About The Event
The objective of the training is to strengthen capacities of youth farmers in sustainable agriculture, enhance rural and urban linkages and contribute to urban food systems. The workshop will also focus on capacity building and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange among and by young farmers of the region.
Where
Wash & Wills Hotel in Mbale
When
Monday to Friday
25 - 29th March
Workshop Downloads
For presentations, research papers, global policy papers and other workshop documents, click the button below
Event Speakers
Here are some of our speakers

Michela Carucci
Food and Agriculture Organization

Caroline Kahamutima
Rikolto

Paul Zaake
YPARD

Yemi Adeyeye
Director, YPARD

Hasifah Tushabe
UFVEPA

Umran Kagwa
UFVEPA

Paul Gitta
UFVEPA

Joel Cherop
Entrepreneur at One Acre Model

Rachael Amase
Entrepreneur of Fresh Chilli Export

Joyce Kyalema
Entrepreneur in Pumpkin processing

Victor Ojede
Regional Manager at MSC (Finance)

Julie Matovu
Fresh Veggies PGS
Workshop Programme
Here is our tentative schedule
Registration
Rikolto

Prayer & Welcome | National Anthem – Uganda; EAC | Objectives of the workshop & Introduction of the teams
Facilitator Michela Carucci

Opening Remarks: EAC - Hon. Kasamba Mathias | Mbale district - His lordship Zandya Mafabi - Mbale Mayor rep DLG
Facilitator Michela Carucci
TEA BREAK (10:30 – 11:00AM)
Session 1 - Sustainable Agriculture in an Urbanizing World

FAO’s framework for the Urban Food Agenda – Why is it relevant for Africa?
Facilitator FAO

Transforming Food and Agriculture in Africa to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Facilitator FAO

Q&A
Facilitator FAO

Overview of sustainable agricultural production
• What is sustainable agricultural production?
• Why is important?
• Key characteristics of a sustainable and climate resilient system
• How can we make agriculture sustainable?
Presenter Umran Kagwa
LUNCH BREAK (1:30 – 2:30 PM)

Overview of what sustainable agricultural production is;
- Why is it important?
- How can we make agriculture sustainable?
Presenter Umran Kagwa
Session 2: Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) in sustainable and resilient agriculture for urban and surrounding region

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
• What is GAP?
• Application of GAP
Discussion
Focus: Production and natural resource management issues
• Soil conservation
• Water management,
• Resource management,
• Climate change,
• Biodiversity,
• Landscape management etc.
• Seeds; inputs - use/application
Presenter Umran Kagwa

Group discussion/plenary
• General discussion on how seeds and input management contributes to sustainable agricultural production
Presenter Umran Kagwa

DAY 1 brief & takeaways
FacilitatorUmran Kagwa
TEA BREAK, INTERRACTIONS & DEPARTURE (5:00PM – 5:30PM)
Session 3 –Understanding the grains and horticulture value chains in the rural-urban continuum for selected crops attractive to the youth
Registration
Rikolto

Re-cap of Day 1
Facilitator Rikolto

The Business Idea
• Defining a business
• The what for who
• Means Vs solutions analysis
Presenter Paul Gitta , UFVEPA

Group and plenary sessions;
• Business definition
• Product market combination
Presenter Paul Gitta , UFVEPA
TEA BREAK (10:45 – 11:15AM)

• Market segmentation • Positioning and targeting
Presenter Paul Gitta , UFVEPA

• Defining the competition • Getting and Staying ahead
Presenter Paul Gitta , UFVEPA

Group work:
• Market segmentation and positioning
• Defining the business-critical tasks
• Business strategy
Presenter Paul Gitta , UFVEPA
LUNCH BREAK & INTERRACTIONS (1:30PM – 2:30PM)
Session 4 –Understanding demands for increasing rural-urban synergies

Link to market demand:
• how to analyze the existing demand/ consumer
• value addition in a competitive market et al
• discussions
Presenter YPARD
Day 2 brief & takeaways
Presenter Paul & Yemi, YPARD
TEA BREAK, INTERRACTIONS & DEPARTURE (5:00PM – 5:30PM)
Session 5 – Sustainable Agriculture in Practice: Three case studies
Registration
Rikolto

Field visit prep
Presenter Michela Carucci

A visit to TAABU cooperative where youth offer shelling and spraying services; are they able to make money? A cost-benefit practically
A look at;
• Collective bulking & marketing
• Access to finance
• Post-harvest handling
• Quality control
Presenter TAABU Cooperative
Travel to Kapchorwa
LUNCH BREAK & INTERRACTIONS (1:00PM – 2:00PM)

