Ochan Self-Help Alliance

The Beginning:

A year ago at this time, OCHAN purchased soybean seeds at a local market in Acede Parish for both the women’s group farm and their individual plots.  The yield was affected, we later learned, by how strictly the women spaced the seeds at planting and by the quality of the seed itself–a variety that genetically attenuates over time.  In the women’s individual fields was a third generation strain which did not produce well; yet the women, only familiar with this variety but not its shortcomings, were satisfied.  OCHAN was not, considering the serious effort invested by the women.

The Middle:

In preparation for the 2011 soybean season, OCHAN’s search for a more robust variety led to the demonstration farm of Makerere University Faculty of Agriculture’s Soybean Breeding and Seed Systems in the Department of Crop Science.  There, two new varieties of foundation seeds were thriving, and the faculty was interested in sharing them with Ocan Women’s Resettlement Group, for a price. A professor there described these foundation seeds as “genetically competent for multiple replications.”  They contain more oil than the common variety and their pods do not burst, causing seeds to scatter wastefully over the fields during the drying phase.  This professor personally came to Opac Village  to educate the women farmers about the nature and planting of these seeds.  Generous donations  provided the funds to purchase enough of these high-quality seeds for 26 acres of the group farm with the idea of multiplying them for use in both individual plots and the group farm in subsequent years.

New Grain Store

Another beneficial element entered the story in March:  a 150-ton capacity grain store, the generous gift of American Jewish World Service, was complete and ready for service at the edge of the group farm.  Built to modern specifications of UN-FAO, this store can serve well during famine but it can also hold the harvest of the new soybeans for replanting the following year and all the years  to come if the women make sure to store part of each harvest.

Late March 2011: Women in group farm sow new soybean seeds

The End:

This part of the story has yet to be written, but OCHAN hopes it will include clear and positive answers to the following:

Is this the last year anyone in Opac Village and the neighboring villages will be buying low quality soybean seeds?

Will the dream of farmers’ sustainability in soybean farming materialize?

Will this story have a happy ending?

If the rain continues, the outcome is hopeful for these beautifully planted, pure breed soybean plants in the group farm:

Harvest is in July.  Stay tuned.

What was:

Traditional grain stores that stand empty in a farmer's backyard

During colonial times, the British local administrators in Uganda created a system for farmers to stockpile securely their harvested seed crops by having families erect their grain stores in a police-protected compound,  surrounded by a fence and a  gated entrance.  The administration monitored the villagers’ deposits to make sure that they had enough reserves in store to feed their families in case of famine. The villagers also kept grain in stores they constructed in their backyards.

What is:

the protected community stores were abandoned in the 1970s during Idi Amin’s rule  and have not been re-instituted by local authorities.  Since returning from war-displacement camps, the farmers have not had much to store nor have felt it safe to keep anything precious there as extreme poverty has spawned incidences of theft not seen before in remote villages:  thieves breaking into home granaries in search of grain and other items to eat or to sell.

In the summer of 2009, the leaders of Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group  said that to help fight poverty and famine, they needed a secure grain store.  In the summer of 2010, OCHAN saw an “Agricultural Produce Collection ” facility that had been built by the United Nations Development program (UNDP) some distance from Opac village.

OCHAN investigated what the specifications for such a sturdy structure would be and found them documented in UN-FAO (United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization) guidelines.  Our building contractor followed these measurements in building such a facility in Opac.  Through the generous grant support of American Jewish World Service, the Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group now has a secure place to store their harvested cash crops.  Built to hold at least 75 tons of grain, it can actually store up to 150 tons.  A few translucent roof panels (seen in picture below) allow natural light to penetrate the interior.

What (we hope) will be:

To support post-war development in Opac, this building has, in addition to its storage capacity, the following capabilities:

1. Withstanding a break-in.  the walls of bricks were laid so that the end of each brick faces out in order to create a double wall thickness to foil break-ins.  As additional security, the building sits next to Opac Police Post.
2. Securing seeds against moisture.  Platforms have been laid on the floor of half the building so far.  With more donor support ($750) we will be able to complete laying hardwood platforms on the other half of the floor.
3. Repelling water.  The cement and sand bonding on the wall putty is porous enough to absorb moisture from rain hitting the walls especially on a windy day.  the moisture and rain would degrade the outer walls in due course.  In addition, the cement and sand granules in the putty used to plaster the walls tend to flake off the wall and then accumulate  on any surface, such as the bags of crop seed.  Application of a thin layer of water-repellent paint to the walls can prevent such a threat.  As this type of weatherizing is costly ($1500), OCHAN is appealing  for funds to purchase water-repellent paint.
4. Providing food security as a repository of seeds for families’ food during famine.
5. Conserving harvested cash crop seed for planting in subsequent seasons in order to bypass area sellers who presently buy up big quantities of seeds so as to profit from selling them at a higher price.  As I write this note, the rains have returned to northern Uganda so farmers are eager to plant soy seeds but the seed price is twice (and in some cases five times) the cost of seeds last year.  OCHAN’s budgeted support of soybean farming each year is based on what we spent per kilogram last year plus some adjustment for inflation.  Because of hoarding, seeds are not to be found at affordable prices in this area of the north, so OCHAN is unable to support as many women farmers this year.  It is our fervent hope a) that this grain store will soon begin full service to protect the women from ruinous market manipulations; b) that the women farmers will conserve in their new store enough seeds to plant every ‘next’ season; and c) that they may in time be able to thwart the hoarders by selling their seeds not only to oil companies at good prices but to fellow farmers at fair prices that will help eradicate extreme poverty and promote food security.
   

   Buyers and sellers can back their trucks to the entrance for loading and unloading their bags of seeds.

   

   Bags of soyseed are unloaded from a producer's truck and placed in the store on a raised wooden platform to await planting in the women's group farm this March. Sunlight through the roof panels illuminates the interior.

A record-breaking harvest of sunflowers

A truck hefts the massive harvest to an oil processing plant

Loaded into trucks heading to Mukwano’s oil processing plant, Opac’s sunflower harvest–bountiful, record-breaking–is finished.

The joy, however, can still be seen in the trembling hands of the women farmers holding more cash than they’ve seen in a very long time, if ever;  it can be seen and heard at the Sunflower Festival, organized by Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group; it can be seen in the money from the group farm counted by the executive board and sent to their bank account; it can be seen in the number of attendees, men and women at a meeting, organized by OCHAN, to explore the creation of a local savings and credit association to safeguard their monetary gains and to get small loans.

Could it be? Opac Savings and Loan

Alutkot manager and OCHAN's President

The manager and loan officer of Alutkot, one of the most successful of such financial societies (SACCOS) in Northern Uganda, came to OCHAN’s project site to talk about financial management and responsibility at the family level.  The meeting was packed and lasted four hours!!  Some attendees, so eager to find a safe place for their savings, brought their money to the meeting tied up in small handkerchiefs or knotted in the edges of their clothing, hoping to deposit it right then.  They were told to hang on for a little longer–about three months–until the paper work and registration can be done, local staff is selected and trained, and a secure building can be built next to Opac Police Post.

The harvest’s real-life impact

A woman sings for joy. Thanks to the sunflower income, she is now a first-time cattle owner.

At the late January Sunflower Festival, one middle-aged woman sang a song of joy and thanksgiving, because she never thought that in her lifetime she could own  a cow.  She has just bought one with her sunflower money.  Other women spoke as well about their financial decisions:  paying school fees for the entire year for more than one child; buying livestock–a cow, goat, an ox for plowing; a new bicycle to carry their next soybean harvest to the loading site; a motorcycle to put on the rough dirt road as a taxi serving the commercial and medical centers;  medical care they had postponed due to lack of means;  purchasing corrugated aluminum roofing sheets, a few at a time, for the permanent homes they hope to build soon.  They have seen the materials for building their traditional homes–trees, reeds, spear grass–dwindle alarmingly  due to the massive demand for shelter upon their return from the IDP camps.

Economic impact by the numbers

Jimmy gives Keren, the chair of the women's group, harvest money

Maybe the following will give you an idea of the size of this harvest.  OCHAN, through donor support, bought 520 kg of hybrid sunflower crop seed to plant in 260 acres (230 individual plots, 30 group farm acres) that yielded a whopping 50,590kg (50.6 metric tons) at harvest.  Mukwano paid a group-negotiated price of 1,000 shillings per kg to farmers for a total in USD of $25,000.  $4,000 went into the group farm’s bank account;  the remainder went into the hands of the participating farmers.   O Happy Day!

As another wonderful result of this harvest, OCHAN’s project coordinator for farming, Mr. Jimmy Ogwang, was honored by Mukwano with an appointment as site coordinator of crop production in the Opac area;  with trustworthiness and accuracy, Jimmy directed this planting season and cash distributions to each farmer.  With this appointment, Mukwano has assured a crop market with competitive pricing for Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group.  O Happy Day!!

Next steps

The iwilakot tree in bloom adds gaiety to the celebration. Photo credit: John Otim

Despite our increasing optimism for better days ahead, the question persists:  when the celebratory confetti and balloons have fallen to the ground, will the success of these farmers be only a distant, warm memory or be the beginning of a real and hopeful direction in their lives.  If drought stays away and stability in the region holds, the women with OCHAN’s support may, in a short time, permanently change their families’ fortunes for the best.  OCHAN has plans for maintaining and increasing this momentum towards self-sustainability in cash crop farming.  OCHAN further realizes that Ocan Women’s Resettlement Group represents just a fraction of the households in dire need of support toward post-war resettlement in Opac and elsewhere in Northern Uganda.  Stay tuned for our next steps toward helping the people of this village achieve food security and financial management skills that will help break the  stranglehold of extreme poverty in this region.

*(The title and use of “O Happy Day” was inspired by a gospel song of that title.)

As I write this note, the women of Opac are harvesting their sunflower crop not only from their individual plots but from the group farm as well.  The photos here depict their labor at the group farm. 

Having cut the sunflower heads from their stalks and piled them high in the middle of a tarpaulin, the women sit around the mound, beating the seeds with wooden clubs to dislodge them from the dry blooms, then winnowing and bagging them to take to OCHAN's scales where the weight and name of the owner of each bag will be noted in an official book by the group's treasurer. OCHAN will use this record to calculate the return on 520 kgs of hybrid sunflower seeds purchased for the women through American donor support three months ago. She winnows the seeds to assure they are clean and then...

...she adds them to her bag.

OCHAN's president escorts an elderly farmer to the weighing station.

The bags will be placed in a makeshift storage until the contracted buyer arrives from Lira in a big truck to take and press the seeds into cooking oil. 

The women in these pictures have much to chat about:  some live distances away.  Here they can meet the new infants, gossip, and discuss what to do with the proceeds of this plentiful harvest from both the group farm and their individual plots.  The farmers have agreed that all income from the group farm be placed in the Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group bank account where their earlier soybean harvest money is presently secured.  The members hope that this money will not only help towards making cash crop farming self-sustaining but also will be their ticket out of extreme poverty through economic enterprises and training in numeracy and  financial management.  The individual plots have also yielded a promising harvest, so the women dare to dream,  prioritize, and plan  how to improve the health, housing, and general welfare of their families in the new year.

A daughter studies her mom's method of beating seeds out of a sunflower head.

Opio and Ocen: twins born around planting time. May they see many more robust harvests so they can grow strong and well.

Most women farmers lost last year’s sunflower crop to drought.  OCHAN was determined to support them again this year with a hybrid variety that yields more seeds, more oil, and a higher sale price than the organic seeds.  This support is in keeping with OCHAN’s mission to help eradicate extreme poverty by empowering the women’s home economies  through  cash crop seeds–both soybeans and sunflowers.

A. Ateng, Mukwano'sExtension expert , addresses farmers of Opac

This past August, OCHAN helped the women farmers enter a contract with a reputable seed oil industry, Mukwano Group of Companies, located 25 miles away in  Lira, the largest commercial center in the area .  This company not only bought the women’s soybean harvest but also paid a site visit to Opac as part of its contractual commitment.  On this visit, they demonstrated to the women strategic techniques of planting and spacing to optimize their harvest.  In late August, The company delivered 520 kilograms of crop seed in 2 kg packets to 230 women with another 30kg for the group farm.  Here is a pictorial progression of their growth between September and December.

Saturday weeding of group farm, mid-September

Late October's crowd of flowers

Early December Beauty

Tero poses proudly with her tall friend in mid-December

The farmers of Ocan Women’s Resettlement Group have decided that all proceeds of their group farm’s harvest will be deposited into their bank account to accumulate for small entrepreneurial projects through borrowing at interest from the fund.  The seeds harvested from the individual plots will also be sold to the company in late December–early January, in time for the women to pay school fees for next year as well as buy medicine, new farm tools, and maybe even a set of clothes for family members in the new year.

Ah, Sunflowers!!

In our earlier blog posts, I talked of a tree that OCHAN was introduced to as Melia volkensii.  One careful reader commented politely that what we are growing is, instead, named Melia azedarch.  After googling both terms and looking at the pictures, I still cannot not distinguish the differences between trees of these two different names.  I would dearly like to know the rightful name of the one we are growing.  Maybe more knowledgeable readers can help in this, for OCHAN thinks this tree, so suited to the semi-arid climate of Northern Uganda, shows promise in protecting the health of both the economy and climate of Opac Village.  The U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in his address to the recent world environment ministers’ annual U.N. climate conference in Cancun, Mexico,   declared that “the pace of human-induced climate change is accelerating.  We need results now, results that curb global greenhouse emissions.”  Deforestation makes up 15% of global carbon dioxide emissions.  Certainly the name of this tree is not as important as the work we hope it will do to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions;  however, we would like to give honor to its upcoming work by naming it correctly.  So, for your consideration, here are pictures of Melia ? that we have:  seeds, seedlings, one-year olds, and some over 10-years old that we found at the home of one of Mr. Odwe’s relatives in Dokolo, Northern Uganda.  Your thoughts?   Thanks.

a branch of melia seeds held by Mr. Odwe's relative

Melia branch on a wooden table top

GERMINATION METHODS:  in small plastic bags or directly  in ground:AT 6 MONTHS:

ONE-YEAR-OLDS:

William and Bonny, both just under 6 feet tall, pose with a one-year-old

view of top of another one-year-old

10+ year-old trunk of a melia.

a full-grown melia

USE OF MELIA IN TRADITIONAL HOME-BUILDING:

Its straight trunk is an asset for use as poles

Melia poles to which roofing thatch is attached.

The trunk grows thicker after cutting off its top.

Rojina’s neighbors, local citizens, and officials gathered  to witness  the official opening of  Rojina’s house.

November 2,2010. L-R Rojina, Mr. DK Ogwal, President of OCHAN, Prof.William Boto

The guest of honor, Mr. David K. Ogwal, was visionary in his remarks:  “today a new light in housing has shown the way for remarkable development in Opac and the entire Alebtong District.  We are ready to follow right away in the footpath of Ocan Agenne and its partner, Ochan Self-Help Alliance.”   This statement made OCHAN’s president smile broadly: it is his passionate dream  to  preserve the  environment and to provide more security by changing the type of houses people build not just in Opac but throughout Northern Uganda and beyond.  We hope Mr. Ogwal’s vision can be realized.

Rojina (in yellow scarf) stands with her 5 grandchildren and her daughter-in-law (in aqua dress next to William).

On the veranda of her new home, Rojina gave a brief heartfelt speech: “Many have asked me what I have done to deserve the gift of a house of this uncommon beauty with water supply on the door step.  My answer of joy is that I have dreamed many dreams of wonder in my entire life.  But the reality of a house that will outlast me and then take care of my lovely grandchildren was never one of them.  Despite my age and poverty that have affected my family life for the last three years, I learned a lot from this single God-given gift as the walls and roof grew steadily by day and night:  I wish I could just be like one of these people who feel so much for the suffering of my type no matter what our color, sex, age or their importance in society.  It is a message I want my grandchildren to remember as they enjoy the comfort of this house.”

What next in OCHAN’s eco-friendly housing project?  Raise funds  to build more of these homes for households made perilously vulnerable in direct consequence of war and displacement.  We invite you to join us in this effort with your compassionate gifts to OCHAN and then enjoy seeing the results posted on this blog.   (Costs: building house =$5,000: 2-door pit latrine with bathing stall = $818; rock slab rain-water tank = $ 545.)

In several recent blog posts (August 17, September 9), we have written about Rojina, about building her a house, and about the ISSB technology used in the construction of bricks.  Now, with the roofing, water collection system, and pit latrine in place, the home is ready for many years of  service to Rojina and her family.  Completion has come just when Rojina’s old home is collapsing due to rain, wind, and termite attacks. This good news would not be possible without the generosity of donors in USA, a one-year grant for the purchase of equipment, an eco-friendly brick maker manufactured by a Ugandan firm,  the vision and skill of OCHAN’s building contractor–Alfred Angel, and the labor of local youths training to become house-builders.

In this picture OCHAN’s President, William Boto, inspects Rojina’s new house which he calls a “signature core house”:  “core” because rooms can be added on one side as needed for more space when funds allow; “signature” because it is a model that is ecologically sustainable in this area of dwindling forests and increased climate change; it conserves water and addresses sanitation as well.  Through use of ISSB technology, described in detail in previous blog posts, no stripped tree limbs anchor the structure or are tethered as a truss for the roof, no trees are fed into ovens to fire-harden mud bricks, no bundles of dried spear grass (now scarce due to demand) are used to thatch the roof.  Instead, a foundation is dug and interlocking bricks are laid up to the gable level.  Cement and road lime are mixed into the bricks which allow them to harden in a matter  of hours.  Use of mortar is minimized due to the strength of the bricks’ configuration to interlock both horizontally and vertically.  Snakes will no longer find  ready access by slithering over the wall of this home, for there is no air space between the wall and the roof, unlike in traditional huts.

The water tank system optimizes rainwater collection in this semi-arid climate through the style of roof that supports gutters on four sides.  Rainwater flows into a tank made of two layers of rock slabs to seal water and keep it cool. Total cost of building and installation is $550.  This local money-saving innovation by OCHAN’s building contractor, Alfred Angel, beats plastic , corrugated aluminum, and regular brick tanks of comparable size (3,000 liters) at several levels: a) low  cost of  materials–about 50% price of plastic tanks; b) infinite durability and no risk of puncture, unlike water tanks made of plastic ; c) no rusting or evaporation of water through pores that characterize brick tanks; d) less costly to install , because rock slabs are already made locally thus eliminating transportation from commercial centers 25-225 miles away.  Of great practical significance is the fact that a family’s daily water collection chore, which generally falls to young girls in a household, will no longer necessitate her long walk with a jerrycan to a stream or bore hole.

Here, we see Rojina’s granddaughter in her school uniform at the new tank filling her jerrycan to carry just around the corner to the family kitchen before leaving for school.  Now she can be regularly on time for class.  Further, the family’s health will be protected by the use of clean water as will that of neighbors who may use it.  A full tank can last a family of four for up to six months.

The third attribute of OCHAN’s signature core house is a two-door pit latrine with a small room for bathing at one end.  It is so placed that Rojina’s family and neighbors will benefit from improved sanitation, the lack of which can cause debilitating diarrheal diseases.  An attempt to cut costs by refurbishing an old single pit latrine nearby was unsuccessful as its floor was unstable and crumbling, so the workers sealed it.  The cost of digging a new pit, building the walls, and roofing is $811, including labor.

