a situation analysis, needs assessment and innovation report conducted with farmers of nawantale village, kakunu parish, kisozi subcourty, kamuli district

Description

This is a report of supervised experiential learning projects (SELPs) conducted in Nawantale village, Kakunu parish, Kisozi sub county, Kamuli district under VEDCO organization in eastern Uganda The purpose of the internship was to expose the intern to different agricultural and rural development practices to enable the intern describe the farming system of Nawantale village that is crops grown, animals reared and also to conduct needs assessment in the communitiy. Under farming systems, farmers have sweet potatoes as their major cash crop and maize as their main food crop with different innovations to deal with related problems in those enterprises. While in the field the intern was attached to a programme called meals and nutrition for all Ugandans (MENU) which involves the supplying of OFSPVs and HIBs to ensure that mortality under five years is reduced by equipping the farmers especially women under reproductive age (15-49) with crops that reduce VAD. The programme involved pay back activity that was meant to ensure that there is wide coverage of iron beans seeds and OFSPVs. The innovations which were identified in the community include using drip irrigation inform of bottles, using organic fertilizer and pesticide, intercropping cereal crops with leguminous crops, digging trenches along the soil. PRA tools were used during the process of situation analysis and needs assessment which include; pair wise ranking, community mapping, transect walk, focus group discussion, semi structured interviews, seasonal calendar. The lessons learnt include; training farmers on agronomy of crops especially pests and diseases, management skills and team work while carrying out organization activities, communication skills and common terminologies of Lusoga which made me speak effectively with farmers and I also learnt that farmers need practical demonstrations in order to enhance adoption of modern farming methods.