Organic farming has taken different terminologies in Uganda as farmers appreciate their harvested yields also saying that it is the simplest form of farming.
Richard Mugisha specializes in organic farming, and he says the demand for his produce is high.
“There is already actually a lot of demand and pressure for organic products, but of course, the challenge is the production of products. The people who are involved in organic production are not matching well with the demand”, Richard Mugisha said.
Keeping up with demand is a challenge to boost his crop yields, he uses organic manure and the pesticides he uses are chemical-free.
Mugisha uses organically produced pesticides to keep his plants healthy. He says the growing demand for organic products on the international market has forced him to expand on his farm.
Uganda has the second-largest number of certified organic producers. Second only to India. Farmers, hearsay good climate conditions have favored this type of farming.
“We have two spots of rain though it is now changing and so somehow it is easy for us to go organic and culturally, our culture, it’s been our culture. Most of these things they are planting are not imported, so they are our indigenous”, a farmer said.
Uganda exports most of its organic products to Europe, Asia, and the United. That includes coffee, cotton, fresh and dried fruits, hibiscus, and honey, among others.
Read Also:Tunisia Launches Plan to Help Women Adapt to Climate Change
Despite the success of organic farming, competition from conventional farming still remains a threat.
Read Also:Shrinking Ice Cap on Mt. Kilimanjaro Hinders Tourism
“We still need diverse foods; it is about a clean environment. It is about a regenerative production system. And the more we run away from that, we are running away from life. We are opening risks to our own health”, an official said.
Local authorities encourage farmers to practice safe methods of farming for the farm outputs.
“If people are not greedy for money, there are safe methods of how to do things. You can use biology against biology, do not have to use it, and you can use breeding and so on to solve so many problems to produce drought resistance, disease resistance, and other varieties”, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said.
The Uganda government has put in place an organic farming policy to guide farmers with these and more interventions. Farmers like Mugisha hope to tap into the growing global organic market more easily.