A visit to a model youth farmer in Kapchorwa engaged in an array of horticulture products. What is his motivation?
Presenter Mr. Cherop Francis
- A visit to Sabiny Cooperative engaged in chilli value addition
Presenter Sabiny Cooperative
Travel to Mbale
Registration
Rikolto
Re-cap of Day 3
Rikolto

• Short food supplies – how they work, and what are the benefits; • Guarantee for sustainable agriculture - What guarantees when?
Facilitator Michela Carucci

The Fresh veggies Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) – a successful case study of short food supply models for sustainable agriculture in Uganda
Facilitator Julie Matovu

Group exercise
Facilitator Michela Carucci
TEA BREAK (10:15AM – 10-45AM)
Session 7 - The resourcefulness of digital technologies for sustainable urban food systems

ICT technologies and their role in climate -smart agriculture – best practices
Facilitator Caroline Kahamutima

Case Studies in digital technologies with Group discussions
Facilitator Caroline Kahamutima
LUNCH BREAK (1:30PM – 2:30PM)
Session 8 – Peer-to-peer knowledge sharing

Sharing experiences from participants
FacilitatorYPARD

Day 4 brief & takeaways
Presenter Rikolto
TEA BREAK, INTERRACTIONS & DEPARTURE (5:00PM – 5:30PM)
Session 7 - The resourcefulness of digital technologies for sustainable urban food systems
Registration
Rikolto
Re-cap of Day 4
Rikolto

Way forward:
• Roundtable discussions on lessons learnt
• Action plans summary
Facilitator YPARD
TEA BREAK (10:45AM – 11:15AM))

• Action planning con’d…… • Training Evaluation
Facilitator YPARD

Closing remarks
Facilitator Rikolto

Certificate handover ceremony
FacilitatorRikolto

Communications Team – PR session; Group photos, individual et al
FacilitatorRikolto
LUNCH BREAK, INTERRACTIONS & DEPARTURE (1:30PM – 2:30PM)
Travel to Kampala
THE EAST AFRICAN YOUTH PARTICIPANTS
Here are some of the young people from countries of Uganda, Kenya, DRC, Tanzania and Rwanda

Christopher Kasamba
Uganda
Director of Personal farmlands & Manager at Kasamba Farm-agro Enterprises. I farm both perennial & seasonal crops, piggery and cows. For crops they include; passion fruits, water melon, egg plants, maize, banana & coffee in the kibaale, Kakuuto in kyotera district.

Jean Claude Habimana
Rwanda
I am one of most influencers and followed young science journalist in Rwanda with specialization in Agriculture with focus on agribusiness, modernized farming (biotechnology), food security, post-harvest, irrigations mechanisms and livestock among others. I am working as senior Journalist at University of Rwanda radio station known as Radio Salus as well as freelancing with various media organizations within Rwanda and across the world.

Allan Ahimbisibwe
Uganda
Am the founder of Spark Agro-Initiatives ltd, a registered agricultural company that I started in 2017 with a major focus of empowering farmers with information and technical support. We do Trainings and consultancy, Farm planning and design, Soil testing, Farm setup and supervision, Urban farming We are located in the urban Nansana Wakiso district. We have so far skilled, empowered and worked with over 2000 farmers across the country

Ernest Ntakobangize
Rwanda
I own a Banana plantation farm. It is located in Eastern Province of Rwanda Ngoma district, Rukumberi sector and Gituza cell and Gihandagazi village. My farm has 20Ha.

Zepher Kisambira Ntende
Uganda
I am a farmer and an agricultural scientist. I have a fruit and crop farm located in Kamuli district, Eastern Uganda. am into climate smart fruits, grain and legume production. I grow mangoes (Tony red, zellate and Kent, 600 trees), oranges (32 trees) and approximately one acre of passion fruits. Am also into maize and bean production.

Irene Njoki Kagera
Kenya
Kilimo Tamu is a farm dedicated to organic farming of indigenous vegetables, putting in place irrigation especially during dry season to ensure consistency in production. The farm is located in Gatanga sub-county, Muranga county- Kenya, is also a demonstration farm where other youths learn on organic vegetable farming.

Milly Namwanje
Uganda
I am the Executive Director for Abantu Ventures an umbrella organization that owns Tasty Kaawa and Tasty Foods. Our operations are in Bukomansimbi district and Mpigi. In 2016 I decided to focus on farming and value addition of coffee and bananas which are the most important crops in central Uganda.

