Farm Training Takes on New Importance
Our farm training program has taken on new importance due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because so many people in Uganda have lost their jobs or businesses due to restrictions that have been put in place in Uganda. Uganda took a very aggressive approach to try to stem the spread of the virus and implemented total lockdowns for many months. While they did a great job keeping the pandemic from becoming a huge issue, the economic toll on Ugandans has been devastating.
Because of this, many people have turned back to farming as a way to feed and provide for their families. We have been busy training farmers and trainers in several areas for the last couple of months in anticipation of the rainy season.
We ran a train the trainer session in Jinja in early February where we mentored some of the younger Farming God's Way trainers in Uganda. It was such an encouraging time with these trainers we call "Young Lions" because we feel great about the future of Farming God's Way in Uganda!
We have also been training farmers at our farm in Kyando, Mayuge. We have never had such great turnouts at our trainings. We typically give our farmers a small garden on our farm that we call "experiential gardens". These are gardens that they can practice what they have learned throughout the growing season and allowing us an opportunity to train and mentor them. They then practice it at their own farms the next season. We have had so many students that we had to double up farmers on our experiential gardens.
We have also been training at two different sites in Buwelele Village in Mayuge District. A forestry company has been to trainings on our farm and witnessed how effective Farming God's Way is and has given us two two-acre gardens at two different sites . They have had issues with farmers encroaching on their plantations when their traditional farming practices have used up their current farm land. They have recognized that if farmers surrounding their plantations can use more sustainable farming practices, there will be less need for them to encroach on their plantations.
The rainy season will soon begin, and the bulk of our trainings will be complete, but our work is not finished. We are conducting weekly trainings on our farm and at the two other sites with the farmers that we are mentoring. We are training specifically on vegetable farming because growing corn is not economically viable.
We are excited that we can be of help to farmers during trying times with the Farming God's Way resource. We are also thankful for our supporters that make this work possible! Thank you!!
