Since 2016, an acute refugee crisis brought close to a million South Sudanese refugees to Northern Uganda. Despite Uganda’s efforts, access to fertile farm land was a major problem. The refugees as well as their host communities were facing food insecurity and the lack of income opportunities – potential sources of conflicts.
The solution was to enrol Ugandan and South Sudanese farmers together in mixed farmer field schools and support them in accessing farming land and planning and implementing farming activities.
Seeking to secure livelihoods of South Sudanese refugees and host communities by combatting food insecurity, PALM Corps promoted backyard and commercial farming for nutrition and income generation. In a participatory approach, beneficiaries formed mixed groups of refugee and local members.
These mixed farmer field schools were involved from the beginning in planning the farming activities. Their discussions revealed that access to land was a major problem for refugees. That was the reason why Ugandans offered refugees to use part of their lands.
By working together in mixed groups communication among the two beneficiary groups improved, which resulted in a smoother and more effective cooperation.
PALM Corps (Promoters of Agriculture and Market Linkages) is a company limited by guarantee i.e. non profit making. PALM Corps was registered arising from challenges faced by rural communities in agriculture, health and education to enable the directors to contribute to solving these challenges thereby leading to development of the region.