Herve Mambomba Bondonga
DRC
I am the Director General of Sanctuaire les Jumeaux , a company producing and marketing agricultural products and sales of services in the agricultural sector We are in the production and marketing of vegetables tomato, eggplant, cucumber, okra, chilli and amaranth. We are also in the production of cassava peanut and sweet potato. In December 2018, we started a new venture in fish farming with the breeding of Tilapia fish.

Aime Kamosi Kazika
DRC
I am the first national representative for YPARD for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I have been an agronomist since 2002 and involved in agriculture and rural development.

Pacifique Nshimiyimana
Rwanda
My name is Pacifique Nshimiyimama and I am the founder and Managing Director of Real Green Gold Ltd, a social enterprise and a youth owned enterprise. Real Green Gold Ltd does organic farming of tropical fruits, stakeholder farmer's extension service on primarily production and packaging using vacuum technology that give shelf stability to community perishable production.

Lenin Odhiambo Nyakinya
Kenya
I own a company, Ifarmkonnect LIMITED, and agritech crowd funding platform tha connect investors to support our farmers. We leverage on small holder capacity building, youth employment, and profitable farming as a tool.

Ziadah Nakabiri
Uganda
I lead an initiative that is focusing on raising the status of girl children and women in rural areas through agriculture. We teach them how to grow vegetables, fish farming, making nursery beds and planting trees, climate smart agriculture practices such as permanent planting basins and organic farming. We are based in Nakaseke district.

Laureene Reeves Ndagire
Uganda
I am currently the founder of UrbanFarmKampala, a green space aimed at creating transparency in the food system in Urban settings. Our initiative looks at technological innovations that extend the shelf life of food, in particular we work with solar dryers to process dry pineapples, mangoes, apple bananas, pawpaws and indigenous vegetables (amaranth) and herbs. We work with over 30 farmers growing the items mentioned

Kevin Odour Lunzalu
Kenya
I'm a food crop farmer, specializing in the production of tomatoes, maize, and bananas in Lower Kabete region, a 45 Minute drive from Nairobi City.

Winnie Tushabe
Uganda
I am co-founder of YICEUganda - a Social Enterprise that empowers rural smallholder farmers with practical organic and permaculture farming practices. We also provide small micro loans to smallholder farmers. Our target group are the refugees in Bukompe settlement, Mubende district. We have reached 680 refugee and 430 Ugandan national households.

Elia Wiston Kinshaga
Tanzania
I am currently manufacturing healthy biscuits rich in Vitamin A, B-6, C, Iron, Zinc and Potassium, using solar dried fruits and spices as my full time job under my business, Kinshaga Food Products and Companies.

Angelo Pascal Tubibu
DRC
My initiative is called CongoFresh Group, we are a group of 150 small rural farmers gathered in 10 fruit farming cooperatives in 6 territories of Eastern DR Congo. Our goal is to help reduce youth unemployment and add value to local rural agriculture through agro-processing, which allows us to produce organic fruit juice called "biofruit.",

Peter Heri
Tanzania
I have company called Ayegro Group Limited. We are doing horticulture production and sell to Dodoma City but also transport some of our produce to Dar es Salaam. We are cultivating vegetables in Dodoma urban, currently we have 10 acres of different vegetable and we have been able to employee 10 youth.

Emanuel Ng'ambwa Kungu
Tanzania
I am the Chief Executive officer and a co-author , Editor of the Training Manuals and Farmers' trainer at Mkulima AgriClinic. I train farmers how to detect livestock diseases earlier, importance of bio-security and vaccination to animals.

Costantine Edward
Tanzania
I am the CEO of Kilimo smart app a unique mobile app that solve problems like lack of timely information about planting season, better seeds, management of crops, market opportunity and others. This app became of great help to farmers in Tanzania. So far we run this project through contributions from 5 team members university students.

Priscillah Wangeci Kinyua
Kenya
I do farming both for rural and urban area. I am currently leasing land from and have planted sweet potatoes, frenchbeans, Corriander, lettuce, eggplants, mint leaves, tomatoes and fodder crops. I do vermiculture and use the vermicompost and make worm tea for my garden. In the urban area, I do vertical garden and grow vegetables, herbs and salads from the grow bags.

Patrick Kawogo
Tanzania
I do farm green vegetables and growing fish(tilapia) by using soilless technology called aquaponic system where by fish and and vegetables are grown up together while sharing resources, it is located in Morogoro.

