Sustainable Agriculture

ABOUT US

Go Organic Africa is a Community Based Organization, (CBO) operating in Africa. It started in 2010 with its head quarters in Kabale, South Western- Uganda with the mission of improving household nutrition through consumption of diverse and nutritious foods.

The project was conceived by Alphonse Twinamatsiko, as the Project Director, to provide farmers with the skills and technologies in sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

Go Organic Africa is spreading like the wild fire to other parts of Africa, impacting small-farmers with the skills and knowledge of organic farming.

In organic farming, crops, meat and other food are produced without chemicals. Fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones and antibiotics are forbidden.

Instead of chemicals, Go Organic Africa uses a lot of organic matter to give crops the nutrients that they need to grow. Clover, for example, has a lot of nitrogen in it and farmers use it to make the soil better. Manure from animals and compost are also used to enrich the soil. Rabbit urine is used as a pesticide.

Our Objectives

• To sensitize and empower small farmers and their families in intensive home gardens

• To help farmers meet their basic needs by promoting organic farming and sustainable agriculture through training workshops

• To sensitize community members on the values of organic farming.

• To increase the financial base of farmers

• To Increase access and use of diverse nutritious foods at household level

• Linking farmers  with others to share knowledge, facts and awareness about organic farming

• To promote rain-water harvesting in communities

• To provide market  to small- farmers  and value addition to agricultural products

 

Activities of the project

​

• Bee keeping

• Agro-forestry

• Intensive home gardens/ Organic farming technologies

• Rabbit keeping

• Rain water harvesting

• Indigenous poultry keeping

• Fish farming

• Vertical farming  

• ​

Our vision: To improve and sustain the livelihoods of communities through organic and Permaculture technologies

​

Our Mission -To provide sustainable and organic agriculture education and consultation that empowers small farmers to expand crop production in Africa.

​

     PROJECTS

 BEE KEEPING

​

Our aim is to help vulnerable women and youth in Africa to provide for their large households by introducing them to modern, environmentally sustainable beekeeping as a source of much-needed income.

Many of the women are widows or single mothers, and nearly all are subsistence farmers growing little more than they need to feed their families. The average household has between six and seven members, well over half of whom are children of school-going age or younger.

We are helping women’s and youth’s groups to undertake beekeeping or improve their existing beekeeping by training them to construct, manage and harvest Kenyan Top Bar (KTB) Hives. They have also been shown how to add value to their wax; and they are being provided with a ready market for their honey via a new buying & marketing operation run by Go Organic Africa

 

AGRO FORESTRY

​

By understanding how forests grow and sustain themselves without human intervention, we can learn from Nature, copy the systems and patterns to model our own forests — ones filled with trees and plants that produce food we can eat.

We can design and construct the most sustainable food production systems possible; perfected, refined and cared for by Mother Nature herself. A forest takes care of itself by shedding leaves, building mulch and organic manure, with the tree’s roots holding water in the soil and preventing erosion. Planting trees is a good way to alleviate the risks of a changing climate i.e preventing soil erosion and keeping water in the ground.

 

Food Forests are life

Forests are home to approximately 50-90% of all the world’s terrestrial (land-living) biodiversity — including the pollinators and wild relatives of many agricultural crops (Source: WWF Living Planet Report 2010)

Tropical forests alone are estimated to contain between 10-50 million species - over 50% of species on the planet.

Rainforests cover 2% of the Earth’s surface and 6% of its land mass, yet they are home to over half of the world’s plant and animal species.

From these basic facts, it should be evident that forests themselves are synonymous with life, biodiversity and fertility. Where life gathers, complex and mutually beneficial relationships are created between organisms; natural harmonious communities form, and life forms multiply and proliferate.

​

INTENSIVE HOME GARDENING

​

Sub Saharan Africa still has one of the highest proportions of people living on less than $1.25 a day, according to the MDG report 51% in 2005. Furthermore, in all developing regions children in rural areas are more likely to be underweight than children living in cities and towns (UN MGD report, 2010).

