At the end of 2014 I told the story of Peter Machozi in the first part of my blog Growing Better Livelihoods. In it Peter explains how the processing factory he works for has given workers small plots of land (kitchen back yard gardens) to grow crops. The produce he grows provides food for his family’s consumption and some extra income at the local market.

My second story is from Colodine Mugwaneza, who explains how training on nutrition and disease prevention is benefitting her family:

From the time I was born we have always eaten. Whatever food was available you would eat it, no matter the age of the person or the time of day. That’s why in our society it has become culture during supper, to save some food for the young ones to have very early the next morning. But then when you (Francis) were training us, I opened my ears so much to learn about the relationship between feeding/nutrition and general body growth, as well as the story you talked about on brain growth and food. Since then, this has changed the way my family and I eat.

There is a food table pyramid (pictured) that you showed us that had all the types of foods that we eat, the values we get from them, and how frequent we should consume them. From that table, I came to learn that I can live without meat, chicken, and fish, which we value most in our community. But I cannot live without vegetables and greens. On the other hand, whereas bananas, beans, potatoes, cassava etc. can just fill your stomach, I came to learn that their nutritional value is very low also compared to the vegetables and greens.

Now, following this understanding, I will not prepare any meal without a cabbage. If I don’t have one, then I use a carrot or another substitute. I make sure that my kids feed on these (vegetables) regularly. I have learnt that the seeds are not expensive and since the company is offering small plots of land for growing these greens, I don’t see any reason why you should find a malnourished child in my home again.

About the project

This work is part of a wider 3-year project funded by Tata Global Beverages and IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative aimed at improving sustainable tea production in Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda. In Uganda ETP is specifically focusing on improving worker livelihoods, increasing tea farmer incomes, raising social and environmental standards, and supporting Rainforest Alliance certification.

Project Impacts Across 2 factories, Uganda:

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