Ochan Self-Help Alliance

The journey

500 baby tic tree in our nursery

A tree with a long history that spans the continents of Asia, South America, and Africa has finally arrived at Opac Village via South Sudan where its scientific name, Tectona grandis, has been shortened to “Tik”, the local spelling/pronunciation of “Teak.”  Its seedlings are currently settling into Opac’s tree nursery under barbed protection to gather strength before permanent planting in the fields and perimeters of the locale.

Tic seedling protected inside a teepee of barbed branches

Suitability

Tall Tik trees co-cultivated with crops

This tropical hardwood tree has commendable characteristics among which are 1) its suitability to the area’s semi-arid climate and 2) its natural oils that deter termites and protect the wood from water when made into lumber or furniture, thus obviating the use of varnish.  Decks of ships in bygone days were often made from teak (its universally recognized name) precisely because of  its durability and water resistance.

A young Tic forest growing by the road to Karuma Bridge that spans the Nile River

The long view

Clouds of seeds on a well-established Tik tree in Lira, No. Uganda

OCHAN is now nursing along two baby hardwood trees:  Melia volkensii and Tik. With ongoing planting and growth of such hardwood in the years to come, Opac villagers look to expand their economic base by developing a timber industry.  OCHAN’s fervent wish is that in time these new forests, by exhaling their water vapor into the air, will attract rain to the area as have the established forests in Dokolo, 45 minutes away at the home of Mr. J. Odwe’s reforestation efforts.

a mature Tik tree in the garden of a hotel in Lira, NorthernUganda

Local leaders weigh and store bags of grain in the grain store to await sale.

Results of the 2011 cycle of soya bean and sunflower farming in Opac village have led to real optimism for farmers’ economic renewal after years of war, displacement, and despair.

Highlights

The number of women farmers receiving OCHAN’s seed and technical support increased by 38% (from 288 to 400) over last year.  OCHAN initiated seed and farming support for 38 men farmers, partly in search of gender balance but mainly in fairness to the man-led households that, like the women, show similar spells of economic and social vulnerability.  In accordance with our past practices, all farmers in OCHAN’s program received high level technical support to help seed and cultivate their  group farm and then utilize their newly acquired knowledge in their individual household plots.

By the numbers

Yellow Maksoy 3 seeds (on right) outperformed the white traditional Namsoy seeds (on left)

young hybrid sunflowers growing well in the group farm

The total harvest of soya beans in September 2011, 50 metric tons, earned 80,000,000 Uganda shillings ($31,000.)  The sunflower harvest of February 2012 yielded 83 metric tons that sold for 83,000,000 shillings (nearly $34,000.)  So far, OCHAN’s conversion of investment to profits in Opac and four surrounding villages is running at about 5-fold.  These are hard-earned, commendable sums of money diffusing into the community of Opac Village and beyond, with a prediction for better days to come, weather permitting.  The data, however, tends to bury cases 1) where individual farmers received their 20kg of seeds to plant but at harvest only returned 5kg to the group store for sale; and 2) upper extreme cases where farmers bought more seeds on their own and harvested one or more tons of crop.

Women’s empowerment

The idea of a nursery school was born in the fields of the group farm where women talk while hoeing and carrying their young.

After two years of successful group farming and banking their proceeds, the women have voted to use their group income to build a nursery school for their children.  Having had to spend years in Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps where education was nominal has eroded their children’s readiness to pass tests  that determine promotion to the next level of education.  Nursery school  is the women’s way of giving their little ones a good foundation and hence a better chance to succeed in school.  ( No news to report yet on what the men plan to do with their group farm money.)

3 women leaders--L-R Estella, Karen, Joci--organize work on the group farm and influence decisions for Ocan Resettlement Women's Group.

Toward sustainability

OCHAN’s evolving plan  is to encourage farmers’ increased self-reliance in seed procurement, adaptation of effective farming technology for new breeder seeds being introduced to maximize yield, and optimizing  crop sales.  Central to this plan is capacity-building through training in financial management at the household level as well as use of micro-finance opportunities to expand farm acreage and initiate small entrepreneurial ventures.  With such steps, OCHAN plans to make seed support available to families still struggling to resettle after war displacement.  Although it began with just Opac Village in 2009, OCHAN has expanded its services to farmers in nearby villages–Dago, Acede, Okwalagabu, Awapiny, and Aloi train station–all in Alebtong District.

Toward righting a wrong

A farmer carries his sunflower harvest to OCHAN's grain store to await optimal market price.

