“Most of the world's poor people earn their living from agriculture, so if we knew the economics of agriculture, we would know much of the economics of being poor.”

- Theodore Schultz

We didn’t begin our work in Uganda thinking we would start a farm.

Our team initially arrived in Kisoro District asking questions to learn more about challenges in the local communities, poverty being an obvious one.

We wondered, who’s experiencing poverty? Are some villages worse off than others? Is farming the primary income generating activity or are there other ways to bring money into the household? How successful are farmers in the region? Which crop are most abundant? What’s easiest to sell at market? Where are the markets?

We knew that in order to understand the issues related to poverty in the region, we needed to hear it directly from those experiencing it.

Our interests quickly lead us to our most active partnership in Uganda, Mgahinga Community Development Organization (MCDO). As a community-based organization, the had deep ties in the region and would be instrumental in helping us learn about the people that live there.

With MCDO taking the lead on implementation, we broke ground on the farm in the summer of 2020 with a goal of demonstrating innovative techniques and approaches to land management and promoting active knowledge sharing with the community on how they can improve their farms to provide more food and opportunities for market.

Moving in our 4th year of operation, the farm continues to experiment with crop varieties and growing local medicinal herbs, found primarily in nearby Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. We have also added varieties of animals over the years which have allowed us to produce our own organic manure for the farm. Looking ahead, we are interested in exploring other opportunities that could generate more ecotourism in the region, highlighting the uniqueness of this region and the resourcefulness of the communities that surround the National Park.