Smallholder farmers in Mbale City, Uganda, have long grappled with poor methods of farming, limited markets for their produce, poor preservation methods, prolonged drought, poor quality of seeds, pests and diseases and counterfeit agro-chemical inputs that have greatly affected their productivity.
The need to develop a more resilient food system for sustainable food production for Mbale City is an agenda by local policy makers, hence the intervention by RUFS Uganda who recently organised a two-day capacity building workshop for local smallholder farmers. The workshop held on 11-12 April 2022 at Mbale City Northern Division Offices was a follow up on the recent Needs Assessment workshop where a range of issues including the need to organise farmers into groups, need for training on sustainable land management practices, and access to financial resources, were identified and prioritised for action, in a bid to empower smallholder farmers with skills on sustainable agriculture.
According to Mr. Wamimbi Andrew, an Agricultural Officer of Mbale District Local Government (DLG)-Wanale Sub-county, there is need to strike a balance between intensive farming and environmental conservation, “ecosystems can’t be compromised at the expense of intensive agriculture,” he said.
Gearing towards sustainable horticultural production
The implementation of the RUFS Uganda project is guided by three main objectives:
- Assessing key vulnerabilities to urban food systems;
- Facilitating a process of coming to agreement on the key priority areas and/or policies or actions;
- Supporting decision-makers to develop evidence-based policies and activities.
In line with these objectives, RUFS Uganda in a participatory way, initiated the formation of Mbale City Food Systems Platform (MCFSP), with the aim of bringing together all relevant players and stakeholders to prioritise Mbale’s food shed. MCFSP will initiate processes and activities geared towards sustainable horticultural production including financial resource mobilisation, training of farmers, institutional capacity building, environmental protection, building partnerships and networking, research and knowledge generation and gender inclusiveness. The platform will also serve as a dialogue tool where stakeholders involved in the horticultural value chain will advocate for supportive policy and practice.
RUFS Mbale Capacity Building Workshop at Mr. Ssenkooto Julius. Photo: Courtesy of RUFS Uganda
Call for more collaborations and partnerships
In his remarks, Prof. Frank Mugagga, Head Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics and Climatic Sciences at Makerere University and Team Leader of RUFS Uganda Project, appreciated the stakeholders for showing commitment in coming together as a group. “As RUFS Uganda, we pledge to support you to actualise MCFSP.” He acknowledged support by funders in implementing the project activities.
The Mbale City Deputy Mayor, Her Worship Kakai Harriet, applauded the Makerere University team for choosing Mbale and the development partners for funding the project. “Mbale is ready to welcome more partners in this regard, thanks Prof. Mugagga for prioritising us, as well as the participants for making time to attend the training. It has been an eye opener that we can start with minimal investment and thereafter expand”, she said.
The RUFS Uganda project team will be heading to Kasese Municipality next for a similar exercise.
