When in Doubt, Try it Out!
Doing a comparison of traditional farming practices versus Conservation Agriculture on his own land has convinced Elijah that Conservation Agriculture is the real deal.
Elijah, a single farmer in his early twenties, is a member of a farmer’s association. He says that, before he was trained on good agronomic practices, he farmed without any knowledge or skills to speak of. “I would dig deep to plant, and I didn’t know about the benefits of mulching,” he admits.
Prolonged dry seasons severely affected his yields, because the sun would take all the moisture out of the ground. However, after participating in the training on mulching, crop rotation and minimum tillage, he decided to conduct a test. And what a test! He knew he was taking a huge risk, but felt confident that what he’d learned would carry him through.
As Elijah tells it, “I divided my vegetable garden into two 0.125-acre parts, and planted 400 eggplant seedlings in each. In one, I followed all Conservation Agriculture guidelines, while in the other I did the conventional deep plowing and did not mulch.”
“I couldn’t believe the harvest from the Conservation Agriculture portion: 2,238 lbs. of eggplants! From the conventional plot I got nothing because the sunlight destroyed all the plants. I now have all my gardens under Conservation Agriculture principles. The practice I value the most has to be mulching, because it keeps the soil moist during the dry seasons.”
Uganda Rubanda Program
Led by World Renew and Local Partner Pentecostal Assemblies of God Uganda Kigezi-Ankole Pastorate