Africa-Press – Uganda. Farmers in Wakiso District have been urged to adopt permaculture and urban farming in order to protect the environment.
The call was made during a training of farmers on permaculture and urban farming organinsed by Agency for Integrated Rural Development (AFIRD) on June 30.
Addressing participants, Mr Eustace Ssajjabi, the executive director of AFIRD, said the organisation realised that people, especially those in rural areas, can use their compounds to produce food without interrupting the ecosystem.
“We use organic fertilisers because they are readily accessible from our villages and they are also easy to use. They [organic fertiliser] easily absorb carbon from the atmosphere, but we also do agroforestry to see that we still absorb more carbon,” he said
Mr Julius Justice Musiimenta, the head of programmes at AFIRD, asked the government to support the project.
“We need support in order for us to be able to reach more people,” he said, adding, “We have an organic policy that the government needs to implement. We need to work with government extension workers and they can even get knowledge from us.”
Ms Cate Namuddu, the secretary for production in Wakiso District, said: “I didn’t know that I could use the smallest compound I have to set up a kitchen garden and save money that would have been spent on vegetables. Now that we have all learnt, let’s go back and teach those who were not able to come.”
She added that the government set up a micro-irrigation system in the district to help farmers irrigate their crops during the dry season.
Mr Maurice Okello, a beneficiary of the project, said: “Everything comes out of the soil. If you don’t know what soil is, then you know nothing. I learned how to manage the environment.”
Martha Kansiime, a student at Wakiso Christian High School who attended the training, said she learnt that everything can be recycled.
Joshua Kato, another student, said he is planning to set up kitchen gardens when he returns home for the holidays.
FARMING
About Permaculture and Urban farming
Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms.
Urban agriculture refers to various practices of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in urban areas.
Source: Permaculture Research Institute and Wikipedia.
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