Climate Talk Uganda With Josephine Karungi

As climate change continues to affect rainfall patterns, seasons and agicultural production across northern Uganda, farmers are looking for new ways to manage risk, produce crops more consistently, and gain reliable access to markets. Two approaches are gaining particular attention: greenhouse horticulture and open field horticulture production. Rafusanjan Bruhan is Founder and CEO of Agrigate Company Limited, and Jacob Olweny is Regional Manager for Acholi with the Climate Smart Jobs project. They join me to explain just what these approaches have to offer, and how they are being implemented. Thanks for listening, and see you next time, Josephine

Poultry farming - and egg production - offer opportunities for small holders to diversify their income. While many smallholder famers have traditionally had a few chickens for subsistence use, the Climate Smart Jobs project has been working to help farmers turn this into a viable business option. In the second of her interview with us, Evaline Simon - Regional Manager for West Nile - explains how she has been implementing the program. She also discusses why this initiative was needed and how it has been working for farming communities.

Goat breeding might seem like an unusual topic for a climate change podcast. But building household economic resilience is a crucial part of enabling communities to survive the trials of a drastically changing and unpredictable climate. Goat breeding is one way to build that resilience. Evaline Simon is a Regional Manager in West Nile for the Climate Smart Jobs project. She draws on her lived experience alongside deep professional knowledge to help communities in Northern Uganda develop new ways of earning income in a sustainable way. She coordinated the goat breeding program at Climate Smart Jobs and has been implementing it as part of the Climate Smart Jobs project. Well worth a listen - Evaline is a profound and compelling talker. Thanks for listening and see you next time, Josephine

WIIGOT is an ecosystem that connects smallholder farmers with agribusinesses, services, and markets through trusted local Commercial Agents and Farmer Group Enterprises. Business Model Specialists Brian Ariho, Jannet Oroma and Jackline Labeja join us to explain what it is, how it works and why it matters. Wiigot takes it's name from an Acholi word meaning 'something on the top of a hill where you can have an overview of things...you can see clearly,' and was developed as part of the Climate Smart Jobs project. Thanks for listening, and see you next time - Josephine

Irrigation and water management technologies have the potential to help farmers transition from seasonal production to year-round cultivation. They also enable farmers to withstand the worst impacts of climate change and unpredictable - and more extreme - weather events. Beth Nanyama is a Market Systems Development Specialist who has been working with the Climate Smart Jobs project to increase access to these technologies for farmers, as well as increasing their access to markets and partnerships with private sector investors. She joins us to talk about how the work has been developed and what challenges and opportunities have been encountered.

Well-maintained machinery like tractors can be a lifeline for farmers preparing their land for cultivation. But sometimes maintaining and repairing this machinery can be time consuming and strewn with obstacles like the lack of spare parts. Fixing these challenges is a crucial part of helping farmers get their gardens planted in a timely way, before the end of the planting season. This in turn helps farmers become more resilient in the face of climate change. Jacob Olweny, the Regional Manager for the Acholi Sub-Region with the Climate Smart Jobs project, joins us to talk about mechanised agricultural services and how important they are for farmers in Uganda in general, and Acholi in particluar.

The Climate Smart Jobs program has been working with communication partners developing new approaches to covering climate change in the media. As I mention in my introduction to this episode, from Day One the project recognised that climate change information is only useful if it is accessible, understandable and delivered in ways that help people make informed decisions. One of our most significant partners is the jounalism group InfolNile. Today we're joined by two of their leading journalists in Uganda to relfect on what we set out to achieve, what has been accomplished and what are the lessons learned from this partnership. Leonard Namukasa is the Programmes and Strategy Manager with InfoNile and Andrew Aijuka is the Productions Manager, as well as being a journalist engaged in regular climate change reporting. It's a fascinating discussion, and offers many insights into the challenges and opportunities of climate change journalism.

This is a fantastic episode about women, shea, self-reliance, entrepreneurial energy and talent. It’s the story of Blessed Organic Release shea products, founded by our guest, Margaret Laloyo. As she says on the company website: ‘In 2004 I took note of an ‘international investor’ who was buying Shea butter and Shea kernels from local collectors, mostly impoverished rural women in my home area in Acholi. I noted the ‘investor’ was not offering collectors fair trade terms. I took the initiative to learn more about Shea butter and recognized it to be a high quality product. I invested in getting knowledge about the Shea butter value chain, including taking atraining course with the America Shea Butter Institute. I used my new learning and knowledge to successfully bring an honest and charitable approach to the Shea butter market, delivering Premium Grade A Organic Nilotica Shea Products. While ensuring the strongest link in the Lalida Shea value chain, the collectors, are paid fair.’ Margaret talks us through her early days as an entrepreneurial nine-year-old who paid her own school fees by selling orange juice from her father’s trees sweetened with sugar cane at the local market; the foundation of Blessed Organic Release Nilotica Shea; ‘skilling and enabling our strategic partners, thousands of disadvantaged women and youth in Acholi, to earn a living’; climate resilience; and creating economic opportunities for women in local communities. Remarkably, she says, the shea tree, once it becomes productive, can continue to bear fruit for up to three hundred years. That’s a long time, even for a tree. Our thanks to Margaret Laloyo for taking the time to share her knowledge and experience with us - you can find out more about Blessed Organic Release here: https://blessedorganic.org/what-we-do/ And thanks to you, our listeners. See you next time, Josephine

Artificial meat. Shampoo. Cooking oil. Flour. All the good things that come from shea. Raymond Kakuba is the National Co-ordinator of the Nilotica Shea Alliance, and has been working alongide the Climate Smart Jobs project. In this conversation he talks to us about shea products and the economic opportunities that shea cultivation represent for women in particular. (Nilotica, he says, is a premium version of all the shea varieties.) He talks about how historically women have always been intricately involved in shea production, how it empowers them economically, and the importance of maintaining the landscape where shea can grow successfully. Since shea only blooms once a year, work is underway to ensure than women have other ways of earning income at other times of the year including through harvesting honey, agroforestry and bean and soy production. At the same time, destruction of shea trees for charcoal production is a growing problem, as are population pressures, mining and agricultural expansion. Fascinating, complex stuff. You can find out more about the Nilotica Shea Alliance here: https://www.niloticashea.org/about.html Thanks for listening, and see you next time - Josephine

Christopher Atibo is a business model specialist with the Climate Smart Jobs project. But he's a farmer to his bones. As his mother used to say, 'Let's go to work - if you don't work, you don't eat.' In this inspiring episode he tells us how the practice of pfumvudza is helping transfrom the fortunes of women in refugee settlements - and communities in general - in Northen Uganda. We hear how new ways of farming enable women to gain greater economic freedom and greater opportunities to support their families. You can find out more about the origins of Pfumvudze in one of earlier episodes: https://climatetalkuganda.fireside.fm/45 Thanks for listeneing and see you next time. Josephine