Africa-Press – Uganda. Mengya Integrated Farmers Cooperative Society in Kween District has been voted the most innovative cooperative society in the country.
This was at the 360 Degrees Farmers’ Awards organised by the Uhuru Institute.
Speaking at the awards ceremony in Kampala on Wednesday, Mr Daniel Bukenya, the chief judge at the awards, said Mengya Integrated Farmers’ Cooperative Society was successful because they presented a compelling innovation of how they are turning their rugged terrain, which is full of rivers and waterfalls, into an opportunity to beat the drought.
The farmers divert water from the rivers and waterfalls to their gardens to irrigate crops.
“This is a compelling innovation in motion. It did not have to wait for another awards ceremony for them to win the award. Kapchorwa has many rivers and waterfalls falls and they have a rugged terrain that is prone to drought. They turned this disadvantage into an opportunity to use gravity flow to irrigate their gardens,” he said.
Mr Bukenya also said the farmers’ group improved the Irish potato variety from Kigezi Sub-region and increased its shelf life from three months to eight, enabling them to penetrate the Rwanda market.
The judges at the farmers’ awards also considered the cooperative society’s business model, growth strategy, impact on society, scalability and sustainability. Mr Moses Kiptala, the general manager of Mengya Integrated Farmers Cooperative Society, attributed their success to committed leaders.
“This was a deliberate change of mindset whether the government or private sector is there or not, the leadership is committed. The nature of the land gave us the opportunity. We just tap water from up and we irrigate. Right now the temperatures are too high but we are harvesting Irish potatoes throughout the year,” he said.
Ms Betty Cheptoris, the club treasurer, said they have been tapping water from the Mt Elgon forests and rivers, especially River Ngege and Sipi Falls, and they have been able to plant Irish potatoes on more than 10 acres of land from which they harvest about 40 tonnes during the dry season. The group hopes to use the Shs30m they won during the awards on to increase the acreage of land for cultivating the Irish potatoes.
Sebei falls under the Mt Elgon ecosystem, which is the major source of water for rivers and lakes in Africa. The water flows down the mountain and sometimes ends up on mountain cliffs, resulting in scenic waterfalls. The water from the mountain has for ages been responsible for irrigation in Doho and Kibimba rice schemes. The region is famous for the production of crops such as coffee, maize, wheat, barley, Irish potatoes, and horticultural crops.
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