Health Promotion and Rights Watch Uganda (HPRW) is enhancing nutrition and strengthening food systems for smallholder farmers in Bushenyi District through the Integrated Smallholder Enterprise Model (ISHEM), with the Hunga Agro Center serving as a central training hub. The center equips farmers with practical skills in climate resilient practices agroforestry, conservation agriculture, and integrated pest management that improve soil health, boost crop yields and increase the production of diverse, nutrient-rich foods such as legumes, vegetables and fruits. This directly improves household nutrition by ensuring year-round access to balanced diets and reducing dependency on single staple crops.
At Hunga Agro Center, hands-on training in post-harvest handling, seed selection, and organic soil enrichment minimizes food loss and maximizes nutritional value from farm to plate. Farmers learn to grow biofortified crops and integrate animal husbandry with crop farming, creating balanced farming systems that provide proteins, vitamins and minerals essential for child growth and maternal health.
To strengthen the broader food system, the center facilitates farmer to market linkages by training participants in collective marketing, value addition and digital market platforms. This enables farmers to sell surplus produce at fair prices, generate income and reinvest in diverse seed varieties and soil inputs sustaining both farm productivity and community food availability.
HPRW uses Hunga Agro Center to train farmer groups in financial literacy and cooperative management, building resilient local supply chains that withstand climate shocks. By producing more nutritious food locally and connecting it directly to schools, health centers and urban markets, these efforts reduce malnutrition, support economic stability and create a robust, decentralized food system rooted in agroecological principles.
During recent home visits to program participants, farmers shared heartfelt reflections on their learnings and transformations. “Before ISHEM, our harvests were small and we struggled with hunger in the dry months. Now, with agroforestry at Hunga, our soil holds water better, and we’re growing spinach and beans alongside maize my children eat vegetables every day, and they’re healthier than ever,” said Jane Nakato, a mother of four from a nearby village. Another farmer, Paul Mugabe, added, “The training on integrated pest management saved my crops from bugs without chemicals, and linking us to markets means we sell at good prices. We’ve even started a savings group it’s not just about food; it’s about a secure future for our families.” These voices underscore the real-world impact, as one elder farmer noted, “Hunga taught us to work with the land, not against it. Our yields are up 40%, and malnutrition is DC fading in our homes.”
Through the Hunga Agro Center and ISHEM, HPRW is not just training farmers it’s cultivating a healthier, more food-secure future, one resilient farm at a time.