Adam Bemma

  • Tanzania: Animals and crops provide mutual benefits in mixed farming

    Madanji Awe holds a recently-picked maize stalk which he has stripped clean of cobs. He places the long, yellowy-green stalk into a forage chopper and pulls the cord to start the motor. After a few attempts, the machine roars to life and shreds the stalk into bite-sized animal feed. Mr. Awe grows maize, beans, cowpeas,…

    Adam Bemma

  • Uganda: Teacher leaves classroom behind but keeps educating

    John Kaganga is transforming the lives of rural youth. The retired teacher is inspiring young people to pick up their hoes and build a brighter future in Kasejjere village, 70 kilometres northwest of Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. Mr. Kaganga says: “When I returned home after living in the city for 20 years, I saw the…

    Adam Bemma

  • Uganda: War orphan educates young farmers

    Jaspher Okello crouches low with his hands in the soil. He is surrounded by two hectares of orange-fleshed sweet potato vines which sprout from the earth. His three younger brothers watch and learn as he inspects the crop. The 20-year-old is a fine example of a Ugandan farmer. Mr. Okello says, “I have hope in…

    Adam Bemma

  • Farm Radio broadcaster: Monica Ruth Acan, Radio Wa, Uganda

    Monica Ruth Acan smiles and says, “I first felt the spirit of agriculture while I was a student in secondary school. All students had to tend to a garden. While I didn’t like doing it at first, I came to love it.” Ms. Acan presents two programs on Radio Wa: Wa Farmer (Our Farmer) and…

    Adam Bemma

  • Uganda: Urban residents turn to vegetables and chickens to improve their lives

    Ruth Nalunkuma sits on her front doorstep and gazes at her kitchen garden. The 47-year-old mother of five grows fruit and vegetables in a garden outside her tiny home in Kigoowa, a suburb eight kilometres northeast of central Kampala. Mrs. Nalunkuma says, “I grow spinach, pumpkin, passion fruit, onions, spinach and dodo [amaranth] in my…

    Adam Bemma

  • Tanzania: Small-scale farmers speak up for better market access

    Digging her hands into the soil, Juliana Amadeus pulls up a fistful of onions with green, leafy stems. As the wind picks up, the onions’ pungent aroma wafts across the one acre farm. Ms. Amadeus drops the onions on to a large pile. Another woman picks up the onions and, one-by-one, hacks off the roots…

    Adam Bemma

  • South Sudan’s Hip Hop Artists Call for Peace and Reconciliation Through the Unhip Practice of Farming

    JUBA, Aug 28 2014 (IPS) – “What is the benefit when children are crying and people are dying due to hunger? There is no need to cry when you have the potential to dig,” sings Juba-based dancehall reggae group, the Jay Family, in their latest single “Stakal Shedit,” which means Work Hard in Arabic. In…

    Adam Bemma

  • Uganda: Farmer Profits By Branching Out Into Selling Sweet Potato Vines

    Perpetua Okao pulls a ringing mobile phone out of her pocket. She responds to the caller, “Yes, I may still have some vines. How many do you need?” Mrs. Okao tucks the phone back into her pocket. She explains: “I’m the chairperson of Atego Farmers Women’s Group. We’re not only women farmers. We also have…

    Adam Bemma

  • Uganda Women Farmers Lack Access to Critical Information via Radio

    KAMPALA, Uganda – I traveled across Uganda, last May, to conduct focus group discussions with smallholder farmers on the impact of the My Children radio drama, produced by Farm Radio International and Harvest Plus Uganda. This radio drama taught farmers about the nutrition and benefits of growing and consuming orange-fleshed sweet potato. It became obvious…

    Adam Bemma

  • War Veterans Planting for Peace in South Sudan

    JUBA, Aug 21 2014 (IPS) – Along the fertile banks of sub-Saharan Africa’s White Nile, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile River, a war veteran’s co-op is planting for a food secure future in South Sudan, a country potentially facing famine. Wilson Abisai Lodingareng, 65, is a peri-urban farmer and founder of…

    Adam Bemma
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