X
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • Report a Concern
  • Connexi
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • What We Do
      • Overview of What We Do
      • Agriculture and Food Security
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Democracy and Governance
      • Economic Growth and Trade
      • Education
      • Environment and Natural Resources
      • Health
      • Peace, Stability, and Transition
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Sustainable Energy Transition
      • Water Security, Sanitation, and Hygiene
    • Integrated Solutions
      • Overview of Integrated Solutions
      • Climate Change
      • Digital Development
      • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
      • Global Health Supply Chains
      • Innovation
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
      • Private Sector Engagement
      • Research and University Partnerships
      • Sustainable and Resilient Cities
    • Projects
      • Overview of Projects
      • Accelerating Plastic Pollution Reduction in Vietnam
      • Improving Basic Education for Children in East Africa
      • Improving Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Nigeria
      • View All Projects
  • Where We Work
    • Where We Work
    • Where We Work
      • Overview of Where We Work
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe and Eurasia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
  • Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Who We Are
      • Overview of Who We Are
      • Our Mission and Values
      • Our History
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Our Board of Directors
      • Our Specialists
    • Our Approach
      • Overview of Our Approach
      • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
      • Environmental Sustainability
      • Commitment to Our Industry
      • Local Leadership and Partnerships
      • Dedication to Quality
      • Commitment to Integrity
  • Work With Us
    • Work With Us
    • Work With Us
      • Overview of Work With Us
      • Career Paths
      • Internships
      • U.S. Veterans
    • Life at Chemonics
      • Overview of Life at Chemonics
      • Inclusive Benefits
      • Professional Development and Learning
    • Partner With Us
      • Overview of Partner With Us
      • Our Procurements
      • Become a Partner
      • One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services
  • News and Blog
    • News and Blog
    • Impact Stories
      • Overview of Impact Stories
      • Advancing Quality Inclusive Education for Children in Syria
      • Community Health Workers Extend Reach to Prevent Malaria in Nigeria
      • Turning Moldova's Brain Drain into Brain Gain
      • View all Impact Stories
    • News Stories
      • Overview of News Stories
      • Chemonics joins ILGA World as an Associate Member
      • USAID and Chemonics Partner to Support Basic Education in East Africa
      • Chemonics Receives 2023 VETS Indexes Employer Award
      • View all News Stories
    • Blog Posts
      • Overview of Blog Posts
      • Incentivising and Stabilising a Peace Process Through Sensitive and Responsive Programming
      • Democratic Republic of the Congo: Widening the Net of Data Capture for Improved Digital Health
      • Development Works Here with Achini Wijesinghe
      • View all Blog Posts
Chemonics - Development works here.
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • Report a Concern
  • Connexi
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
      • Agriculture and Food Security
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Democracy and Governance
      • Economic Growth and Trade
      • Education
      • Environment and Natural Resources
      • Health
      • Peace, Stability, and Transition
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Sustainable Energy Transition
      • Water Security, Sanitation, and Hygiene
    • Integrated Solutions
      • Climate Change
      • Digital Development
      • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
      • Global Health Supply Chains
      • Innovation
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
      • Private Sector Engagement
      • Research and University Partnerships
      • Sustainable and Resilient Cities
    • Projects
      • Accelerating Plastic Pollution Reduction in Vietnam
      • Improving Basic Education for Children in East Africa
      • Improving Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Nigeria
      • View All Projects
  • Where We Work
    • Where We Work
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe and Eurasia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
  • Who We Are
    • Who We Are
      • Our Mission and Values
      • Our History
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Our Board of Directors
      • Our Specialists
    • Our Approach
      • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
      • Environmental Sustainability
      • Commitment to Our Industry
      • Local Leadership and Partnerships
      • Dedication to Quality
      • Commitment to Integrity
  • Work With Us
    • Work With Us
      • Career Paths
      • Internships
      • U.S. Veterans
    • Life at Chemonics
      • Inclusive Benefits
      • Professional Development and Learning
    • Partner With Us
      • Our Procurements
      • Become a Partner
      • One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services
  • News and Blog
    • Impact Stories
      • Advancing Quality Inclusive Education for Children in Syria
      • Community Health Workers Extend Reach to Prevent Malaria in Nigeria
      • Turning Moldova's Brain Drain into Brain Gain
      • View all Impact Stories
    • News Stories
      • Chemonics joins ILGA World as an Associate Member
      • USAID and Chemonics Partner to Support Basic Education in East Africa
      • Chemonics Receives 2023 VETS Indexes Employer Award
      • View all News Stories
    • Blog Posts
      • Incentivising and Stabilising a Peace Process Through Sensitive and Responsive Programming
      • Democratic Republic of the Congo: Widening the Net of Data Capture for Improved Digital Health
      • Development Works Here with Achini Wijesinghe
      • View all Blog Posts
A close-up image of a wooden device tilling soil.

