Village Bible Church || Aurora | Indian Creek | Sugar Grove | IL

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Today as we headed out of the country we had the opportunity to visit a Juna Amagara site in Kamwengye. In addition to caring for orphans, this site has also begun a farming initiative that I think many of you would be interested in.

The main crops of Uganda are plantains, bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, millet, sorghum, corn, groundnuts, coffee and tea. Actually, it's a pretty interesting farming climate as they have almost every growing condition - from tropical heat in the low lands to cooler temperatures in the higher altitudes.  A few years ago Rev. Ben envisioned and began a project that introduced soy beans as a new crop – and one that substantially increases a farmer’s overall income.

The project provides to the area farmers their initial seed, training on how to plant the seed, how to harvest it and how to sift the shaft from it. They have also created a co-op to buy the beans once they’re harvested.

The most common crop of this region is maize (corn). Farmers can grow about 10 tons of corn per acre. By comparison, they can grow 6-8 tons of soy beans. Maize sells for 250 shillings per kg while soy sells for 1,000 shillings per kg. They grow all year long, so they have two seasons and rotate beans and corn. The end result is two fold – good agriculture of rotating crops and a doubling of the farmer’s income! Those are impressive results!

While at the site, we also played with their baby goats (raised for meat, not milk) and visited with Moses, who oversees the project.