By KT Reporter
The National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) has partnered with certified public accountants to promote agroforestry in the Busoga sub-region.
Through the Buginyanya zonal agricultural research and development institute (Bugizardi) in Mayuge district, 31 farmer groups have been provided with durable eucalyptus trees, capable of improving farmers’ incomes.
The farmers were also provided with improved, quick-maturing jackfruit varieties, which will equally supplement their earnings from other food crops. They were also given guava fruit seedlings, rich in medicinal values.
According to research obtained from BugiZardi, boiling the guava leaves is highly recommended for patients suffering from high blood pressure and other related illnesses. The mango seedlings are also newly developed superior varieties, big compared to the indigenous species, rich in vitamins, highly nutritious, and coupled with high market potential.
They were also given Hass avocado trees for both income generation and the nourishment of children under the age of five years.
The farmers were also boosted with the NARO cassava-1 variety, with a maturation period of one year and a yield capacity of 25 bags per hectare.
Spokesperson of NARO, Frank Mugabi, says that they develop several technologies, but most of them are rarely accessed by the farmers. Mugabi says that, through partnerships with different stakeholders like the CPA, they can directly reach out to the farmers in need of these technologies.
Mugabi reveals that NARO signed a memorandum of understanding with the Busoga Kingdom geared towards easing the accessibility of newly developed technologies to the targeted farmers.
Mugabi notes that this has increased their direct interface with grassroots farmer groups across the Busoga sub-region. He is hopeful that this initiative of directly reaching out to farmers will greatly improve food security and agribusiness-centred farming across the Busoga sub-region.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of CPA, Busoga, Nubu Kamanya, says that part of their annual work is geared towards promoting climate change through the planting of income-generating trees.
Kamanya says that the small gains obtained through their current greening partnership with NARO go a long way in fostering the mindset change of farmers to safeguard the environment while equally earning from their courageous acts.
Kamanya also reveals that their long-term goal is to realise financial independence in Busoga with parents investing in high-yielding crops, which will enable them to not only afford quality education for their children but also partake in the unexploited opportunities in the agribusiness chain.
Kamanya also says that some of the high-yielding fruit trees will be planted at the different district headquarters across the Busoga sub-region as a means of creating awareness on the need to embrace agroforestry and horticulture as viable agribusiness chains, proven for sustainable wealth creation.
Veronica Awori, a beneficiary farmer, says that she has been growing at least two acres of cassava in 15 months, but would harvest between 8-10 bags.
Awori is, however, hopeful that this high-yielding disease-resistant cassava will enable her to harvest about 25 acres in the same land area, which is key in improving her income-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