Improving Soil Health .

April 10, 2015
  • Impact Stories
  • Improving Soil Health
Using conservation agriculture and technology, the Feed the Future Commodity Production and Marketing Activity in Uganda is helping farmers improve yields and increase incomes.
SHARE

TwitterFacebookLinkedIn

The Feed the Future Uganda Commodity Production and Marketing Activity, implemented by Chemonics, aims to sustainably increase production and marketing of maize, beans, and coffee. In particular, the project promotes conservation farming practices to reverse widespread soil degradation and helps farmers stabilize yields by mitigating the effects of weather variability.

To achieve these goals, the program is developing the agricultural skills of traders and their associated village agents by exposing them to improved farm management practices, such as proper spacing, benefits of spraying, intercropping, and manure and fertilizer application. The village agents learn from experts in conservation farming about minimum tillage, herbicides, crop rotation, and environmental protection. Then, to transfer knowledge to farmers, the village agents establish learning sites to demonstrate the promoted technologies and teach the improved techniques.

Learning from the established training sites, traders are supporting farmers to access soil-based fertilizers and practice coffee bean intercropping as a canopy management strategy. Through continued participation of traders and their village agents, the project is tapping into existing market structures to facilitate local ownership of the promoted interventions, which will result in improved yields, better market opportunities, and ultimately increased incomes, leading to better lives for rural smallholder farmers.

Organic Fertilizer Tests and Field Days

To encourage organic fertilizers in coffee production, the program is conducting fertilizer trials that compare an organic fertilizer, Perfect Blend, with the most commonly used inorganic (NPK) fertilizer in Uganda. The Perfect Blend organic fertilizer trial plots have shown effects on growth vigor, yield, and pest pressure.

Through farmer field days, farmers have observed the following trend: crops with fertilizer application perform better than the control plots. Additionally, in most instances, trees with Perfect Blend application showed better performance than those treated with inorganic fertilizers. These learning sites have also demonstrated the positive effects of improved farm management practices, such as balanced soil nutrition, weed control, pruning of excess growth, yield, and pest pressures. The trials are ongoing, but show encouraging promise for commercially produced organic fertilizers to be successful in Uganda.

Precision Agriculture through Information and Communications Technology

The project also helps farmers find cost-effective options for field-based soil testing and analysis as a way to improve soil fertility and crop yield. To this end, the project established Akorion, an information and communications technology consortium of five youth-led companies. Project staff collaborate with Akorion to develop, promote, and popularize mobile apps, including one that combines soil testing and e-extension services.

Relying on the soil sample training that the program provides, the village agents can conduct soil testing and use Akorion’s app to create digital profiles of their client farmers. Data collected through the app can then be used to determine tailored fertilizer solutions for each farm profile. Through such services, Akorion provides up-to-date agricultural information and best practices via mobile technology to complement the project’s ongoing initiatives to boost the productivity and competitiveness of smallholder farmers in Uganda.

Related Projects


Strengthening Maize, Bean, and Coffee Value Chains in Uganda
View All Projects
  • Projects
  • Impact Stories
  • News and Blog
An image of a vineyard in Moldova.

Driving Sustainable Growth in Moldova’s High-Value Agriculture, Wine, and Tourism Sectors

Partnering with the Government of Mexico to Address Root Migration Causes in Central America

Re-Enforcing Resilience in Communities Across Borders

The interior of a greenhouse filled with sprouting crops.

Strengthening Lebanon’s Rural Economies

A close-up image of small plants sprouting from the earth.

Supporting Innovations for a Sustainable Soy Supply Chain

A bright green head of wheat with a large swath of farmland in the background.

Sowing Stronger Markets in Kyrgyzstan

A school room full of empty benches with light shining through a window.

Improving Basic Education for Children in East Africa

Creating Stability through Education in Syria

Sustaining the Legacy of Holistic Education in Malawi

Syrian schoolgirls drawing pictures on their desks at school.

Enabling Safe, Inclusive, and Quality Education in Syria

A teacher instructing young students in a classroom.

Promoting Quality Education in Tajikistan

A closeup image of Syria on a map.

Strengthening Education for Youth in Syria

Two hands each holding a handful of dates over a basket filled with dates.

Cultivating Equitable Opportunities in Libya’s Private Sector to Promote Stability

Several people dressed in white cook's clothing sitting at school desks. Each has a tag on them that says "trainee."

