From Uganda: Part 2: Getting Down and Dirty with Data Collection



Photo courtesy Lauren Pincus
My field crew of recent high-school graduates after
our ritual morning fuel stop. After salaries, fuel was my
next highest expense.

It took a month of starts and spurts, but eventually the rains came and more and more farmers began to clear land and plant their wet season crops. My field crew and I were ready for them when they did. I had had the good fortune of meeting a particularly motivated recent high-school graduate named Paul. Unfortunately, Paul had a rather typical Ugandan upbringing. He was orphaned at the age of four, and his sister and he were taken in by family members. His family was able to convince the school to waive his school fees in exchange for a portion of their maize and beans harvest, but, as the adopted child, his schooling would be the first to go if the family could no longer afford this arrangement. Fortunately for Paul, it was at school that he met an American man who had decided to spend his two week vacation volunteering in Africa.  Paul immediately caught this man’s eye as a bright and motivated child with a promising future. When he learned about Paul’s precarious position, he agreed to sponsor his school fees. Their relationship has grown over the years and this man is still supporting him as he begins his undergraduate career as a business student at Makerere University. When I met Paul he was on summer vacation waiting to begin his first courses at Makerere. I too recognized that this was a student with amazing potential and asked him if he and a few of his trusted friends would want to have a summer job as my field assistants. As the highest paying employer in town ($4.80 a day plus $1.60 for lunch), I quickly had a field staff.



Photo courtesy Lauren Pincus

Nakati growing at vastly different speeds due to the
non-uniformity of the seed stock. The nakati on the bottom
left is ready for harvest while the nakati on the right is
just getting started. Farmers in the United States rarely have to
think about this problem because all of our commercial seeds
have had uniformity traits bred into them years and years ago.

With farmers planting and my students as well trained as possible, we set out to survey the surrounding areas. I was based in the town center of Nkokonjeru and in either direction are smaller towns and villages. It is hard to get a sense of the population density because of the undulating terrain and ubiquitous forest patches, but no matter how far out you go, you keep coming across new houses and a never-ending maze of footpaths being traversed by pedestrians with baskets and hand hoes and motorbikes laden with passengers and cargo. Our own rented motorbikes carried two field assistants and me, our surveys and clipboards, a fistful of plastic bags for harvesting, a basin for mixing soil samples, a soil auger, and bags and bags of sugar from the market that we gave as gifts to participating farmers.



Photo courtesy Lauren Pincus

Nakati plot with extremely poor germination. Poor quality seed
is a major problem for farmers who want to grow indigenous
crops. Farmers can save their own seed, but often times
that too is of poor quality since farmers are not trained
in proper seed-saving techniques.

At each of our designated villages we would inquire as to who had planted nakati this year. After each farmer had agreed to participate in our study, we would follow them to their plot and begin the survey. Some farmers' plots were no bigger than a meter squared, while others were half an acre. Most plots were about the size of your kitchen. Some farmers intercropped their nakati with their matooke, some planted it together with other indigenous vegetables, some planted it neatly in rows, others broadcast the seed directly onto the ground. We saw many plots that failed to germinate completely because of poor quality seed. We saw women planting it, men planting it, and a mix between home consumption and sale for the market. One woman said all she does is put a basket of harvested greens on her head and walk around her village. By the time she arrives home it has all been sold. Her neighbors didn’t believe her when she told them how much money she is able to earn from this simple activity.

Photo courtesy Lauren Pincus

Measuring out a sub-plot for data collection.

Photo courtesy Lauren Pincus

Many farmers had great success in growing nakati however. Here is one example. The nakati was so good one of my field assistants had to buy some for his own dinner that night.

Photo courtesy Lauren Pincus

Future nakati grower and lifetime consumer!

We visited each farmer at least three times over the course of the season. The first time we asked a long list of questions about their household, their attitude towards production, consumption and marketing of nakati, and their management practices to date. We returned again mid-season to check in with them and ask about any changes to the plot. We did our own assessment of how the nakati was growing and took some measurements. We came again at harvest and finished up our management survey. We took soil samples and a paid the farmer for a portion of the plot to attain yield information. The farmers came to expect us and many asked, “why nakati? