Engaging African Youth In Agriculture
Youth need agriculture, and agriculture needs youth. To figure out how to attract youth to the sector, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Policy is asking all the right questions.
Read MoreAbout 20 miles outside Uganda’s busy capital of Kampala is the town of Mpigi, a semi-rural community that grows maize and bean crops.
Like many other smallholder farmers around the country, men and women in Mpigi struggle to earn a profitable living and feed their families. Growing seasons are inconsistent – during the last season, rains arrived very late and were erratic. In addition to rainfall shortages, agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilizers can be costly, and the quality may not be very good. Although Uganda has some of the highest rates of soil fertility loss in the world, it has some of the lowest rates of fertilizer application.
“It is very serious, this problem with the soils,” says Irene, a smallholder farmer in Mpigi. “It is difficult to give enough food to my family and to be able to sell. These fertilizers are too expensive.”
With assistance from the U.S. Borlaug Global Food Security Fellowship Program, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development under Feed the Future, researcher Sarah Stefanos and her Ugandan collaborators decided to investigate how small-scale bio-gas systems might help smallholder farmers access quality fertilizer at a reduced cost. Biogas systems are essentially a form of composting: they use heated, airtight containers to transform organic waste (everything from cow dung to food scraps) into methane gas – the primary component of natural gas – and bioslurry, an unappetizing name for a nutrient-rich fertilizer that can help healthy and delicious food crops grow.
Stefanos and her colleagues set up field experiments to test how bioslurry would affect soil quality and crop yields. Testing samples in a lab, they found that soil quality improved and that yields were highest on the plots grown with bioslurry. Most of the time, crops treated with this organic and inexpensive fertilizer outperformed crops that had been fertilized with the traditional mix of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
These field tests are piloting a promising model for other smallholder farmers in Uganda. With continued support from Feed the Future, Stefanos and her team hope to bring small bio-gas systems to more communities and empower them to “grow” their own natural, high-quality fertilizer, improving both soil quality and food security throughout the country.
Youth need agriculture, and agriculture needs youth. To figure out how to attract youth to the sector, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Policy is asking all the right questions.
Read MoreOne young Ugandan woman is transforming diets with the high-yielding, nutrient-rich pumpkin. What started with $140and a dream is now the successful agribusiness, Byeffe Foods Ltd., providing an affordable food choice and economic opportunities for other young people across Uganda. 
Read MoreFor the women in the Kamushoko Cooperative in Uganda, life has changed since they decided to act as a unit to collectively sell their produce. Now, business is thriving and profits are up. Next up: the women plan to invest in a commercial trading center to take their enterprise to the next level.
Read MoreAfter struggling to establish itself in a male-dominated industry, an all-women dairy cooperative completed its journey to operating a full-fledged business by building a pasteurization plant with Feed the Future support. The dairy, which sells yogurt and other products to local markets, is now looking into nationwide distribution and helping to fight against hunger and poverty
Read More