Farm Talk, June 2010

8/9/2019 Farm Talk, June 2010

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Farming in northern Uganda

With this Farm Talk , we send you Onion seeds. Learn how to grow onions.

TALK

Welcome to yet anotherissue of Farm Talk . Findout what Farm Talkers in

northern Uganda are doing after20 years of war.

For protection during the war, overtwo million people, including pupils,lived in internally displaced personscamps. Most had no gardens.They depended on food from thegovernment and charities like theWorld Food Programme.

Now that peace has come, peopleare leaving the camps and goingback home to buld and clear land forfarming. Because they were raisedwithout gardens, many young peoplelack proper farming skills.

Teacher Akello Margaret of Pagen PS, Kitgum, says: "Manyare orphans who have grown up incamps with limited education andfarming skills. They need everyone's

help to live abetter life."

Farming forsurvivalOcanGeorge,17, is

an orphan in P7at LaminolawinoPS, Amuru.

He lives with his sisters. They growand sell onions. “I want to becomea businnessman. We have growncassava and beans for our third termschool fees. I also burn charcoal. Lifeis not simple. I want to be a goodfarmer but I lack skills to produce

enough harvest for food and sale.”

As explained by teacher Akello, many

Making agriculture rewarding and fun for pupils & teachers Vol.10 No.4

young people are like George. It isimportant that girls and boys work together. This makes work easier.

To get a big harvest, you usually needto farm in a modern way.• Prepare land early before rain starts.

• Don't use re to clear land It killshumus and useful organisms in thesoil.

• Plant quality seeds.• Always weed your garden. Weeds

compete with your crop for soilnutritents. Weeding reduces pestsand diseases.

• Rotate your crops and mulch to keethe soil fertile. Healthy plants ghoff plant disease better than weaones.

Contact your subcounty NAADSofce to learn more about

farming and quality seeds.

Women and girls make up over80% of people who work in

agriculture. They grow most of thefood and work for more hours everyday than men and boys.

about what to grow, whereto sell and how to use themoney.

Boys, let girls and womemmake decisions. Respecttheir views. Girls, speak out. Talk to your parentsto give you equal chancein education and decisionmaking. Equal participationhelps girls and boys to:• Benet equally.• Discover their full

abilities.• Share work/get better

results.• Take on responsibilities

and do same work without gender bias.

• Develop condence.• Learn to respect one

another.

Farming for everyone Atim Joyce, 13, andOpoka David, 15, P5,Rwot Awich PS, Pader,say: “At school we growdifferent crops. Girls andboys uproot and carrythem to the main hall. After sun drying, weput the harvest in sacksand keep in school storewhere cooks pick some toprepare lunch for us.”

No complaintsFred Wilobo, 15, P7,Goro PS, Amuru,says: “At home girls andboys equally participatein farming. This makeswork easy and increasescooperation among familymembers. I advise boysand girls to work togetherand avoid complaining."

Pupils carr y their

bean har ves t.

Boys and girls support each other

Hav e y ou ev er gr ow n onions at home or at sc hool? In t his paper , fnd onion seeds and f ollow t he inst r uc t ions on page 2.

But females have little control overland and power to make decisions intheir homes.Men make most decisions about whatto sell and how to use the money.

They oftenspend themoney onunproductiveuses such asalcohol. Thisis a seriousproblemcausingpovertyamong manyfamilies.

You canchange thisculture.Womenand girlsmake gooddecisions

Onions ar e spicy !

FarmTalk-1 .indd 1 7/30/2



Farm Talk, June, 20102

Akello Vicky, 14, S1, KochOngako SS, Amuru, says: “Ourmother is the head of the familybecause our father died. We areeight children and my brothers arestill young. As an eldest child I helpour mother to take things to themarket.”

That’s good Vicky, butask yourmother toallow yougo withthe boystoo so thatthey canlearn andalso helpwhen youare unable.

"I like farming butdon't have money forseeds and gardeningtools." Acwera Bosco,

P7, Laroo PS

Life after war

"We have a big land inthe village but we havenot gone back." AtimJoyce, Rwot Awich PS,

Pader

"Farming is good. I growand sell maize to getpocket money. ."AromaStella, P5, Laminolawino

PS, Amuru

"I grow groundnutsand simsim for schoolfees." Atimango Bren-da Laroo PS

Farm Talk travelled to Amuru,Gulu, Pader and Kitgumto talk with Farm Talkers

about what they are doing afterthe war. Many are not practicingeffective farming methods. Enjoy

their stories:

Still in camp AdyeroCaroline,16, P6, KochGoma CentralPS, Amuru,says: “I don’thave a gardenbecause wehave not yetreturned toour village. Butwhen I goback, I want

to grow cotton. There is highdemand. But I don’t know where Iwill get seeds.”

