Rhino settlement camp refugees trained in rice protection techniques

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MADI OKOLLO - Members of different vulnerable refugee groups, including widows, at Rhino Settlement Camp in Madi Okollo district in West Nile have been trained in inclusive techniques and knowledge of rice planting to enhance rice production, food security, and household income.

The training was carried out by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) under the Promotion of Sustainable Rice Farming Development (Eco-PRiDe) project.

Musomesa Field School (MFS) demonstration site was visited by Naoki Ando, the JICA senior vice president in charge of Africa, who was accompanied by JICA’s country representative in Uganda, Inoue Yoichi. On October 14th, Ando and Yoichi witnessed an observation of the training of about 70 refugees who were trained as trainers of trainees (TOTs) in the application of sustainable rice production technologies.

According to Mariah Chepkemoi, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the Eco-PRiDe project, promotion of rice production at Rhino Settlement Camp started in 2022, where they train 30 farmers per season from various groups and give out improved rice seeds, and so far, rice production has improved.

“We started with farmers producing less than half an acre; right now they produce to two and beyond acres of rice—our target is achieving more from small fields through working together with NARO, whereby we utilize their capacity to train farmers on the most improved techniques in rice production and also improved technologies that we are borrowing from experts from Japan and introducing them to our farmers so that they can harvest more from their fields,” Chepkemoi explained.

Members of Yiti Rice Farmers Association demonstrate rice production techniques at JICA's Musomesa Field School demonstration site in Ocea C village, Madi Okollo district. (Credit: Donald Kiirya)

Miyamoto Kisho, a JICA expert and Chief Advisor, says JICA-developed demonstration fields are not only in the settlement camps but also in some parts of Uganda.

" We have established almost 75 rice demonstration sites in Uganda—we have demonstration sites at Doho rice scheme in Butaleja district, Bugiri, Bugweri, Lwebitaba, Lira, and in settlement camps in the West Nile subregion, among others, which were started in 2019,” Kisho said, adding that they started their training under the Eco-PRiDe project this year (2024) to overcome the outreach extension activity demand in Butaleja and the West Nile subregion.

“Our target is to train over 20,000 farmers in this five-year Eco-PRiDe project, and NARO produces high-value rice seeds, and we distribute them to farmers in Butaleja and the West Nile subregion,” Kisho said.

Beneficiaries speak out

Leya Karaba, a resident of Ocea village in Rhino Settlement Camp and also a rice farmer, said before that while at her Tore village in Yeyi County in Southern Sudan, she used to brew alcohol, but ever since she left her home village and settled in Rhino Camp, she was trained in rice production.

“I left the alcohol business, and now I am into cultivating rice and have two acres, which give me over 34 bags per season, and I have managed to pay school fees for my four children and look after my home since my husband was killed in South Sudan,” Karaba said.

Members of Yiti Rice Aarmers Association trained in rice production techniques at JICA's Musomesa Field School demonstration site in Ocea C village, Madi Okollo district. (Credit: Donald Kiirya)

Betty Laiki, a resident of Ocea C village in Rhino Camp and member of the Musomesa Rice Association, said that before she used to cultivate cassava, sorghum, and Sim Sim, but when rice growing was introduced, she left growing Sim Sim and resorted to growing rice after getting training, adding that rice growing is more profitable and beneficial than growing Sim Sim.

Laiki, a widow with four children, said she started by growing ¾ acres of rice, extended to 2 acres, and now has 3 acres, adding that rice growing has helped her to educate her children, and she is planning to hire more land for rice cultivation.

David Moro, a 38-year-old and chairperson of the Yiti Rice Farmers Association, noted that his group has 17 members and all have benefited from rice growing in the Rhino camp.

“I came in 2016 from South Sudan to West Nile. I started growing rice anyhow until we formed a group and collaborated with OPM together with JICA, who came and trained us on how to plant rice—we now can plant rice in a legit method (in lines), and this method is the best because we are able to weed easily in our gardens,” Moro explained.

Moro further stated that despite farmers being trained in rice production in West Nile, they still face challenges like lacking enough land on which to cultivate rice, a lack of tractors to support them in ploughing their land, a lack of irrigation systems, and other farmers hiring land for cultivation at a high cost from various landlords.

He called upon partners like OPM, UNHCR, and other NGOs to support rice farming groups in the West Nile subregion by getting them farm mechanization equipment like tractors and irrigation systems.