Opac Village is no longer in Lira District due to redistricting.  Now in Alebtong, a newly created district the headquarters of which are not far from this home site, the village leaders and OCHAN hope to market this new type of housing to the district.  If the youths,  trained by OCHAN  to build Rojina’s house, are invited to build in the new district, they will be on their way to house-building careers.  For our housing project, youth development is one of OCHAN’s strategies to support peaceful resettlement.  Another is to continue, as resources become available, to build homes for the most vulnerable households.  In this village of extreme poverty, there are few local resources as yet for community development. The clan leaders of Opac have identified 25 households desperate for durable shelter.   Such help for the most needy fits OCHAN’s values and mission.  With continued support from our donors and readers, we can address two issues:  the human right to adequate shelter, and the use of eco-friendly housing to slow desertification due to the massive loss of trees  for rebuilding thousands of wood-based traditional huts in post-war resettlement efforts.

Planted in early March, harvested in late July, bagged and sold at a good price in August to Mukwano Group of Companies–a prominent cooking oil company in Lira, hundreds of acres of soybeans are now history.  Their monetary effects, however, continue to reverberate through Opac Village in school fees paid, medical needs attended to, supplies bought for the home, maybe a new cow on the courtyard, seeds for future planting in home gardens, and more varied food on the table.  Further, their husks renew the soil as fertilizer in preparation for the upcoming sunflower farming by Ocan Women’s Resettlement Group.  The story in pictures follows:

Leaves, maturing on the soybean plants, turn yellow in June

Soybean pods drying on their stalks in late June

The dried stalks are gathered and spread on tarpaulins in the courtyards to finish drying in early July.

Tarpaulins cover the drying soybeans when rain threatens.

Seeds are beaten out of their pods and...

...separated from their husks which are then piled at one side of the field for placement as soil fertilizer for the next cash crop, hybrid sunflower.

Sixty-nine bags of soybeans are sealed, weighed, and stored in a makeshift storage near the group field until Mukwano comes in trucks to pay and take their crop away to the processing plant in Lira, 25 miles away. For the first lot of approximately 9 tons of seeds, the amount paid to the farmers is Uganda shillings 5,883,200.  Farmers of individual extension plots are paid according to the kilogram weight of their harvest.  Although rainfall was clearly optimal in Opac Village this season, the crop yield is affected by other factors:  the physical ability of the farmer to till the land and weed it by hand hoe as well as plot size.  Income from the group farm is held until the members decide on its use in new development projects. 

 

 For the sake of transparency,  leaders of Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group at their final meeting on soybeans counted the group farm’s money together. Harriet Ocol, secretary, is seen holding up the full amount.  The leaders counted out a bonus for the hardest workers on the group farm, allocated a contribution towards retilling the land, and left shillings 1,500,000 to be deposited in a savings bank.  They also drafted By-laws to protect and govern their growing organization.  Further they decided that soybeans should be their first cash crop to plant next March based on its current cash reward in the open market and on standard methods of crop rotation. As farmers, they know what Michael J. Ssali reported (see below) on September 1, 2010, in “The Farmer’s Diary” section of the Daily Monitor, one of Uganda’s leading newspapers:

• Soybean is said to be the most nutritious food crop in the world.
• If government encourages its inclusion in people’s daily diets, the country could get rid of malnutrition.
• It is very much on demand since we (in Uganda) have so many factories and industries that use it as raw material.
• It has been a priority crop in all those countries that are today economic giants like the U.S., Japan, and China.
• Uganda has a high potential because it has the best soil for the crop’s production in Africa.
• Makerere University has produced disease-resistant and very good quality seed.
• The crop’s farm gate price is quite competitive and the crop matures in an average three months.

l-r: Bottom row: Sophia Omongo, Estella Elem, Jenti Ogwara, Keren Apio (Chairperson), Jimmy Ogwang (OCHAN Project Coordinator or farming and Reforestation.)  Middle row: William Boto (OCHAN President); Top row: Bonny Boto (OCHAN Vice-President), Yayieri Odur, Joci Okot (Treasurer), Harriet Ocol (secretary).

The leaders of Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group relax at the conclusion of their soybean meeting in early September.  Just beyond camera range, hybrid sunflowers are germinating along with, hopefully, another great story of a village working toward poverty eradication  and for their motto,kel kuc pacu (‘bring peace home’).