he says.

Massa’s wife is fond of a picture she took of the family cow. She says that because drought had severely reduced the last coffee harvest, the family was desperately looking for other ways to raise cash. When she took the picture, she and Massa were considering selling the cow. By the time the pictures were developed, the cow was gone. (A calf, also seen in the image, is still on the farm.) So the picture became a memorial to something climate change had taken from the family.

“I had to sell that cow to pay the school fees for the kids,” she says. “If the yield of coffee had been good, I wouldn’t have needed to sell it.”

There were other revelations, things that people might not normally associate with climate change, but that are painfully obvious to those living in its harsh reality. Pictures of nondescript dusty roads show the challenges of transporting produce to market; photos of children in uniforms represent school fees, which is many families’ biggest cash expense — paid for by coffee.

“We are in poverty now,” says Michael Lullonde, whose wife, Lofisa, snapped the picture of a school seen on this page. “To take our children to school, or even get food, is very hard.”

Peter Magona, another of the photographers, says that despite the obvious change in climate, for him and other farmers on the remote Mount Elgon, there’s no other viable livelihood than coffee: “If you look around, you can see the environment has changed considerably. There’s no rain. The yield is very poor, and the income is very poor, due to this prolonged drought. But coffee is our cash crop, and we cannot drop it. We depend on it.”

There are many other stories hidden in the photos, too. Over the coming months, IITA scientist Onno Giller plans to finish interviewing the farmers about the images they took and compile the findings in a peer-reviewed research paper. In the meantime, Massa plans to use the prints of his photos as a teaching tool, to encourage his neighbors to take a second look at their own farms and see what they can do to climate-proof their practices.

by Tim McDonnell

Uganda Gets Shs652 Billion for Rural Agriculture Financing

By Martin Luther Oketch

Kampala — The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) on Tuesday announced that Uganda had been allocated $168 million (about Shs651.6 billion) for rural transformation through agriculture. The allocation is aimed at enabling rural farmers to access long term loans for agricultural practice.

The fund, which has a duration of seven years, is being administered under the IFAD arrangement called the Project for Financial Inclusion in Rural Areas. In Uganda the project is being implemented by the ministry of Finance and it entered into force in November 2014.

In an interview with Daily Monitor at Speke Resort Munyonyo on Tuesday at the official opening the fourth Regional Conference on Implementation of Rural Agriculture Transformation, with the theme financial inclusion, IFAD regional director of Eastern and Southern Africa Division, Mr Sana F.K. Jatta, said IFAD has 45 ongoing projects in 22 countries in the region with the total portfolio of $1.7 billion.

"Out this amount Uganda has been allocated $168 million, in the category of a medium size country programme," he said.

Ugandan farmers and other business communities are always faced with the problem of limited access to long term finance.

Mr Jatta said Uganda's project is competitive and very innovative which is encouraging because the projects in Uganda have provided productive and beneficial support for the farmers involved in it.

The IFAD project encompasses funds from IFAD itself, government contribution, beneficiaries' contribution, development partners such as the World Bank, among others.

Mr Jatta added if all the funds from the IFAD are added together they total to $3.5 billion, being administered in a cost effective way to spur development.

Uganda's projects include palm oil in Kalangala and the surrounding areas; while in other areas it includes sunflower, simsim and beans.

Mr Jatta said the way the IFAD project is designed based on Public, Private Producers Partnership.

"We started this programme in Uganda in 1995 in Kalangala and it aims at increased productivity of the farmers as well promoting financial inclusion through the government. We do this by reaching the poor with the financial services, train them on how to engage in linkages of markets, train them on business development plans," he spelt out.

IFAD is an international financial institution and specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.

Uganda's minister of Agriculture, Mr Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, who opened the conference said: "Increasing household agriculture is one of government strategy of rural transformation."

The state minister of microfinance, Mr Kyeyune Haruna Kasolo, said government's financial inclusion policy aims at enabling the rural farmers to have increased access to funds for agricultural development.

However, the director global engagement, knowledge and strategy division, Mr Ashwani K. Muthoo, told the conference that the funding gap for rural agriculture financing is still huge.

