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  • Publication | 2019
Trees for Food Security- 2 Project Overview in Uganda
Global Food and Nutrition Security

Despite being a biodiversity hotspot, the Mt. Elgon areas of Uganda faces serious environmental challenges of land degradation and food insecurity. The land degradation is manifested by soil erosion and mudslides or nutrient depletion due to vegetation clearing and bush burning. Moreover, the high population pressure and demand for biomass energy with about 95% of the farming households relying on firewood or charcoal for cooking, creates a high demand for tree products and services. Innovations are needed to develop efficient and affordable technologies to assist the poor farmers to effectively and productively manage their land. To address these issues, the second phase of the Trees for Food security (T4FS-2) project focuses on identifying innovative approaches to address natural resource management issues; improving access to quality germplasm and tree management options; identifying market opportunities; capacity building and working within the science policy interface with agroforestry. The project has achieved this majorly through the establishment of a Rural Resource Centre (RRC) in Mbale, which helps the farmers with production of tree technologies for timber, food as well as soil and water conservation. In addition, establishment of participatory trials with farmers has proved to be encouraging in creating the best fit agroforestry interventions based on the differences within and between farming contexts in the project implementation areas.