Planting Forest Gardens in Mount Elgon, Uganda

Why support agroforestry?

As is the case for the majority of farmers around the world, growing a diverse mix of crops reduces the risk of loss of income if a certain crop fails, for example due to drought or disease. Providing farmers with training and equipment to grow a range of crops helps protect their income should one crop fail.

The area surrounding Mount Elgon in the Eastern part of the country is heavily degraded due to deforestation and over-cultivation. The relatively high population in the area puts a strain on the land, leaving it almost bare, due to degradation from animal grazing, tree-cutting for fuel wood, and heavy mono-cropping of specific crops like bananas and coffee. The degraded land has also led to deadly landslides in the area which pose an acute safety risk to the nearby populations.

This land degradation arises as a direct clash between existing, damaging farming practices like monocultures (which exist often because they were historically imposed on the areas by colonial powers), and the wellbeing and needs of the local people and ecosystems.