Strengthening Jordan’s Economy Through Tourism

Piloting and Promoting Best Practices for Economic Growth

A person in bright red, white, and gold clothing examining crops.

Creating Opportunities for Youth in Agriculture

A close-up image of a pair of hands holding several tomatoes.

Growing Agribusiness in Uzbekistan

Several people circled around a table and talking about documents in the center.

Establishing a Land Market in Tajikistan

A large pile of onions with a woman sitting beside them, individually peeling them, placing them in a large basket beside her.

A Stronger Private Sector in Pakistan

An image of the coastline of Lagos Island, Nigeria at sunset.

Improving Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Nigeria

Fishing boats on the shore in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Conserving Biodiversity in Tanzania

health worker vaccinating a baby

Building a Resilient Health System in Senegal

woman hanging a bednet over her bed

Ending Malaria in the DRC

View All Projects

From Outer Space to Brazilian Farmland

A photograph of Lily and her teacher at the Manahel Special Education Centre

Advancing Quality Inclusive Education for Children in Syria

A group of cooks watching someone use a mixing machine.

Investing in Women

Nurturing Youth Agripreneurship in Uganda

Securing Her Land Rights in Tajikistan

View All Impact Stories
Stock photograph of a person's hand planting seeds in the earth.

Targeting a Just Transition as We Invest In Our Planet

The War in Ukraine and the Future of Global Food Security

Farmers in two rows plant crops in an open field

Shifting the Lens for Resilient Development through the Whole-Farm Approach

Creativity and Innovation Can Save the Day

Image of a bullhorn

News: Chemonics Announces New Senior Vice President Garron Hansen

Image of trees in a field of the Brazilian cerrado

How 58 Policies Are Helping Guide Ecological Restoration in Brazil

Two smiling schoolboys in Zambia sitting in front of bookshelves

News: USAID and Chemonics Partner to Support Basic Education in East Africa

A Syria Education Programme Success Story: Meet Salma

Two young women holding paper birds are part of a performance portraying life inside a forest, in front of the audience attending the launch event of the USAID Ecosystems/Protibesh Activity.

Enabling the Changemakers: Youth in a Just, Green Transition

Group of young people standing on the street looking up at camera

Cross-Sectoral Analysis Reveals Hidden Links to Youth Development

Children and their teacher sit around a table

News: Chemonics and One World Network of Schools Create Institutional Partnership

Image of animated young girls smiling

3 Questions with Kouteba Al-Khalil on Creating Safe Education Systems for Syrian Girls

Five people sit on a stage in front of a crowd of people. There are banners behind them that say "UNLEASH" and a yellow background.

You Are Enough: The Power of Collective Action 

Attendees of the 2019 UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab cheer during a general session.

3 Lessons for Empowering Youth to Drive Sustainable Change Through Innovation

A smiling woman holding up a large sign that says "Dekalb: Seed your Success; Faith Agro Inputs."

3 Questions with Najib Seguya on Pay-for-Results Financing

A classroom filled with schoolchildren sitting at school desks.

Creating Space for Youth to Thrive: A Philosophy on Youth Development

A young Moldovan man working on a computer in a computer lab.

Building the Tech Workforce through Private Sector Engagement

A close-up of bees going in and out of a bee box.

3 Questions with Cynthia Steen on Transforming Moldova’s Agriculture Sector

A woman in a greenhouse checking a thermometer.

She Is an Agripreneur: Enabling Female Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness

A professional headshot of Robert Anyang.

Development Works Here with Robert Anyang

A man kneeling below a harvester that is dispersing grain. He is throwing a pile of grain onto a pile beside him.

When Projects Close: Lessons Learned from an Ex-Post Study

In the DRC, a community health worker hands a packaged bed net to a woman.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Widening the Net of Data Capture for Improved Digital Health

World Malaria Day 2023 – Time to Deliver Zero Malaria: Invest, Innovate, Implement

Aerial view of the Dead Sea coast in Jordan

For a Precious Resource like Water, Good Governance Matters

Women work in a cornfield.

Invest in Emerging Economies to Protect Our Future

Barbara Rossmiller stands in front of a water installation

3 Questions with Barbara Rossmiller on Responsive Development in the Water Sector

View All News and Blog

Sign up for our eNewsletter to learn more about our work.

Sign Up
Chemonics
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Standards of Conduct
  • Data Privacy Policies
  • Afghanistan Support
  • Employment
  • What We Do
  • Where We Work
  • Who We Are
  • Work With Us
  • News and Blog