The training was officially opened by the Minister of State for Agriculture is Hon. Bwino Fred Kyakulaga (MP) represented by Dr. Patience Rwamigisa, Director Agriculture Extension Services – Ministry of agriculture animal industry and fisheries.
Theme: Implementation of Farmer Field Schools Under the Microscale Irrigation Program
Date: 5th – 9th September 2022
Background
The Government of Uganda (GOU) through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and Local Governments are implementing the Micro-scale Irrigation Program. The Program aims at supporting farmers – mainly smallholders – to purchase and use micro-scale irrigation equipment. The Program is supported by the World Bank through the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer Reform Program Additional Financing (UgIFT-AF).
Through this Program, the micro-scale irrigation technologies will be provided to farmers and the acquisition of these technologies shall be financed through matching grants administered by the districts.
The Micro-scale Irrigation Program beneficiaries will be provided with additional agricultural extension support to make optional use of their irrigation investments. These farmers will receive needed extension support on on-farm water management, irrigated farming, farming as a business, value addition and marketing through the implementation of an intensive Farmer Field School (FFS) Program.
To initiate and implement this intensive FFS Program, the MAAIF has organized a training on implementation of Farmer Field Schools under the Microscale Irrigation Program targeting agricultural extension practitioners from the District Local Governments.
The course aims at enriching the capacity of the district local government in implementing the farmer field school approach of training farmers in irrigated agriculture, agronomy, marketing and imparting mindset change.
The training is intended for participants from the 40 Phase 1 DLGs of Kyenjojo, Kamwenge, Ibanda, Kitagwenda, Kibaale, Mubende, Kyegegwa, Rukungiri, Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Masaka, Kalungu, Butambala, Bukomansimbi, Rakai, Luweero, Nakaseke, Lwengo, Mpigi, Sembabule, Kyotera, Wakiso, Mityana, Mukono, Buikwe, Kayunga, Iganga, Mayuge, Sironko, Kapchorwa, Mbale, Bududa, Tororo, Manafwa, Kamuli, Luuka, Jinja, Amuru, Omoro, Nwoya.
The training participants include District Agriculture Officers, Senior Agricultural Officers, Senior Agricultural Engineers, Agricultural Officers. These shall be responsible for effectively establishing and running the farmer field schools in their local governments after the training.
The residential training is taking place at the National Farmers Leadership Centre, Kampiringisa, Mpigi District. The training workshop will be held for a period of one month. The participants have been divided in 4 Cohorts, and each cohort of 50 participants will be trained for a week.
Training manuals for irrigated farming and additional reference materials have been developed and shall be provided to the participants. The course will be conducted through Lectures (L), Practices (P), Field-trips (F), Group Discussions (G). The training program shall also involve field work and outreaches for participants to engage in mock preparation of farmer field schools’ experiments in trial plots in Mpigi and other locations.
