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Report of activities and achievements since the International workshop on ecofarming

held in Ethiopia from 16/11-11/12/98.

Main activities:

1. Creating awareness and sensitization on ecofarming: This has been done through meetings (formal and informal) and field visits. Among those sensitized are: a) Agricultural officers in the Department of Agriculture, Mukono District, Uganda. b)Members of the Association of Uganda professional women in Agriculture and Environment. c) Farmers and civic leaders. A total of 196 people have been reached.
2. Project on multiplication and distribution of new bean varieties (K131 and K132) in Ntanzi-Parish, Mukono District (see below).

 

Project introduction:

Planting high yielding varieties, resistant to pests and diseases, which enrich the soil with Nitrogen is in line with Eco-farming principles. It is in light of this that the project proposal was written and solicited for funding after the International workshop on Eco-farming . The project is a Mcknight Grant funded by Winrock International through AUPWAE(Association of Uganda Professional Women in Agriculture and Environment). Implementation of project activities started in April 1999. A total of US$5000 was approved for financing the project. Funding is for 1 year but it is expected that farmers will continue after expiry of the funding.

 

Project summary:

The bean multiplication project is located in Ntanzi, Ntenjeru subcounty, Mukono District. The inception of the project idea arose from a survey that had been carried out and showed low productivity of beans. On the analysis of the problem it was found out that the major causes of the problem was the low yielding varieties. Other root causes included lack of technical knowledge on proper agricultural practices, on pests and disease control, and high post harvest losses. The project goal is to improve incomes and household food security of rural households in Ntanzi parish, Mukono District.

 

The main objectives of the project:

• To increase bean yields for 100 household from 400-800kg/ha to 1.5-2 tons per hectare.
• To increase the net incomes from bean sales for each of the 100 households from Shs.22,170 per hectare to Shs.253,185 per hectare.
• To increase knowledge and skills on the recommended agronomic practices for bean production in rural households in Ntanzi parish.
• To increase knowledge and skills on improved pre and post harvest handling and storage of beans in rural household in Ntanzi parish.

 

The main project components:

• Seed multiplication and distribution
• Establishment of demonstration plots.
• Training of extension agents and farmers.
• Production of agricultural extension materials.

Collaborating partners and their role in the project:

The participating parties are researchers, extensionists, farmers, Makere University and NECOFA(Network for Ecofarming in Africa).

 

Roles of NECOFA in the project:

Ecofarming works with nature, within the sustainable ecosystems, rather than against it. It is thus beneficial for farmers to plant beans in order to sustain the crop land without spending money on chemical fertilizers. The role of NECOFA, is therefore to facilitate exchange of ideas and experiences from other people who have implemented similar projects.

 

Project achievements to date:

1. Successful purchase, delivery and planting of improved varieties of beans (K131and K132), 750kg estimated to plant 25 acres were delivered. Each of the 100 farmers was given 7.5kg of beans enough to plant 0.25 of an acre.
2. Formation of parish bean development committee. This was for proper management and for sustainability of the project.
3. Production of agricultural extension materials. A total of 112 brochures on bean production (translated into the local language) were produced and given to the farmers.
4. Training. A total of 126 farmers have been trained on: a)Improved agronomic practices which included: Land preparation, seed selection/seed rate, early planting, weeding, fertilizer application, pest and disease control. b)Pre- and post-harvest handling like timely preservation, chemical preservation, proper storage.

Project experiences

Ecofarming emphasizes minimal use of chemicals. It has to be pointed out that during the trainings, there was a lot of experience sharing between farmers and facilitators especially on cultural control of pests and seed preservation.

Examples include:

 

1. Cultural control of Aphids on beans by use of red pepper and urine.

Red pepper:

• Get 1 full cup of tumpeco of red pepper
• Crush it and put it in a container or jerican
• Add 2-4 cups of ash and keep for 24 hours.
• Then filter and spray on bean

Cow Urine:

• Get one jerrycan of urine
• Add one bundle of couch grass and keep for two months.
• Remove and measure 5 cups of cow urine and add 20 cups of water and spray on beans.

2. Storage pests - The control of the bean bruchid: The most notorious storage insect is the bean bruchid. Farmers were told that when the bean bruchid attack the beans, it results in the following losses.

• Weight loss up to 10%.
• Quality loss (tainted food) 90%.
• Nutritional loss (protein and carbohydrates).
• Loss in seed viability .
• Other losses, economical loss i.e. low price in the market.
• Farmer may be forced to sell off his or her crops at a cheap price and later buy at a high price.

 

Farmers shared their experiences on how to control the bean bruchid, which included:

• Storing beans with some trash and dust. These lessen the bruchid movements.
• Mixing beans with wood ash. It repels the insects or irritates it.
• Frequent drying of beans. The warm conditions are unfavourable to the bruchid.
• Mixing Jobyo (local vegetable). Dried leaves, crushed and mixed with the beans. They repel the bruchid.
• Mixing the beans with concentrated banana juice(kisubi juice called akaliga in local language ), then drying. This seals the seed against any attack by the bruchid.
• Other cultural control practices included: Timely harvesting, Storage hygiene, Air tight containers.
• Use of local materials such as: Neem tree, Tephrosia, Tobacco leaves, Red pepper.
• The leaves are dried, crushed and mixed with bean seeds.

Further workshop proposal

From the foregoing explanations, farmers are slowly realising that ecofarming is an highly beneficial alternative especially for small farmers with scarce capital to buy expensive inputs.

With the sensitization and the implementation of the project on the ground,

a proposal has been worked out to conduct a national workshop on ecofarming in Uganda:

• to sensitize political and decision makers regarding issues of ecofarming,
• and/or to establish a NECOFA country network and develop an action plan.

Report by:

Immaculate Luwedde Sekitto,

Country representative, NECOFA Uganda

November 1999