Kikondo, UG – Family uses garden expansion to help pay for school fees – 15 October 2019

Following the successful growth of her family garden, MCM mom expands her family garden to increase home income. This expansion helps the family save money and pay for school fees.

MCM mother started with a 3-bed garden when she began learning from Wamukisa in late 2017. In 2019, MCM mom expanded her garden to include a small commercial plot to help increase her family income. The increase in sales from this plot has enabled the family to begin saving with the Zinabala VICOBA group and pay for their child’s school fees to Kikondo Community Day Care.

One of MCM’s main challenges with farming commercially is access to good quality seeds in the market. Wamukisa, too, has experienced this issue. Some seeds do not germinate properly fore example, poor cabbage seeds will germinate 2 or more heads effectively killing the crop after a few weeks.

Fortunately, due to the poor seed quality, MCM family has seen an opening in the market and has begun producing seedlings to sell to meet the demand of local farmers. They hope to use this windfall to further expand their home income.