Yesterday we visited the Coffee Farm and presented the workers with a special new stove that promises to help the workers use about 1/2 the firewood and cook in half the time. We started with a demonstration where we cooked a large pot of rice for everyone, and it only took 45 minutes. That might seem like a long time for us in the United States, but for them, it’s about 1/4 the time spent at a fire. Usually, to feed a family, it takes about 3 hours to heat up enough food. This is actually causing serious problem because it is causing the locals to devastate their local forests. Now they are having trouble even finding good firewood, and there aren’t many re-forestation programs that are active at the time. This is a really great new project that is connected with Ugandan Gold Coffee, through it’s parent organization, CEED.
After this, we were able to take a tour of the coffee farm. We looked at the different beans that they have, and talked about the ecology of the region. The beans are not really in season right now, so we weren’t able to see the workers picking, washing, or drying any of the beans, but we were given a great overview of the farm and how it works.
After that we went over to the food farm, a new experiment for CEED, in which they are trying to educate local farmers by showing them how simple farming methods, such as proper fertilization and crop rotation, can help them get better yield and encourage their soil to stay rich and fertile for far longer. At this time, they have soybeans, peanuts, and maize corn growing on their property. It also has an absolutely spectacular view of the valley and hills around it!
Here are some pictures from the day: Enjoy!
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- Jessica explains how the workers sort the coffee beans
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- The drying racks for the coffee beans
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- Memorial for a battle in 1985 where thousands were killed.
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