With moderate investments, OCHAN is able to achieve a multiplier yield for the farmers in villages that were overrun–their citizens brutally violated, their crops, homes, and schools burned–by Joseph Kony and his LRA during the protracted war.  Your gifts to OCHAN are helping to right this wrong done to innocent people and to kel kuc pacu( “bring peace home” ).  Thank you.

Sunflower harvest is loaded for transport to a buyer's vegetable oil factory.

Highlights

To help reduce maternal mortality, a U.N. Millennium Development Goal for 2015, OCHAN has opened a modern  maternity ward at Ocan Community Clinic (OCC).  The event attracted 120 women, clinic staff, and Ocan Agenne (local NGO) officers, along with Dr. Acepa (consultant OB/GYN), local and regional elected leaders.  By presenting to the women services newly available at the clinic through donors’ generous gifts, OCHAN hopes to spread information that encourages women to consider the clinic as a safer birth option than home delivery.  At this event on the clinic’s veranda, OCHAN presented major gifts from U.S. donors, including a solar fridge for the safe storage of vaccines and free delivery kits which drew loud applause from the women.  In Uganda, women have to provide their own supplies for the clinic attendant to use during delivery:  cord clamp, cotton wool, sterile gloves, sheeting, etc.  These kits cost the patient the equivalent of $13 and have been an economic barrier to giving birth in a clinic.

Dr. Tom prepares a volunteer to hear her unborn's fetal heartbeat using a battery-operated machine held by the clinic's medical officer.

Dr. Tom Boto demonstrated his gifts to the clinic, including a fetal heart monitor.  He explained its role in monitoring the health and growth of the fetus; in so doing, he encouraged the women to attend prenatal sessions.  The women leaned forward in amazement to hear for the first time ever the tiny heartbeat of the unborn inside a volunteer’s womb.

Because inadequately trained Traditional Birth Attendants at home deliveries have been considered part of the cause of high maternal mortality, the Uganda Government is phasing out their services  in the communities.  The women, having to turn elsewhere for a safe, affordable delivery, look to local clinics for assistance.

First baby to use resuscitation bed for a short while after birth

Among the generous gifts from St. Margaret’s Church, Annapolis, are three custom-made beds–for delivery, examination, and baby resuscitation.  In addition, their funding of the delivery kits is a strong inducement for women to choose the clinic.  A church in Baltimore County, MD, has augmented  this wonderful gift by adding a small layette and something refreshing (ex. a bar of scented soap) for the new mom. Members of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Glyndon, are currently raising money to fund these “Mama kits” as a further inducement for women in Opac and surrounding communities to consider OCC for their deliveries.

The gifts mentioned above, all of which have had a stunning multiplier effect on women’s reproductive health in the community, fill the hearts of the women and OCHAN with gratitude.  Being able to provide inoculations now at the clinic saves mothers with infants a seven-mile walk or bicycle taxi to a vaccine facility. Now, women from an ever widening geographical area come with their babies to the monthly vaccinations offered on the clinic’s veranda.  The number of attendants at each of these sessions is about 80.  We hope attendance will continue to increase.

October 2011 vaccine session for children on the veranda of the clinic. Mothers hold the vaccine record cards. Mr. Acuma, the medical officer, is at right administering a vaccine.

The Problem

Maternal mortality in Uganda is stalled where it was last year at 435 deaths per 100,000 live births.  (In the U.S. there are 20 deaths for every 100,000 live births.)  This grim situation is the focus of several recent news articles as summarized below:

“Maternal Deaths focus Harsh Light on Uganda,” by Celia W. Dugger, The New York Times, July 30, 2011, narrates the experiences of two women in labor who, left unattended, bled to death in different clinics in Northern Uganda.  The stories of Jennifer Anguko and Ms. Nalubowa heartbreakingly underscore the state of reproductive services in rural Uganda.

Facts from “Activists Take Maternal Death fight to Court,” by Evelyn Lirri, Saturday Monitor, June 11, 2011, informs the readers in Uganda on critical aspects of the issue including the following: 1) Causes of maternal mortality; 2) key issues in petition to the Constitutional Court (of Uganda); 3) key maternal indicators (which includes hemorrhage as one of the key causes of death along with frequent births previously and lack of skilled birth attendants); 4) a critique of the Traditional Birth Attendants.

