The autumn rains during 2014 and 2015 resulted in wide-spread floods that brought much misery to the people in the north of Teso, particularly in the Amuria area. TDT sent £10,000 to provide relief during those floods – providing emergency food, water purification tablets and tarpaulins. This has been a tremendous help and has saved lives. However, with the flooding expected to return to some degree most years, a longer-term solution is needed.
PAG Kido (the development agency of PAG North Teso), has been working hard to formulate a programme of activities to help local communities become more resilient to the floods. This includes training groups of farmers on growing and harvesting fast-maturing crops, and providing an initial stock of seeds. The aim is that these farmers will develop a demonstration garden and pass on their skills to others in the communities. TDT has recently been able to fund this project, which has already begun.
In February a meeting was held with the local community at Aguyaguya. This included community and church leaders, as well as members of the community. From this meeting, 5 groups of 10 farmers were chosen to receive the training. An important requirement was their willingness to use some of their land for the demonstration purpose, as well as their ability to pass on their skills to others.
We are looking forward to seeing this project develop. We may not be able to prevent the floods coming again, but we are able to help people develop more flood-resilient agriculture – giving them greater food-security when the floods return.
Pictures: Left – Sub-county chief addressing the community at the initial meeting.
Right- PAG Officers assessing those who will receive training