Agriculture Cluster Development Project

  One of the Grievances that the project anticipated to arise was the supply of poor quality of inputs, delays in delivery of inputs, high cost of inputs, wrong input varieties among other complaints. Indeed, in April, verbal reports reaching the coordination office, indicated that a cross section of beneficiary farmers in Muko Sub county, Rubanda district had received poor germinating bean seeds redeemed under the e-voucher program.   To validate the complaints a response team quickly visited the aggrieved farmers to make an assessment. The team was comprised of MAAIF Cluster 11 Coordinator, the supplier (Green Firm Africa), Acting District Production Officer, Acting DAO and the sub county extension worker for the affected sub county. The team sampled and interacted with nine affected farmers and sampled four gardens. This is what they found out; ·        A total of 63 farmers all hailing from one sub county; Muko in Rubanda district had rec...

  Sustainable Land Management (SLM) strategies and practices enable farmers and communities to adapt, as well as become more resilient, to climate change by increasing food production, conserving soil and water, enhancing food security and restoring productive natural resources. SLM refers to the adoption of land use systems that, through appropriate management practices, enables land users to maximize economic and social benefits from the land while maintaining or enhancing ecological support functions of land resources. In most of the agricultural production zones, the soils are old with little mineral nutrient reserves. Many cases where phosphorus, potassium and calcium, are below critical levels, it means that there is: •          a decrease in fallow periods due to increased pressure on land •          those under ‘fallow’ are in poor state [abandoned rather than deliberate fallow] •  ...