Illinois farmers transforming the lives of Ugandan families

OTTAWA, Ill. — Providing improved seeds, tools and fertilizer along with training is changing the lives of farmers in Uganda through a project developed by Joe and Nathalie Schmidt.

Transforming Ugandan Farmers, or TUF, was organized by the La Salle County farmers after they visited the African country. Nathalie and their daughter, Anna, traveled first and Joe made his initial journey in 2019.

“I think it simply was a calling from God because I remember it distinctly; I felt the need to go,” Joe said. “When we got there, I was like a kid in a candy store. We met the families and I found myself walking out in the fields and wondering why the crops were so bad.”

In February 2020, Joe and Nathalie returned to Uganda on a mission to research what they could do to help the farmers improve their crops.

Working with Milton Tusingwire, the team leader of Innovations for Transformation Initiative, they interviewed 12 to 13 candidates and hired Peter Baguma as an agronomist for TUF.

“Farmers were growing multiple crops in the same field and they put 10 seeds in one hole,” Baguma said. “They didn’t know about using fertilizers to grow crops.”

TUF started with two groups of 30 farmers in each group — a group of women and a group of reformed poachers who historically had poached from the Kibale Forest National Park.

Along with training on improved farming practices from Baguma, the TUF project helped to provide improved seeds and fertilizer.

“It is amazing to see that a bag of seed can change their lives and now it is our passion,” Joe said.

Since the Ugandan farmers needed money to make improvements for their operations, a Village Savings and Loan process was developed so that the farmers had a way to save and lend money with each other.

“We boosted their bank and gave each group money to borrow so that they could build equity and purchase stuff,” Joe said. “These farmers can’t go to a bank like we do, so their neighbors are their bank.”

Uganda is on the equator, so the temperature is consistent throughout the year. The farmers plant their fields twice a year — in August to September, which is harvested in January to February and then planted again for harvest in July to August.

“Every year since we began in 2020, we’ve added 60 new TUF farmers, usually in August,” Joe said. “Last year, we didn’t add any farmers because we started our new Demo Farm.”

The TUF Demo Farm is five acres with three tillable acres. Joe and Nathalie assisted with planting several different plots on the farm to show the farmers the impacts of different farming practices.

“The first plot was their common way of broadcasting seeds on the ground,” Joe said. “The second plot was their chop and plant method where they take a big step, dig a hole four to five inches deep and throw six to 10 seeds in the hole, cover it up and take another big step and plant seeds in another hole.”

The next plot was the chop and plant method with less seeds.

“Then we started with rows where we dug a trench and dropped seeds every six inches,” Joe said. “We did that with traditional seeds, new seeds and new seeds plus fertilizer.”

“This past January, we had three people join Joe and I and we went there and harvested the crops that we planted in August,” Nathalie said.

“The farmers were at the Demo Farm when we planted and when we harvested so they could see the differences and the maize went from 10 bushels per acre for the scatter plot to 50 bushels an acre with the plot that was planted in rows with modern seeds and fertilizer,” Joe said.

“It is amazing how quickly the farmers adapt to newer practices when they see the difference,” Joe noted about the 240 TUF farmers. “One farmer told me he was going to sleep outside and put his corn in the house.”

This year, TUF is planning to work with two schools near the Demo Farm since each school in Uganda provides its own food.

“Peter will be working with the school and the kids to teach them better farming practices and help them raise more food,” Joe said.

“This is going to be a big change for a lot of people because it won’t just affect the kids and their nutrition at the school,” he stressed. “It will also affect their families because hopefully the kids will go home and help teach in their family gardens along with giving the kids a more positive outlook for agriculture at an earlier age.”

To help support the continuing work of TUF, the second annual Harvest Hand Up — A Benefit for Ugandan Farmers is set for Saturday, Sept. 14, at Sunnybrook Farm in Ottawa, the home of Joe and Nathalie.

“At our first one, we had about 150 people attend and we raised close to $30,000,” Joe said. “We used that money to pay Peter’s salary and purchase seeds, fertilizer, tarps, bags to put their grain in and two motorized shellers.”

The shellers are shared among the Ugandan farmers.

“We have to be very cautious about how we go about purchasing shellers because they don’t have any experience with mechanical equipment, so it can’t be too complicated,” Joe said. “We bought them in Uganda, so they are able to get parts.”

Motorized shellers are popular for the TUF farmers due to the increased crop production.

“Some of the farmers are up to producing five times more from where they started,” Joe said. “So, there’s an abundance of grain.”

TUF also purchased 10 plastic silos that are made to hold grain.

“They look like big garbage barrels and we worked with a local manufacturer in Uganda to buy them,” Joe said. “We also purchased a 40-foot shipping container that we put on the Demo Farm for storage and we’re putting an office in that, too.”

Along with a pulled pork picnic meal, the Harvest Hand Up event will include a euchre and UNO tournament, a live auction featuring homemade desserts and a 50/50 raffle.

“We added the UNO tournament this year because we wanted to have something for the younger kids and we’ve played cards in Uganda and UNO is by far their favorite game that we’ve taught them,” Joe said.

If they are approved for their visitor visas, Milton Tusingwire, Peter Baguma and Peter Mulindwa will be traveling to the United States to participate in the event at the Schmidt farm.

“Peter Mulindwa is a tour guide and our driver when we are in Uganda,” Joe said.

“Milton has traveled around the world, but the two Peters have never left the country so this will be the first time they will be on an airplane,” he said.

The Ugandan team will stay with the Schmidts for three weeks.

“We planted early season corn so they will be experiencing harvest in La Salle County,” Nathalie said.

“I think it will mesmerize them when they see all that corn coming into the combine so quickly,” Joe said.

“We want them to experience a multitude of things while they’re here,” Nathalie said. “Peter Mulindwa is fascinated with architecture so he wants to see Chicago.”

The Illinois farmers also want their visitors to learn about the river system.

“There is a tour boat at Ottawa that runs through the lock system at Utica,” Nathalie said. “So, that will show them how the barges move on the river — the list is really long of all the things we want them to see.”

For more information about the Harvest Hand Up event on Sept. 14, visit https://tinyurl.com/mvshx6ds.

For more information about Transforming Ugandan Farmers, contact the Schmidts at TUF.farmers@gmail.com or call 815-433-0175.