Our food gardens in place of grass lawns project has demonstrated feasibility and viability of using small spaces to grow nutritious food for own consumption and for income generation.

We challenged our staff members to pilot it by replacing grass lawns and flowers with food in the grounds of our centers. The only condition, establish and maintain food gardens using best agronomic practices and ensure they are aesthetically pleasant.They accepted.

Dr. Paul Hargrave Memorial Center

They are growing vegetables and fruits, including: eboo, malakwang, alaju, tula, sukuma wiki, green peppers, pumpkins, alodi, kal, amola, shears, ginger, avocado, pineapples, passion fruits, water melon, green bananas and mangoes.

From two vegetables, eboo and malakwang, according to them, they generated an estimated monthly income of 29,000 shillings; an estimated annual income of 348,000 shillings.

Their main customers, according to them, were teachers of Lira Central Primary School.

As at 31^st December 2016, ginger was still growing in-field.

The seeds harvested from alodi, kal, amola and shears are preserved for planting in 2017.

Loro Center in Oyam

They are growing vegetables and fruits, including: eboo, malakwang, alaju, green peppers, pumpkins, beans, maize, sunflower, hibiscus, jack fruit, tangerine, passion fruit, mangoes, oranges and guava.

They sold :

• 135 kilograms of beans at 189,000 shillings.
• 211 kilograms of sunflower at 211,000 shillings.
• 225 kilograms ff soya beans at 338,100 shillings.

Gulu Center

The vegetables they are growing are: cabbages, eboo, okra, green peppers, nakati and malakwang; and the fruits are mangoes.

Their Nakati and malakwang, according to them, fetched on average 20,000 shillings per month; that is an estimated 240,000 shillings per year.

Their main buyers, according them, were staff members of organisations that are renting office space in our center.

Pader Center

Sunflower was grown and the harvest of 145.8 kilograms. It was sold at 175,000 shillings.

Lessons Learned

Our staff members’ gardens demonstrate how to turn costs centers into income generation centers. In a practical way that can be easily replicated by smallholder farmers at household level.

By promoting the replacement of grass lawns with food gardens, we cut costs. CPAR Uganda saved all costs for mowing grass lawns and for sweeping the grounds.

We learned the importance of investing in irrigation, in order to ensure all year food production. Our staff members made significant losses, due to stunting and premature drying of crops, due to long and extended periods of dry weather.