Sarah Wambui Itambo
Kenya
Am a young urban farmer and trainer. I am running an enterprise called Smart Urban Farm Technologies which specialises in urban farming.Our urban farm as a training center and demonstration farm in Nairobi.

Sarah Nangami Wanyonyi
Kenya
I am a farmer. I do mixed farming of maize and beans. The farm in located in the rural part of the country. It is in Bungoma County, western part of Kenya.

Irene Faustine Ngatena
Tanzania
I am a Vegetable farmer from Kingolwira Village in Morogoro Rural ( Morogoro Region), Tanzania. Project's budget is from my personal savings.

Ziada Salum Mtakimwa
Tanzania
I Am General Manger Of Arise and Shine Farm, producing JESCA beans. I started to produce Beans (JESCA) with the aim of improving Iron and Zinc for school children in order to reduce malnutrition in school.

Porito Paddle Abomugisha
Uganda
I am a student at Makerere University School Of Agricultural Sciences-Kampala Uganda, studying Bachelors in Agricultural and Rural Innovations 2nd year Porito urban organic backyard vegetable enterprise, Deals in the use of recycling waste materials like polythene bags, old containers, both metallic and plastics which would have been environmental pollutants (land pollution) by putting them into use where I plant vegetables for commercial sustainable agriculture.

Mutuzo Rwiyereka Gloria
Rwanda
I am a young agriculture passionate, CO-founder of IWACU Modern Farm, a new registered agricultural company in Rwanda. We focus on Chili farming and planning to diversify into other horticultural crops adding value on them to help in feeding rwandans as well as the whole world population.

Zipporah Njoki Wahome
Kenya
My initiative involves farming short term and long term crops like maize, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, tomatoes, onions and capsicum. It also involves keeping poultry and rearing pigs.

Eric Kenneth Muthomi
Kenya
I am the founder and CEO of Stawi Foods and Fruits Limited, a Kenyan-based agro processing company based in Roysambu, Nairobi specializing in the processing of dried bananas and grains into nutritious flour blends targeting local and export markets.

Ronald Diang'a
Kenya
I am the founder of Kenarava Group Ltd - A youth led agribusiness consulting company offering solutions to today’s food and environmental challenges. We work in the rural and semi-rural parts of Kenya. We generate income from the consultancy and training services we offer.

Raissa Nzambi Tshikandama
DRC
I am an advocate of women and girls in agriculture. Part of my work is to market fruits and vegetables through digital platforms such as social medias like Facebook, WhatsApp.

Beatrice Alatuviha Haule
Tanzania
CEO of Mbeya Dairies Factory, I am a young passionate and determined lady in farming business, practicing agriculture as a business. I am growing a number of horticulture crops, particularly fruit vegetables, leaf vegetables and root vegetables. I am also engaged in milk and products of milk production.

Jean Damascene Tuyizere
Rwanda
I venture in horticultural crops with emphasis on growing Garlic and onions. I also developed a model for rearing sheep through a system called NGIRANKUGIRE

Hadijah S. Nantambi
Uganda
Hadijah is the co-founder of EcoLife Foods EcoLife foods is both into Urban farming and Agro-processing. Through the use of urban farms and solar powered cold rooms/dryers, EcoLife Foods brings its customers Fresh and Dried fruits and vegetables to their doorsteps year round and entices a new generation of urban farmers, expanding employment opportunities. We are located in Wakiso district.

Denis Okwir
Uganda
I am part of the Youth for life Uganda project is located in Ogur Sub-county, Lira District. Youth for Life Uganda incited project to support the members who are predominantly peasant farmers to generate their seeds for planting and offer some for sale to the general public to raise income. Each of the 300 members are provided with initial seeds and encouraged to plant at least one acre of Maize, Soya beans or Simsim.

Idi Mukasa Bate
Uganda
Am the Managing Director of Atari Farms (SMC) Ltd. We are a fresh produce company dealing in watermelon, passion fruits and pepper. We operate in Kapchorwa, Kween, mbale and Bulambuli districts of Uganda.

Charles Lwanga Tumuhe
Uganda
I am YPAD district ambassador for Kagadi. I am is currently the Agricultural Officer and plant doctor at Kagadi Town Council. A team of plant doctors under my leadership diagnose the samples and identify the problem(s) together. The team then agrees on the most practical remedy to control, manage and prevent the problem. Over 160 youths in Kagadi District have benefited since 2016.
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