Towards improving farmers' livelihoods through exchange of local agricultural content in rural Uganda

Abstract

For years, conventional wisdom among government and the civil society has been that in order to have higher and better farm output, use of modern farming techniques is paramount. True as it may sound, the practicality of implementing modern farming techniques in grassroots farming communities is questionable. This is primarily because its adoption comes along with the need for money to obtain farm inputs like hybrid seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and machinery. The grassroots farmers in rural Uganda who are living on barely one US$ a day cannot afford this. Also, culturally in Uganda, marriage is an institution which is highly respected, and in most communities it is carried out traditionally. Whereas the man is the head of the household, the woman carries the childbearing and raising responsibilities, looking after the house, doing all the domestic work and feeding the family. It is common practice to find that whereas the man owns the land, the woman tills it. The proceeds from the farm are sold off by the woman and the money given to the man who then decides how to best apportion it. It is important to mention at this point that this culture has today been diluted with many families moving away from it. This is attributed to the various interventions by government and civil society that promote joint ownership, decision making, access and control of the land with its resulting proceeds and other household property. These were some of the major issues raised by farmers during a brainstorming session that involved Busoga Rural Open Source and Development Initiative (BROSDI). BROSDI is an NGO which focuses on the thematic areas of agriculture, reproductive health rights including HIV/AIDS, and the rights of children with special emphasis on orphan children (http://www.brosdi.or.ug). It works with government and various members of civil society in empowering the rural communities into examining their adverse situations and devising practical means for addressing them, together with local leaders, farmers and government representatives from the agriculture department in Mayuge District. The brainstorming session was held at the BROSDI Development Centre in 2004. From this session, the Collecting and Exchange of Local Agricultural Content (CELAC) Project was born (http://www.celac.or.ug). CELAC aims to improve the livelihoods and food security of rural farmers, especially women. It engages government and civil society in knowledge sharing and information management of local agricultural content using various information and communication technology (ICT) media. CELAC is implemented by BROSDI with working partners Hivos, Linux Solutions, ICTARD and FICOM.