A Japan-funded project is helping women, refugees and host communities in Yumbe and Madi Okollo improve rice yields, household incomes and food security while strengthening cooperation despite prolonged drought.
Refugees and host communities in Uganda’s West Nile sub-region are recording improved rice harvests and incomes following the introduction of improved seed varieties and modern farming techniques under a Japan-funded project aimed at promoting women’s economic empowerment and peaceful coexistence.
The initiative, known as the Project for the Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Refugee Settlements and Host Communities, is funded by the Government of Japan, with UN Women Uganda as the grant recipient and Peace Winds Japan as an implementing partner.
The National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) is implementing the project’s livelihood component by training farmers in improved rice production and distributing quality seed, particularly the NERICA 4 variety.
During a joint monitoring mission to project sites in Yumbe and Madi Okollo districts, officials inspected demonstration gardens to assess progress, implementation quality and emerging challenges, including prolonged drought.
Natasha Butorac, UN Women’s Women, Peace and Security Specialist, said the project addresses the links between climate change, competition for natural resources and conflict in refugee-hosting communities.
“Part of the aim of this intervention is to bring in drought-resilient and disease-resilient varieties of rice,” she said.
Butorac said improving agricultural productivity could increase household incomes and food security while easing economic pressures that can contribute to conflict.
She added that the initiative aligns with Uganda’s Women, Peace and Security National Action Plan, which recognises climate-related risks as an emerging threat to peace and security.
The project builds on lessons from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-supported Eco-PRiDe Rice project, which demonstrated the potential of improved rice production but required greater participation by women.
“But by this project, I’m really happy to say that the vast majority of the farmers who are taking part are women,” Butorac said, adding that their participation was challenging stereotypes about women’s ability to engage effectively in farming.
For participating farmers, the new techniques are already translating into higher reported yields and earnings.
Taban Rashid, a farmer from Pitia village in Kululu Sub-county, Yumbe District, said training under the MUSHO project since 2025 had transformed his approach to rice production, reducing labour requirements and improving returns.
Previously, Rashid relied on broadcasting, a method of scattering seeds across a field. He said this required more seed and made weeding labour-intensive.
“I would usually use 50 kilogrammes of seed to plant an acre, and weeding one acre would take me 15 days,” he said.
Poor post-harvest handling and storage also affected the quality of his rice, reducing the returns he received after milling.
Rashid said he previously harvested about eight bags of rice per acre and earned approximately Shs800,000. After adopting the recommended practices, his reported harvest rose to 25 bags per acre, while his earnings increased to about Shs2.5 million.
“I used to blame the milling machine for breaking my rice. But with the knowledge I got from JICA, I came to learn that the quality is made in the garden, protected in the store, and the machinery only reveals the work you did from planting to storage,” he said.
The improved results have also enabled Rashid to train other farmers, helping spread the techniques within his community.
Dr Emmanuel Odama, a senior research officer at NARO, said the project uses the Musomesa field school approach, combining group demonstrations with individual practice.
Under the model, farmers establish a “mother garden” for group demonstrations and “baby gardens” where individual participants apply the recommended techniques on their own plots.
“While we are planting in the mother garden, individual farmers should be planting in their baby gardens concurrently. When we are planting in line, you should be planting in line,” Odama said.
He said the approach helps farmers practise the techniques as they learn, rather than relying solely on demonstrations conducted at group level. Participants are required to have access to at least half an acre of land.
According to Odama, cooperation between refugees and host communities has also helped refugees access land beyond what would traditionally be available to them through arrangements involving the Office of the Prime Minister.
He said some members of host communities had agreed to share portions of their land with refugees, strengthening cooperation and mutual understanding between the two groups.
NARO is tracking the intervention against baseline data collected before implementation, with adoption of recommended farming practices and improvements in yields among the indicators used to assess progress, Odama said.
Despite the prolonged dry spell, demonstration gardens planted with NERICA 4 have shown encouraging results, according to project participants.
Odama said the variety has disease tolerance and some drought tolerance, helping it withstand conditions that have affected local rice varieties.
“If we had local varieties of rice, we would not be able to see anything here,” he said, referring to the impact of the extended dry spell on the demonstration gardens.
Amaku Shaban, chairperson of the Dongoloto Farmers Group in Kululu Sub-county, said line planting and the introduction of NERICA 4 had helped farmers sustain their crops despite unfavourable weather.
“We were doing broadcasting; now we sow in line, and they also brought us a new seed variety called NERICA 4. It is disease- and drought-resistant. If it was our ordinary variety, we wouldn’t have any crop to see,” Shaban said.
He said the improved seed and training had given farmers renewed hope of improving their livelihoods.
Dr Moses Biruma, director of research at NARO’s Abi Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute in Arua, said a needs assessment conducted before the project began identified rice growing as the preferred agricultural enterprise among the target farmers.
The intervention has consequently focused on addressing farmers’ needs through improved seed, practical training and better production and post-harvest handling practices.
For women in Bidi Bidi and neighbouring host communities, the project is intended to deliver benefits beyond increased harvests. By strengthening farming skills, improving prospects for household income and encouraging cooperation between refugees and host communities, it seeks to use women’s economic empowerment to build resilience and promote peace.