A farmer participating in the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) food security CGS project among refugees became a highlight during a Lutheran World Federation livelihood exhibition in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in Kamwenge. Besiime Peace who hails from Nyabwine Village in Bwizi Sub county around the settlement showcased the nutritious Narospot1 (NARO Sweet Potato 1) during the fair that took place from 26th– 27th July at Katalyeba Town Council Headquarters.
Besiime said that she had been amazed at the size of potatoes and the big yield that had been realized from the potato vines which were distributed by NARO to farmers in the settlement in April. She praised the variety for being fast growing, high yielding and resilient. She said that the demand of vines for planting in the settlement was overwhelming following the good yield.
In April 2023, NARO Rwebitaba ZARDI distributed 150 sacks of cassava cuttings and 80 bags of potato vines to an initial lot of 230 farmers to multiply seed and pass it on to other farmers both in Rwamwanja refugee settlement and its host sub counties of Nkoma, Biguli and Bwizi in Kamwenge district.
According to Dominic Twesige a field coordinator for the NARO refugee project, famers participating in this multiplication project are mandated to pass on potato vines and cassava cuttings to an extra two farmers in time for planting in the coming seasons even as they continue growing them themselves. Those two next level recipients are to do the same thereafter in perpetuity.
“It’s a spiral arrangement of a seed delivery system designed to ensure that the entire refugee settlement and host sub counties receive and grow seed and become food secure in three years”. Twesige said. He added that the farmers had been trained in basic agronomy and post-harvest skills and that the results were beginning to show.
Dr. Kenneth Akankwatsa the Principal Investigator of the project said that owing to resource constraints, NARO was seeking other partners to help scale out the project to more farmers in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement, host communities and even to other refugee camps in Uganda. Other commodities that are being promoted for uptake in the refugee settlements to curb rampant malnutrition as well as food and income insecurities include NARO’s maize, soybean, beans, leafy vegetables, rice, pumpkins and bananas.