“Maternal and infant mortality, morbidity unacceptably high,” by Dr. Imelda Namagembe, New Vision, August 25, 2011, includes some disturbing facts and trends in Uganda: 1) 32% of all infant deaths are neonatal deaths.  The highest risk is within the first 24 hours after delivery; 2) The number of skilled birth attendances needed is still below 42%; 3) a sizable number of Ugandan women face advanced cancer of the cervix, which is preventable; 4) Gender-based violence is on the rise; 5) Commitment is needed in several areas including addressing the issues of human resource staffing in the rural health facilities and equipping them.

Good news from the clinic

Helen Abua, gave birth to baby Amony, a girl, at OCC in October 2011

OCC in Opac Village should be able to provide pregnant women and newborns improved, safer care not only when specific equipment and staff are in place but when safeguards are available to protect the lives of mother and her baby during/after birth.  As of the end of January, 20 women had given birth in the clinic since the maternity ward opened in late August. OCHAN thinks this rate will increase with the prospective hiring of a female midwife with whom women’s cultural shyness will not be an obstacle.

Agnes Auma with her baby boy, Omara, born in the clinic 8 hours earlier in February 2012

Joseph Kony will not have the last word

The appalling condition of maternal/child health in Northern Uganda necessitates urgent action.  Though Joseph Kony destroyed the entire healthcare service during the 20 yr war, his reprehensible acts should not be the finale.  There is a saying that the best revenge (against an enemy) is to live well. OCHAN is helping the Opac community do just that through several resettlement projects as discussed in other posts.   In this writing, rescuing women’s health is the focus.  The community needs access to counseling on family planning, reproductive health, prenatal care, and trained, well-equipped attendants for their deliveries.  OCHAN will continue to report on this issue and, hopefully, on obstacles that have been overcome to make OCC a safe haven for women during their reproductive years.  In 2009, the leaders of the women farmers had listed locally accessible modern health care as a critical need, because most of the women farmers were still of child-bearing age with no adequate services available in reproductive health–clinics having been looted, their staff having fled during the war years. Dear reader, your kind donations are translating into a tangible safety net for women.  Please keep the clinic in your prayers as it ramps up its capacity to serve the true engines of economic development, the women of Opac.  Better healthcare for the women of Opac and their families  will be the last word.

The Nile River squeezes through a narrow gorge at Murchison Falls before continuing its epic journey north.

Story background

June 2011: the professor (center)who created the seeds inspects women's group farm

We had reported, in our last  post,  on the initial distribution of Maksoy 3 to our farmers, the nurturing of these crop seeds in accordance with Dr. Tukamuhabwa’s instructions, and early growth performance of the seedlings in the farmers’ fields, including the women’s group farm.  In addition to growing this breeder seed variety  in the group farm, sixty farmers  received small portions of this variety to plant and report back on  how the seeds performed.

The End

Local Namsoy (left) next to a stalk of Maksoy 3

Maksoy 3 largely lived up to its billing as the best soya variety compared to the three common varieties that our farmers also tested in real field conditions:  in ability to suppress weeds permanently when weeded early; in  minimal scatter when left in the fields to dry prior to harvest; and in high yield of very large  seeds.  Earlier research had reported  that the protein and oil content of Maksoy 3 were comparable to many other soya varieties.  It took, however,  about two more weeks than the other brands to reach maturity.  From small amounts that were allocated per farmer, the 60 Opac women harvested 24.5 tons of grain.

Chairman of Ocan Agenne in the grain store inspects incoming soya harvest for quality and quantity

Moving towards sustainability and new beginnings

In most instances the farmers have since hoarded their seeds for planting in March 2012.  Limited quantities, however, are still available in Ocan Agenne’s grain store for  farmers’ spring planting in March 2012. The open market price, and demand for the Maksoy 3 variety remain relatively high in district.  For the first time in the history of grassroots farming in Opac Village, peasants are selling seeds from their storage facility instead of struggling to buy them when available and affordable in distant markets.  OCHAN’s experience over the last three years and reports from other sources have clearly shown that seed scarcity at a critical moment in the farming cycle limits grain production and thereby allows for the entrenchment of severe poverty and famine in the vast rural areas of the sub-Sahara.  To counter this threat to rural development, sufficiency in seed supply is key.  By tackling this particular issue in the farming cycle it is possible to mobilize even large populations toward self-sufficiency in crop production.  OCHAN supports 438 small-scale rural farmers, mostly women, that now produce semi-commercial quantities of both sunflower and soya crop every year.  Further, they have  demonstrated the capability to serve the broader community by multiplying new grain varieties developed in foreign or local research institutions.

Women report that not only do the large and plump Maksoy 3 grow tall and sell well; they also taste delicious when cooked in a stew or fried as a snack.

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.