I feel blessed to be part of the team, and a spirit of belonging. I was part of the SSA team in Uganda - West Nile region. I learnt a lot of things during the assessment, 

1- 98% of my communities in west Nile are small scale farmers.( most of their minds is set around quarters not acres)
2 - Their main purpose is to grow crops for food not for sale. Selling is a by the way.
3 - They have small land for cultivation. Especially in Terego county.
4 - 90% have never accessed seed aid and they so much need seed aid
5 - They have been experiencing prolonged drought with un predictable rain 
6 - In high and mid altitude areas, the only surviving crop is cassava, regardless of the variety.
7 - I also discovered that, NASE 14, Red beauty plus other improved varieties perform very well but are very expensive. eg a bag of NASE 14 costs between 13,000 to 16,000 and an acre takes about 6 bags which is very expensive for the poor to afford, a kilogram of G nut seed costs 3,500 to 4,000,  Tin of onion seed costs 10,000 and above.

When I reviewed this assessment, I thought of getting 8 acres to begin with for planting cassava intercropping with beans, I used the SSA questioner, sampled 20 households, 2 key informers and 2 markets in Oluko sub-county where I got my plot, I discovered that all of them knew about NASE14 and were all advising me to plant it. I plan to give my best attention to it though I may be limited by funds, and this same fund was secured as my facilitation during SSA. The 8 acre is prepared, I have secured 30 bags of NASE14 from the local farmers who benefited from seed aid from NAADS, out of 40 bags, planting will start on 15th April 2015. Your inputs and advise regarding this farming practice are welcomed before planting kicks of.

Once more, am so much delighted  to be part of the SSA team,

Best regards,

Adrole Gloria 


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