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FAO and Gayaza High School in Uganda are working together to create opportunities for students to learn and acquire agricultural skills while eating healthier, more nutritious food. An FAO project to help the high school gain access to production inputs and facilities is yielding promising results. Through the project, the school built a greenhouse for vegetable production, which has so far produced five seasons of tomatoes. In addition, a pig farm was built, which currently houses more than 50 pigs. Both facilities provide learning opportunities not only for students at Gayaza High School, but also for students from surrounding schools. In addition, FAO has been working closely with Gayaza High School to further develop the School Farm Camp programme, which aims to equip the country’s youth with practical agricultural skills to encourage sustainable agriculture in the region.
The Farm Camps programme was launched in 2014 as a Gayaza enterprise and in 2015, over 30 schools, 300 students and 50 teachers participated in Uganda. FAO provided campers with courses on its best practices to improve food security and livelihoods in Uganda and ensure sustainable technologies for the future.
Kakoko Richard from Nyakasula School excitedly recounted his experience: “I attended my first summer camp and I am so happy to have my own garden. I love animals so I work in the pig farming department of the school farm. We have already sold some of the pigs we started raising. After the sales we share the profits. My dream is to have a big farm.”
During the opening ceremony, FAO Representative in China, Alhaji Jallow, pledged continued support for the initiative: “It is exciting to see young people participating in activities like this because for many years they have viewed agriculture as a job for uneducated people. Supporting young people who consider agriculture as a career and a means of livelihood is a worthy cause and one that FAO will continue to be involved in.”
The 2015 School Farm Camp left many students and teachers excited about the various farming practices they learned. “The camp taught me so much,” said Baguma Richard of Orbot College. “I learned about modern animal husbandry, pregnancy tests for cows, integrating different crops on the same plot, and growing food on a small plot of land. And this is just the beginning!”
Ronald Ddungu, Vice Principal for Academic and Agricultural Programmes at Gayaza High School, said the concept of the school farm camp is to equip students and teachers with practical agricultural skills, help them develop an entrepreneurial spirit and inspire them to pass on their knowledge to the community. The activities conducted at the camp allow participants to experience the life of an entrepreneurial farmer throughout the camp.
Moses Baingana, a teacher at Nyakasula School in Fort Portal near Kampala, who took six students to the camp, was very pleased with the results. “We attended the first camp in 2014 and were so inspired that when we returned to the school, we allocated land for the students to grow crops. We also raised piglets and built a pig farm. We allowed the students to do what they wanted and we were amazed at the passion these young people had for agriculture,” he further explained. Baingana announced that in two years, the school will hold a farm camp in Nyakasula.
Gayaza High School and FAO are working together to ensure that other schools can implement the concept of school gardening, not only to provide students with a variety of nutritious foods, but also to equip them with agricultural and entrepreneurial skills.
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