Agriculture Skills Training
The Impact
The new location is near the Mudja Displaced camps and based on the one hectare of rented land in 2023. A total of 40 participants took part in the program in 2023, including 10 women who worked with the program youth to provide practical skill transfer and growing knowledge. An additional benefit of the women and youth working side-by-side is that it creates an atmosphere that fosters trust, understanding and mutual respect. The program lead is a volunteer agronomist who provides technical training about plants, how to utilize limited growing spaces, and about high yielding crops that are fast growing and have a high nutritional value.
Full Cycle Agriculture Education
Other topics cover practical skills such as planting and paying attention to the depth at which seeds should be planted, water usage, composting, crop rotation, seed collection, and when to harvest. The main crops for this program are sweet potatoes and russet potatoes because they are:
1. A staple in the diet.
2. Relatively sturdy crop.
3. High yielding production.
4. Possible to harvest more than once in a year.
With each harvest, a percentage of the crop goes to the camps and a percentage becomes potato seed for the next planting. An important takeaway from the participants is the sense of community created. The sense of comradery and shared experiences creates a sense of belonging and positivity about the future.
Our Newest Program
Our agriculture program has taken on greater importance than originally conceived because of the ongoing civil unrest that led to more people fleeing for the camps and the need to provide for the basic needs of the population. However, recently the rapid expansion of camps led to several important changes. The land that was to be utilized for the program became a camp, which meant that a new location had to be secured and the additional expense of land rental costs to the budget. Additionally, products such as herbicides became expensive and very difficult to source, leading to the decision to shift to organic farming.
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