The professional perspective: Resilience through RUFS

Behind the individual triumphs of farmers like Eunice, Juma, and Teddy lies a robust academic and technical framework. 

According to Professor Frank Mugagga, the success of the current phase (2024–2026) is built on Integrated Farmers’ Training. This approach acknowledges that a successful farmer must be more than a cultivator; they must be a business manager and a communicator.

The project institutionalized bookkeeping, moving farmers from subsistence to business. By tracking financial, input, and sales records, farmers gain the data necessary to secure loans and scale operations.

RUFS has empowered farmers to find their “voice” through writing and public platforms like TV and radio. This ensures that the knowledge doesn’t stay on one farm but reaches the masses.

Recognizing that group dynamics are the engine of sustainability, the project has helped farmers in regions like Kasese restructure their leadership and create peer-learning action plans.

Sustainability & Self-Reliance

Henry Stanley Mbowa, lead facilitator from Aid Environment, emphasizes that the technical backbone of RUFS is low-cost, high-impact organic innovation. This strategy addresses the two biggest hurdles for urban farmers: pest management and high input costs.

Henry emphasizes utilizing locally available materials such as hot pepper, fermented urine, and Tithonia to repel pests without the environmental or financial burden of chemicals. He also advises scaling the use of urine-based fertilizers and dung manure to amplify yields while conserving the environment. The project follows a “learn-by-doing” philosophy. As Henry notes, “Knowledge learned when implemented cannot be forgotten.”

Research & Future-Proofing

A unique element of the RUFS project is the integration of academic research with community action. Through the Group Level Assessment (GLA) method, researchers and farmers interact in an engaging, non-hierarchical environment. This participatory process has allowed the team to assess Social and Hydrological Histories understanding how communities have been affected by environmental shocks and, more importantly, how they have “bounced back.”

According to Dr. Judith Nagasha, a Senior Lecturer at Kyambogo University who is the AgriFose2030 Uganda Hub leader, the RUFS project has demonstrated that resilience begins with knowledge, grows through community action, and flourishes through innovation. Across Kasese and Mbale, farmers have transformed small urban spaces into engines of nutrition, income, and dignity. 

The farmers stories and the success of the RUFS project proves that urban farming is more than just growing food; it is about dignity, health, and financial independence. As Eunice, now an author-in-the-making, puts it: “You can begin small, don’t fear, and keep positive.” Through the integration of traditional wisdom and modern technology, the farmers of Kasese and beyond are planting the seeds of a resilient future.