Why are armyworms attacking Africa's crops?

Image copyright

Scientists warn that parts of southern Africa already hit by record droughts now face another potential food crisis because the invasion of a crop-eating pest, known as the "fall armyworm".

Global experts are meeting in the Zimbabwean capital Harare to come up with a plan to combat it.

What is the fall armyworm?

The name is a bit misleading. It is not actually a worm, but a hungry caterpillar that eats crops before turning into a moth.

It is a new pest, not to be confused with the similarly named "African armyworm", which has been present in the region for many years.

Where did it come from?

It is native to the Americas, but experts are not sure how it reached Africa.

One theory is that the eggs or the caterpillars themselves hitched a ride in some imported produce, or even made it on board commercial flights.

Why is it such a threat to farming?

• It is very hungry (and not picky) - This pest targets maize (corn) and other cereal crops, like its African namesake, but it also attacks cotton, soybean, potato and tobacco crops. When it does invade, up to three-quarters of the crop can be destroyed.
• Unknown enemy - Governments, communities and farmers have no previous experience of dealing with the new pest, which may be even harder to deal with than its native equivalent.

Image captionArmyworms can destroy entire fields

• It is fast - According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), it has taken only eight weeks for the pest to spread to the six southern African countries where there are suspected infestations.
• It travels far and wide - The caterpillar stage does the damage but "it's the adult moth that migrates long distances and that's how it's managed to get round Africa," says Professor Ken Wilson, an expert on armyworms.
• It is not just targeting any old crop - Maize is the primary food staple in many of the areas where the pest has been identified.
• It is hard to find - The fall armyworm burrows right into the stem of maize plants, concealing itself from view and preventing farmers from spotting the problem early.
• Bad timing - It comes after two years of record droughts, which have already affected more than 40 million people in the region, making 15% less food available, according to the UN.

Where is it?

South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia and Mozambique are the chief suspects among southern African countries, according to the FAO.

The presence of fall armyworm in Africa was first reported on the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe in January 2016, it says.

---

Chimenya Phiri, Malawian farmer:

"These army worms attack the maize leaves, the flower and even bore into the stalk. And because they dig into the stem of the plant, it is difficult to notice them. It is only on close inspection that you realise almost the entire plant has been destroyed"

---

Other research groups have also reported it in parts of West Africa, including Nigeria and Ghana.

But the governments of Zimbabwe and South Africa are the only ones to have publicly confirmed that they have a problem with this specific pest.

How much damage has already been done?

We don't know exactly, because many affected countries have not provided data yet.

Finding out the number of hectares affected and the intensity of the pest is one of the main aims of the emergency summit in Zimbabwe, the UN says.

Image captionSouth Africa, affected by the new pest, is the largest corn producer in the region

South Africa, the region's biggest maize producer, has confirmed the destruction of crops from the pest in six different provinces.

The Zambian government has said that 130,000 hectares (321,236 acres) of land have been affected, with the prime suspect the fall armyworm.

What can be done to stop it?

Insecticides. Chemicals can be used to deal with the pest in its early stages, but after that it becomes much harder, and some populations of fall armyworm have developed resistance, according to experts.

Image captionScientists want a co-ordinated response to the invasion

Other approaches involve digging trenches, employing natural predators, like birds, to eat the worms or even burning the crops, according to David Phiri, the senior FAO official in southern Africa.

Zambia, thought to be one of the first places hit by the outbreak, used army planes to spray affected areas with insecticides, which has enabled some crops to recover, an official at the national disaster agency told the BBC.

What next?

The warning from the FAO is a bleak one, suggesting that things will probably get worse before they get better.

"It has just started - even those countries not currently affected should prepare themselves for possible infestations," Mr Phiri told the BBC.

Image captionBotswana suffered its worst drought in 30 years in 2015

Scientific institutes have also raised the alarm, describing the pest as a major threat to food security and agricultural trade in the region.

However, if there is a "co-ordinated approach" from countries across the region, then that's where the solution might lie, Mr Phiri says.

"We cannot eradicate it, but we can find ways of managing it."

Un affected maize close to harvest