Regenerative
Agriculture

Challenge

Northern Uganda’s economy is almost entirely agrarian, yet the vast majority of its people lack sufficient farming skills. Twenty years of conflict displaced most Acholi into IDP camps, where nearly two generations lost key agricultural know-how. Many new refugees from South Sudan were nomadic cattle herders with no prior farming experience.  

Subsistence farmers are severely impacted by climate change, which is creating increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather patterns that can leave crops decimated by flood or drought. Meanwhile, poverty and poor agronomic knowledge drives people to clear the land of trees for firewood and farmland, leading to devastating land degradation. 

Culturally, it is women who bear the brunt of the burden of making sure their family is food secure.

AWR teaches regenerative agricultural techniques to:

Stabilize the land hydrology

Rebuild soil biology

Create biodiverse “food forests” that yield harvests in both dry and rainy seasons

Regenerative Agriculture Program Principles

Water Harvesting

Dig earthen structures to slow, spread, sink and bank rainwater or other water sources deep into the soil.

Benefits

Soil Health

Create a healthy soil food web that supports sustained production and regenerative growth.

Benefits

Biodiversity

Use different crops, trees and animals that work together to support the overall health and production of the growing environment.

Benefits

Solution

AWR focuses on building the soil health and fertility of farmers’ fields, as well as the harvesting and “banking” of all the rainwater that falls on their fields. It’s simple, effective and life-changing.

AWR teaches regenerative agricultural techniques to:

Stabilize the land hydrology

Rebuild soil biology

Create biodiverse “food forests” that yield harvests in both dry and rainy seasons

Community mobilizers work with farmers for up to three years, empowering them to adopt agronomic techniques through hands-on practice. Farmers learn to stop burning fields, use mulch, dig swales to slow, spread and bank rainfall, and grow a diversity of crops and plants. This new knowledge goes hand in hand with a rise in environmental stewardship as they plant new trees and learn to manage and care for those already on their lands. 

AWR pioneered this approach built on regenerative agricultural principles across conflict-affected Northern Uganda, and was one of the first to successfully implement it in a refugee setting. The model was subsequently adopted by USAID as best practice and has been adapted into training manuals.

Program Model

Our regenerative agriculture work goes a step beyond sustainability to actively replenish and rebuild degraded water, soil and tree systems. It consists of community-led, participatory agricultural training, tree planting and food forestry, and a research, training and demonstration site.

Regenerative Agriculture Training

Tree Management

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Model Farm

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Regenerative Agriculture Training

African Women Rising offers two types of agricultural training based on the same set of core regenerative agricultural principles: a Field Crop Program for farmers with larger acreages, and a Permagarden Program for those with only small plots of land, many of whom live in the Palabek Refugee Settlement.
Permagarden Program
Many typical kitchen garden programs focus on producing crops such as tomatoes, cabbage or onions in keyhole or sack gardens. These need to be watered every day, and often struggle with dry spells or are abandoned completely in the dry season. In contrast, an AWR permagarden is designed and built to store rainwater deep in the soil, providing access to soil moisture and nutrients for deeper-rooted plants that continue to yield food long into the dry season when hunger is at its peak. This proactive approach to harvesting rainwater and building soil fertility provides the opportunity to grow a huge diversity of crops.
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Field Crop Program
Traditionally, Acholi farmers had more land and would simply let fields lie fallow to regenerate. Nowadays, squeezed by new population pressures, most farmers burn their fields, destroying the soil’s organic materials and microbial life. Neither method seeks to build soil fertility or capture rainwater – key measures AWR teaches.

Regenerative Agriculture Training

Tree Management

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Model Farm

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The average length of displacement in a refugee camp like Palabek is 17 years. We developed the permagarden program there to better meet the long-term needs of residents and their environment.

The film, produced in partnership with Trocaire, showcases this work.

