Nam central, Kamonojwii and Latinling Namare villages in Latinling parish, Geregere subcounty, Agago district. These villages are south of River Agago and sit in the hotspot areas identified at the beginning of the project along Olupe micro sub catchment that feeds into the River Agago where the WASH SDG 6 sub programme is being implemented in Agago district.
The three villages were faced with the following challenges; floods, encroachment, deforestation and poor sanitation and hygiene at household levels.
The flood mainly arising from not only settlement within the wetlands but also other human activities that led to encroachment of wetlands and cutting down of trees without replacement. Due to loose soils and flooding nature of the area, many households find it hard to get good yields from their gardens due to water logging in the farmlands. Impassable roads due to floods that cut them off to access other commodities from the market.
JESE through the WASH SGD 6 sub programme intervened with an aim to achieve Climate Vulnerability
Resilience and inclusive Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services. Community training and awareness
creations were conducted per village and each village came up with Simple Doable Actions (SiDAs.). These
awareness training led to a change that is visible today.
JESE facilitated a district extension staff (District Agricultural Officer) to create awareness and train
communities in the three villages on the best possible ways to achieve good crop yields irrespective of the alarming floods.
Community members were trained on different agronomical technologies and climate smart agriculture.
They include; inter-cropping, crop rotation, agroforestry, mulching, creation of contours bands, trenching
in the farmlands, kitchen gardening among others.
Establishment of kitchen gardens by households
Out of the 162 households in the three villages, about 10 households have taken up kitchen gardening as a serious venture to grow vegetables. About 30 households practice it majorly for home
consumption. Some households are earning up to about Shs 150,000 per month from the sale of eggplants from the kitchen gardens and yet they also sell some to the neighbours that are not accounted for.
At least a basin full of egg plants is obtained daily when it starts yielding. One cabbage is sold ranging from shs500 to 1,000 depending on the size. This has improved the household incomes when the vegetables are sold. The money is used to purchase the basic necessities at household levels.
Vegetables from the kitchen gardens
The health and sanitation have been improved since the income being got from the kitchen gardens is used to buy soap, construct latrines and sanitary pads among others. The nutrition levels have
also increased with the various vegetables being grown in the kitchen gardens like cabbages, onions, egg plants, Sukuma wiki, Dodo, green pepper, and spinach. This helps in a balanced diet of family members
thus being healthy.
The community members are so thankful to the WASH SDG Program especially partner JESE for the wonderful work they have done in the community.
Ocaka Robert said that in 2012, the flooding started after returning from the camps yet his grandfather told him that it last happened in the 1950s. Their houses started falling off around 2016 to 2019 with water sometimes coming from underground yet they were sleeping on the floor and they lost a lot of properties.
Robert added, “we could not construct latrines during the rainy season, the latrine is always filled up with water, the walls are weakened and washed away and it forces me and my family members to defecate in the bush.” He added, “I think the bad practices of our fathers, grandparents and I are the real cause of what we are experiencing these days”.
He applauds JESE for the creation of the trenches as he laments, “After the creation of the trenches, we can now construct latrines freely and this has reduced on open defecation”
“I could not cook using a local three stone stove when the whole compound is filled with water and the kitchen also has water coming from the ground. This affected me and my family members, making us go some days without food,” Akidi Rebecca said.
She added, “my garden is always filled with water and my crops destroyed, which led to famine. We lose a lot of money from the garden activities yet later on they are destroyed by the floods”
Akidi said, “The water run-offs always make the roads impassable making our access to the only borehole in the area hard and also to the market and hospital”.
She added, “The creation of the trenches has made us get good yields since there is no longer water logging in the farmlands and has improved our livelihoods. The roads are now passable since the water is channeled to River Agago.”