 

In Africa, communities are often unbalanced with deficiencies in both vitamins from fruit and vegetables and protein from meat. This particularly impacts on pre and post natal mothers and children exposing them to preventable diseases such as Marasmus, Kwashiorkor, anaemia, skin conditions and stunted growth.
 

Home gardens are one of the remedies to prevent the effect of malnutrition. We aim to reverse the effect of malnutrition by teaching people both the skills to provide themselves with adequate food as well as educating them about the importance of nutrition. Empowering communities, enabling them to create their own source of income as well as being able to improve nutritional levels in the community is the least we can do.

​​

RABBIT KEEPING

Go Organic Africa works closely with small farmers living in the Kigezi region of southwestern Uganda, who are raising rabbits for household consumption and sale at local markets.

Why rabbits? Through the pilot-initiatives and experiences of small-farmers, Go Organic Africa has learned several important things about rabbits, which makes them an ideal meat-source for poor families to raise, including that:

1) Rabbits reproduce very quickly – every 30 days, in fact. A breeding female that gives birth to a litter of 5-7 babies can be bred, again, only five days later. An initial stock of 3 rabbits (2 does, 1 male) can grow to 40 rabbits in three month’s time.

2) Rabbits are very inexpensive to raise – a small-farmer needs to only gather local weeds and grasses that are growing in close proximity to the house, or feed them dried kitchen scraps. No expensive inputs necessary.

3) Rabbits are relatively disease-resistant – especially compared to poultry, which easily contract diseases, rabbits – when kept in raised cages that are cleaned daily – carry less risks than other small-livestock.

4) Rabbits can be eaten immediately by households – which is important in consideration of the high numbers of protein deficiency (sometimes leading to malnutrition) amongst children under five in the Kigezi region.

5) Rabbits can be sold on the market for approximately 15,000 Ugandan Shillings (equivalent of $6 US Dollars) – which helps generate small income for poor households.

What are the Next Steps for Go Organic Africa’s Rabbit Project?
Small-farmers have shared with Go Organic Africa that one of the most difficult aspects of selling rabbits is the lack of local markets. A group of youth trained in rabbit keeping by Go Organic Africa has responded to farmers by setting up a rabbit butchery and rabbit meat restaurant in town.  Rabbits are being prepared into marketable products i.e roasted meat, sausages, meatballs and steak at the restaurant. This have ensure small-farmers with a guaranteed market to help them generate more income, encourage families to purchase rabbit meat (as an economical and healthy choice) and strengthen local/regional food security.​

 

RAIN WATER HARVESTING

​

A key contributing factor to this rate has to do with a large geographical feature – mountainous areas (Kigezi highlands- where we are based).

 

A key contributing factor to this rate has to do with a large geographical feature – mountainous areas (Kigezi highlands- where we
are based). 
 

Another rather obvious factor to the little amount of water is the large population of Africa.
 

Africa’s population is growing, while at the same time water is diminishing, making the average amount of water per person decrease significantly. Also, with the large amount of people living in Africa, only about 10% of those people have access to abundant river water, which is the main source of water in Africa.

There are a number of reasons why poverty has become an epidemic in Africa. Poverty can be the result of political instability, ethnic conflicts, climate change and other man-made causes.

But one of the greatest causes of poverty in Africa is also the most overlooked...the lack of access to clean drinking water. Nearly one billion people do not have access to clean, safe water - that's the equivalent of 1 in 8 people on the planet!

For these people, poverty is a fact of life. The good news... This is a solvable problem. A tarpline tank is the way to go. Check out this http://amatsiko.blogspot.com/2015/05/no-water-no-life.html

​

For more details about Sustainable Agriculture, you can contact us at; 

 

Project Director- Alphonse Twinamatsiko

 

Telephone- +256(0) 784 82 07 54 / +256(0) 706 27 69 62 

 

Email: kabahikwealphonse@gmail.com 

​