Download Climate-change-on-olingas-farm.

Olinga and his brother
live on a small farm
with their family in
north eastern Uganda.
The family grow all sorts
of vegetables, such as
sweet potatoes…
a root crop called
cassava…
and many other things like
bananas and aubergines.
But recently the weather has been
hard to predict - making vegetable
growing very difficult.
Some of the effects of the changing
climate are:
- Late rains or no rains at all
- Floods from heavy rain washing
away good soil
- Very high temperatures drying out
the ground
So, the family uses Send a Cow
techniques which help combat the
effects of climate change…
Their Bag Gardens make
the most of rainwater
and stop good soil from
washing away.
Olinga adds compost to
the garden to feed plants
and help the soil hold
valuable moisture.
Using manure from their
drought resistant livestock
is also good for the soil and
helps it hold more moisture.
Their Keyhole Gardens make
use of compost and the surface
has a ‘mulch’ of straw to slow
down water evapouration.
They grow plants in old
containers to hold soil and
stop water from draining
away too easily.
Olinga helped to dig this
well, which gives them
underground water.
Making a hole in the base
of their old plastic bottles
gives plants a steady
‘drip’, using less water.
Olinga’s family have
planted bushy plants
such as Tithonia
(Mexican Sunflower),
on the edge of their
plots to help stop flood
waters from washing
the soil away. They act
as a barrier and the
roots absorb rainwater.
By digging trenches and
planting trees at the edge of
their land, soil is stopped
from being washed away by
floodwater.
Keeping goats means that if
they have a really bad
harvest, they can sell kids
to buy essentials and food.
Saving seeds like these
‘cow peas’ gives them
more to plant when the
rains are unpredictable,
and they don’t have to
buy any.
“I am confident now. I
know I can’t stop climate
change, but I can use
Send a Cow training. So I
am not scared - I am
prepared.”
sendacow.org.uk/lessonsfromafrica