Book of Abstracts
11th IFOAM
Scientific Conference
11-15 August 1996
Copenhagen, Denmark

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Symposia

Indegenous Farming in Uganda S18

Sanyu Florence K.; Azuba Margaret S.

Uganda Centre for Sustainable Agriculture P.O. Box 281 Kampala - Uganda.

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The Uganda farmer has for along time been a subsistence farmer, using a hand hoe and slasher, practicing shifting cultivation. This ensured continuity as soils regenerated fertility. However, as populations increased, the shifting was minimized and people settled on permanent land. With this settlement, government took a leap to modernize agriculture. But to some extent conventional agriculture did not take root in all areas of Uganda. So most parts still practice indegenous farming i.e mixed cropping and other forms. Uganda is a vast country with seven ecological zones, each with a unique farming system. But for purposes of this paper, one system is considered and that is »The banana-coffee-cattle system«. Much study, to support conventional agriculture has been done but little has been done on the indegenous systems even the little done only looks at the shortcomings of the indegenous system. A lot of funds have been poured in conventional instead of strengthening what nature has provided. A lot of resources could have been saved if people had invested in indegenous practices.

The paper tries to appraise the good side and the benefits of the indegenous system. In the awake of environmental destruction caused by man's agricultural activities, the need to make this study cannot be over emphasized. The system has sustained humanity and so must be revisited and its viability analysed. The main objectives include; 1) To highlight the pros and cons 2) To justify the system and why it must be maintained. 3) To stimulate need for deeper understanding of the system.

The text briefly covers; 1) Production 2) Soil fertility management, to mention but a few. Comparison of conventional and indegenous is designed to bring out the issues clearly. The author's Vision winds off the conclusion recommendations and looks further a field.