The agriculture community in Uganda is strong, many farmers
rely on one another to get through hard times, learn new practices, and outline
their community goals. The farmers that we had the opportunity to see
diversified their practices by growing things like cocoa, bananas, corn, and
raising pigs. When harvesting all of these products they generally all do the
same thing, sell or keep for their families and communities. This means they’re
making money and reducing the costs to the community and their families by
providing them with food.
The main
issues that affect the farmers are climate change and the higher frequencies of
droughts, crop failure and destruction, low finances, and low availability of
large plots of land. They combat these problems by working as a team, involving
government support, and leaning on the community. Agriculture in Uganda is a
growing field and one that can have immense positive impacts on the community
and Uganda as a whole. When meeting the rural farmers of Uganda, you come to
realize that economies of scale and commercializing agriculture isn’t always the
best way to do things.
Question: How can Uganda’s agriculture community be improved in a
sustainable way, without impeding on the needs and wants of the farmers?
In order to improve Uganda's agriculture community all farmers should become more educated in agricultural businesses and economics to further the scale of their business in a sustainable way.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that many farmers rely on each other and that each have diversified their practices as you have mentioned. Based on what one of the farmers stated and the title of an article that was shown to us during our visit, was that cocoa is their largest producers in Uganda. Meaning that there's room for improvement in a sustainable way by allowing their future generations the education needed to become investors of their own high produced crops, instead of foreign investors which take the largest profit amount. If they became investors there would also have the room to make investments in the appropriate machinery needed to make farming more effective and efficient. Meaning that it would require less hard labor or man power at a cheaper rate. We have also discovered that Uganda isn't highly informed in different types of insurances, so crop insurance would also make a difference and would preventing farmers from ending up in poverty due to the loss of those crops when climate changes are prevalent without impeding on the needs and wants of the farmers and their families.
ReplyDeleteEmma:
ReplyDeleteI think that in order to make Ugandan agricultural practices more sustainable and more successful, the farmers have to know where their crops are going and how they are going to make the best profit out of it. This includes education of the farmers along with an increase in trade so the farmers can be making more, better crops and being able to sell them more.
I agree with your point that most farmers in Uganda farm within communities. However, much of their produce go back into the community without being exported or sold, missing a greater proportion of profits. I believe that this process is not fully sustainable as there is too much of a dependency on external factors. If there was a larger sense of cooperation among multiple communities, there could be greater levels of trade and producing a greater amount of income for the farmers. Therefore, to make farming more sustainable, technology and trade should both be incorporated.
ReplyDeleteCrop insurance would be the best short term solution for sustainable development. In the long term, Patrick Bipature sees a future in which the farmer makes up a minority of the population while producing the food needed to feed the population. Before seeking out machinery and foreign investment, the government will need to secure jobs for those potentially displaced farmers.
ReplyDeleteAfter the rural visit itself, Patrick Bitature said something that I thought was very thought provoking. He said that we need to get out of the past and tradition when talking about agriculture and farming. He added that hoes is a form of enslavement. I agree, he said generally it is not the man using the hoe itself and that it generally is not the best way to farm. The farmers and the country as a whole would benefit from more technological advancements in the farming department. This could be better irrigation, tractors, or even something to protect the farmers (crop insurance).
ReplyDeleteA farm community coming together and purchasing a tractor and larger scale farming equipment would increase agriculture rapidly. Hand labor is slow and hard, If farms had tractors they could upgrade to larger scale farms producing more crops and making more profit. Eventually I see this a large business made out of this, ending small family farms and farming on a much larger scale.
ReplyDelete