Introduction of a Biodiversity Farming Concept in Amuru District, Uganda

Abstract

It is difficult to abandon farming systems that a community has developed for years in favor of a new system. In northern Uganda, the major crops grown in the area are annual food and cash crops. These crops are millet, rice, sorghum, simsim, cotton, tobacco, and many others. These crops are highly susceptible to tree shades. This means for every acre of land opened for these crops, an equal acre of land must be cleared of trees. With the advent of climate change vulnerability, rain-fed agricultural practices, especially in annual seasonal agroecological regions like those in northern Uganda, are no longer sustainable. It is against this background that there is urgent need to introduce a new biodiversity farming concepts to the communities in the region. This work describes how instructors from regions where perennial food and cash crops such as banana, oil palm, coffee, and fruit trees including the high-value horticultural crops help introduce these crops in northern Uganda. The paper describes the adaptation and adoption of the new environmentally friendly farming systems of growing high-value horticultural crops such as tomatoes, cabbages, bananas, onions, Irish potatoes, and watermelon. The next strategy is to introduce perennial food and cash crops such as banana, coffee, cocoa, palm oil, and other fruit trees under agroforestry farming systems aimed at preserving existing forests and planting and establishing new forests.