FarmersFOOD AND WATER
Climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine pushed an additional 50 million people in Africa into extreme poverty, last year. A combination of extreme weather events, the disruption caused by the pandemic, and the spiraling costs of food, fuel and fertilizers that were triggered by the war in Eastern Europe reversed years of progress in the fight against poverty, and took to more than 278 million the numbers of extreme poor in Africa. Most of these people live in rural communities. Most of them live on land that has the potential to produce much more than it does at present. It makes our work more important than ever.
Improving systems of production will provide Africa’s 8 million small-scale farming families with the opportunity to produce more food and earn more from the land than they do at present.
At Albertine Interventions for Development (AID), we have launched a new four-year strategy in Spring 2023 that will redouble our efforts to support rural farming communities to sustainably produce more and earn more from small farms, in the face of a changing climate. We will
support the crucial small-scale farming sector that is responsible for producing up to 70% of Uganda’s food. Here are some of the ways how AID Uganda intends to do it:
- Introducing ‘climate-smart’ farming methods will help households to grow the food that
they need in the face of a warming planet. This approach is also essential to preventing land degradation and restoring fragile eco-systems. - Promoting new crop varieties resilient to climate shocks in our communities, new farming methods, and providing farmers with access to better quality seed will enable families to grow more and earn more from their land.
- Organizing farming households into producer groups and cooperatives, developing markets for farm produce, and supporting measures that add value to farm production will help families boost incomes, will create new jobs, and will provide opportunities for young people to live and thrive in rural communities of Uganda.
- Supporting women – by providing access to farming inputs, to land, to markets and to small loans – will contribute to the creation of fairer societies, where 77% of females in Uganda are engaged in agricultural work compared to 67% of men, yet women’s contribution is usually under-estimated and under-appreciated, who produce approximately 40% of Africa’s food, which calls for better rewards for their efforts.
The core focus of that work will be in Rwenzori, South Western, Eastern and West Nile regions of Uganda, where agriculture is up to 10 times more effective at reducing poverty than other
approaches.
At AID Uganda, we believe in the power of community. We believe that for millions, the road out of poverty starts on a small farm.