Cotton is protable Achan Betty, P7, Pagen PS,Kitgum, says: “I never saw my

parents. I stay withmy relatives and growcotton to supportmyself. A kilogramsells for sh900. So far

I have saved sh75,000for my school fees insecondary.”

No money from boys Apio Scovia, 15, P7, Laroo Boarding PS says: “My father isdead but I don’t ask boys for money.I do farming and sell crops to buy

vaseline and other things I want.When a man gives you money, hemay ask for sex.”

Aloyo P, 12,P5, Laroo Boarding

PS and Adyero F, P6,Police PS, Gulu weed

their home maizegarden.

Spice your garden with onions

Onions are easy to grow.They have long storage lifeafter harvest.

They can be planted in three ways:sets/bulb cuttings, direct sowing andtransplanting.

Nursery bedOnions are best grown on raisedbeds at least 8cm high and 20inches(40cm) wide. About 40-50 daysafter sowing in a nursery, they will be

ready for transplanting.

In the main garden, space 8cm x10cm between rows. Onions requirenitrogen at the beginning of bulbing.When your soil is not fertile enough,apply organic manure or plant tea.

Onions are edible at any stage. Theyare ripe when leaves start to wither. After uprooting from the ground,allow the onion to dry, remove theroots and cut the leaves to one inch.

Diseases and pests Onions are mainly affected by blight

and purple blotch diseases.

Protect your onions by planting themin well-drained soil, running the rowsin the direction of wind and sprayingwith a multipurpose local pesticide.

For pink root, a soil borne disease,control it by practising crop rotation

Thrips are insects that cause mostdamage. Control them with naturalpesticides, Malathion or Diazinon.

Quality seeds = higher yieldsPlanting quality seeds leads tohigher yields. Get good seedsfrom a trusted supplier. Seedsare alive. Handle and storethem with care. Protect themfrom rain and hot sun. Where you store them should be well

ventilated, dry and clean.

Quality seeds should be:• clean and free from weed

seeds, disease or pests• well dried• have no damages• be harvested at the right

time (not fresh or over dried)

Apio Scovia, 15, P7, Laroo

Boarding PS

Pupils of Ndongo Baptist PS,Kasese learn about onions




Farm Talk, June 2010

Young Farmers' ClubYoung Farmers' Club This is a story of the Young Farmers' Club. Start aclub in your school and write to Farm Talk about it.

The Adventures ofThe Adventures of

Opio: Our pesticide is cheap and can be used on all typesof crops.

Mr Okot: Today’s topic is about

how boys and girls can doprofitable farming in northernUganda.

Akello: At home,we grow crops and keep

animals. We don’t make a profit because of poor soil,drought and pests. We are

still living in IDP camps.What should we do?

Atim: Are theredifferent enterprises for girls and boys?

Ajok: What dowe need to makenatural pesti-cides?

Mr Okot: That will be nice. I am

sure we shall have better yieldand profitable farming.

Mr. Okot: Cover the bucket with the polythene bag

using a string and then putit under a shade. After 3days, the pesticide will beready for use.

Mr Okot: Ooh, No, both girls

and boys can carry outsimilar enterprises.

Mr Okot: When you have finished, put all of them intothe bucket and then add water.

Ajok: Thank you, Mr Okot. We are goingto tell our parents

about making natural pesticides.

Mr Okot: Practice agro-forestry to improve the soil. Make naturalpesticide to control pests.

Mr Okot: Itis simple.Mix 7 bulbsof onion,7 cups ofmarigold,6 cups oftomatoleaves, 5cups ofneem/melia,2 cups ofphytolaccadodicandra(luwoko) and1 cup of redpepper.

Mr Okot: For the poor

soils, we can usecompost manure which we learnt about in our lastnewspapers.

Decision makingis important inimplementing any activity. At home,decisions aremade as to whichschool to takechildren.

In schools,decisions aremade as to what toplant in the school,

which flowersto plant in the

compound.

There is always aneed to make gooddecisions. A gooddecision is made

when everyone isallowed to speak out what they think about that activity before a decision isreached.

Teachers, girls andboys need equalopportunity to beleaders. Explain tothem the important

benefits of sharingroles equally. Helpthem to buildconfidence.

Write to Farm Talk

PO Box 22366,Kampala about benefitsof equalparticipationby boys & girlsin decisionmaking. Youcan also sendemail: farmtalk@

straighttalkfoundation.

org

Tookema Pito

Odong, agricultureteacher, Laroo PS,

Gulu

Mr Okot: Dilute with water

1 liter of pesticide with 3litre of water beforeapplying it on crops.