Tree Planting and Food Forestry

Conservation of trees plays a vital role in the ecological and social fabric of Northern Uganda. Besides capturing carbon and drawing down emissions from the atmosphere, they provide many further ecosystem services to help stabilize soils and prevent erosion, moderate winds, bank rainwater, regulate temperature extremes and provide habitat for wildlife. They also provide important products throughout the year for the household, including: nutrition, income, fodder, fuel, fencing, soil amendments, organic matter, pollinators, and medicinals. Over the last 30 years huge swaths of Acholiland were clear-cut to make way for IDP and refugee camps, resulting in millions of people now dependent on the remaining surrounding trees for firewood or the production of charcoal, a key source of income for many. AWR is committed to the reforestation of Northern Uganda, and has embedded tree stewardship across all of our program areas.
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Research, Training and Demonstration Site

In 2022, the Ugandan government awarded AWR the opportunity to develop a 12.5-acre model farm at the heart of the Palabek Refugee Settlement next to the UN headquarters and the Office of the Prime Minister. Although the land was previously abandoned as barren and used as a quarry and brick-burning site, AWR is in process to transform it into a site for large-scale program demonstrations, training and research in regenerative solutions.
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Impact

11,000
Farmers participated
60
Community mobilizers employed
61%
Reduction in the number of refugee households eating only once a day
179%
Increase in the number of refugee households in the Permagarden program eating three meals a day
4,540
Permagardens in Palabek refugee settlement alone
100,000
Tree seedlings planted in 2022

Stories of Impact

Grace, 40, mother of 4
“Since I learned how to do a permagarden, I have food all year round. I also earn money from the garden by selling vegetables. The income is weekly. I sell what we don't eat at the market. Since I have a regular income now, it’s become easier to save money. The first time we shared our savings, I bought a goat. I have two now. They are my insurance for when life gets hard or if someone falls sick.”
Christine, 38, mother of 8
“The COVID period has been difficult for us. People were very scared. I sell at the market and they closed it so I had a hard time earning money. It was difficult for us to replenish our stock with no trade going on. The Permagarden from AWR is what helped me through this time. I could also borrow from my group when my child got sick and I didn't have any money. My family did much better than many of our neighbors.”
Stella, 27, mother of 2
“I am a contact farmer for my group. That means I am an example for the rest of the members. I model the training we do in Permagarden and make sure my garden is always looking good so members can use it as an example. I also help mobilize group members when we have a meeting or for a training. None of the members have a phone so I need to visit all of them to make sure they have the right information. I love it! It makes me happy to work with our members. Many are older than me, but they still respect me. I’ve been in the group for six years now. I’m a single mom and as such it has been good to be a part of this group. The women provide a lot of knowledge and support. They help me forget problems, I’m relaxed and happy when we are together.”
Alice, 50, mother of 7
Alice is a farmer and mother of seven children. She is a member of Can Diyo Dano microfinance and savings group. She started her permagarden in June 2019 after training from AWR. “I love my vegetable garden as it has brought more food into my home. This helps a lot especially on those days when I return late from the main garden and since the food markets are far away.” From the vegetable sales, she buys chickens, seeds for planting and also contributes to her savings group. “This COVID period has affected me psychologically because I worry a lot, I don’t know when it will end, churches and schools are closed, people are dying…” COVID has affected many people in her community with shortages of food, but because of the improved farming techniques she has learned, her vegetable yields have increased. She can help neighbors who are struggling by giving them vegetables for free.
Susan, 37, refugee and mother of 8
“I came here [Uganda] from South Sudan because of the war. It hasn't been easy living in the camp. We don't have enough land to farm. All our food comes from WFP [World Food Program] and it's beans all the time. We get beans and oil, or maize and oil. It's for a month but only lasts two weeks. The last weeks are hard. My Permagarden is helping. I’m feeding my family from it and selling as well. I grow pumpkins, papaya, cow peas, moringa, casava, mango, passion fruit, onion, tomatoes, pigeon peas, sukuma, bananas, chili, eggplant and okra. Last week I got 15K [$4.00] from selling food. I bought two hens. I started this business with money I made from the Permagarden. I earn about 30K [$8.00] a week from it. ”
Catherine, 64, refugee
Catherine is a refugee from Makwi in South Sudan. She arrived in Palabek refugee settlement camp in February 2020. She left South Sudan because of the effects of war - there was no medication, no education and a shortage of food. When she arrived, she first survived only on the WFP (World Food Program) rations of food, but with COVID and lack of funding, the food she received was reduced. In April 2020, AWR trained her in permagardening and she now grows a variety of vegetables to supplement the food from the WFP. The vegetables she grows are for home consumption though she sells some to buy other essentials such as soap and salt. With the income from the hard labor she does on other people’s gardens and the vegetable sales, she has bought chickens. She hopes to get land from a host community member so she can be able to farm on a larger scale. ‘I have to work hard to eat. I don’t want to be the old woman that begs.’ It is the second time Catherine is forced to be a refugee in Uganda.
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