Agriculture

Together we can make it.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is the major source of income in the community. The local people are basically involved in arable farming and tending to embark on animal husbandry.As such the organization has put efforts to improve and boost agriculture by venturing in supporting aquaculture, fruiti-culture, crop farming, growing vegetable, beekeeping, goat rearing, rabbit keeping, poultry, piggery, sheep rearing and cattle keeping but not limited to the aforementioned.

The Aims for venturing in agriculture are:

To improve household incomes as a source of the community's livelihood.
To improve on nutrition in the community as remedy to illness caused by malnutrition especially among children who dwell in the area of our operation.

In the area of operation, the activities are executed in divisions organized in form of zones . In the mean time, KIRUDEF for instance has five agriculture zones in Kisaliire local council as indicated below:

Zone	Name
i	Bamusuta
ii	Mahundwe
iii	Mantabu
iv	Musongola
v	Kyamugombya

In the various zones, vegetable growing is compulsory since vegetables have a short maturity period with a ready markert. In addition to that, the locals have a choice of any other type of crops to grow depending on preference and fertility of the soils. Given the neccesity, KIRUDEF is tasked to provide seeds to the local community in the various zones. The table below shows the various inputs KIRUDEF provide/has to provide to the various communities dealing in the various branches of agriculture ventured in.

Branch/Category	Inputs
Aquaculture/fish farming	Fish flies construct fish ponds
Beekeeping	Beehives made out of timber
Fruiticulture	Seedlings/Suckers of: mangoes oranges avacadoes passion fruit pineapples
Animal Husbandry	Piglets rabbits/bunnies kids/goats calves/cows/bulls sheep/lambs
poultry/fowl rearing	chicks(broilers / layers) ducks / ducklings turkeys
Arable Farming/Crop Growing	Cassava stems Irish potato tubers Cereals seeds such as rice, wheat maize, sorghum, sim sim sweet potato vines banana suckers yam tubers sunflower seeds
Vegetable Growing	Onions tomato seeds cabbage seeds carrot seeds green pepper seeds sukuma wilky

The products from agriculture include vegetables like cabbages, tomatoes and onions, fruits like ovacodoes, mangoes and oranges alongside a variety of local foods such as maize, ground-nuts and beans. From animal husbandry and poultry eggs, milk, chicken, pork, beef and mutton among others have been realised. Most of the products have a ready market and of course are a source of food to the families in the community. The locals are thus able to earn income to support their families which is a step toward eradicating poverty in the rural community. But the dream is still far from being achieved as the work ahead is still alot yet the resources available are minimal to adeqautely drive the pace of the project.

Kibaale Rural Development Foundation

(KIRUDEF)