Ugandan farmers are hoping for prosperity from trees under a new agroforestry project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

In an account on the ACIAR website of his visit to the Mount Elgon region where the Trees for Food Security project will be conducted, Tony Bartlett, ACIAR’s forestry research program manager, says he encountered villagers who were “very interested in the concept of using trees to improve soil fertility and to reduce soil erosion, which they said greatly affected the productivity of their agricultural crops.”

The Trees for Food Security project aims to encourage and support farmers to grow trees on farms for improved food and nutritional security. Sites suitable for participatory trials on evergreen agroforestry systems have already been selected by project partners, the World Agroforestry Centre and the Uganda National Forestry Research Institute (NaFORRI).

The Mount Elgon area in eastern Uganda, near the border with Kenya, is ideal for the project because it has a wide range of elevation zones where different systems can be trialed and a history and culture of tree planting resulting from previous agroforestry and Landcare projects. There are also several environmental issues in the area, such as landslides and soil erosion, which it is hoped can be addressed through agroforestry.

Read the full story: Farming in the mountain’s shadow, Uganda

Find out more about the Trees for Food Security project