Club memberscut materials.




Farm Talk, June 2014

Le t ter s

Farm Talk is produced by Straight Talk Foundation and funded by Danida Agriculture Sector ProgrammeSupport. Farm Talk supports the primaryagricultural syllabus of the Ministry of Education and encourages thecreation of fenced school gardens,one acre in size, intensively cultivated, and acting a livinglaboratory. It also addresses

the nutritional needs of orphans and vulnerablechildren. Designer : GB Mukasa, Writers: F Ouma, Editors: C Watson, Contributors: MangoTree; G Kiyingi, J Kisakye RMuwawu Reviewer: James AfricaByekwaso

After reading about wastemanagement in the last Farm Talk ,we resumed using urine in ourbanana garden. Now we know howto use urine as fertilizer. NankyaHalima Zimbe, Kiryassaaka SS,Masaka

Thank you, Farm Talk for the

implements and seeds. This hasmade teaching agriculture veryeasy and improved academicperformance. Tumwesige K Patrick and Magambo Tom,Mparo PS, Hoima

Thank you, Farm Talk . Wehave formed a group of ninemembers. We are encouraging ourcommunity to protect forests andwetlands for future generations.We request for tree seedlings,vegetable seeds and tools. LomanPeter, Nakapelimen Village YouthGarden Group, Moroto

I constructed an energy saving stoveafter reading Farm Talk . I am savingmoney on charcoal. I can also cook

several meals at ago. Iroku Brenda,Teacher, The Light PS, Soroti

Through Farm Talk club, I have learntdifferent methods of farming and howto control soil erosion. I have nowstarted a garden at home and people

are admiring it. Musinguzi George,Duhaga Boys PS, Hoima

We have started diversied farmingat school. We have a banana gardenand keep pigs. At home, we alsopractice diversied farming. We grow

beans, ground nuts, and keep goats,hens and ducks. My father now wants

to sell some goats to buya cow. Through farmingour parents have been ableto build a good house andto pay our school fees ontime. Calvine Mirembe,Mutanywana SS, Kasese

Thank you, Farm Talk for the tools and seeds.We have made a nurserybed and planted all thevegetable seeds. We havealso opened up land for

the demonstration garden.Nasasira Jane, KikondaPS, Kiboga

Dear Farm Talk , apart fromusing pesticides on crops,how else can one controlthe spread of pests anddiseases on the farm?Wabwire Moses, Butula Youth Farmer’s Club,Busia

Dear Moses, thanks for the question.Use environment friendly methodsthan pesticides. These methodsinclude; use of clean uninfectedplanting material, timely planting,proper spacing of crops, crop rotatiomixed cropping, pruning of crops and

maintain a clean garden by removingall the remains after harvest.

Pupils of Bukomero Junior School, Kiboga inspecttheir cabbage garden to see if there are pests.

Is the weather in your areachanging? Is there dry landwhere it was once a swamp.

Are there oods where it was oncedry? Is the temperature hotter thanbefore?

All over the world, the weatheris changing: this is called climatechange or global warming. Climatechange is dangerous. It disturbs ourcrops, water and health.

Crops can be grown with treesto ght climate change and getother benets from trees. Growingcrops together with trees is calledagro-forestry. It is an easy wayof keeping the soil fertile andprotecting the environment.

Growing trees with crops alsoincreases crop yield and farmincome when you sell crops, timber,rewood and poles.

Some agro-forestry trees arefodder to animals and medicine forboth animals and humans. Theyalso conserve the environment byabsorbing carbon dioxide, bringingmore regular rainfall, and reducingthe pressure on natural forests byproviding rewood and timber. Thisplays a big role in reducing effectsof climate change such as droughts,oods, loss of species, and pestsand diseases.

Agro-forestry trees also x nutrientslike nitrogen in the soil keeping itfertile for crops to grow well. Theycontrol soil erosion by binding thesoil with their roots, provide shade

Grow crops and trees to fght climate change

Grevillea trees good for timber when left to mature.

to crops, act as wind breakers andadd humus to soil when their leavesrot. Trees provide beautiful andnatural scenery.

When growing crops with trees, mixcrops with appropriate agro-forestrytrees types like Leucaena (Leucaena

lucocefala), Calliandra (Calliandracalothyrsus) and Moringa (Moringaolifera). Perenial crops like bananaand coffee do well with Gruveria(Grevillea robusta) and Ficus (Ficusnatalensis) or Mutuba. Make surethat the trees are widely spaced.

Grevillea (Grevillea robusta) is one of theagro-forestry trees. You can also get timber,

frewood and shade.

A former swamp is nowa dry land due to climatechange.


Documents

Farm Talk, June 2010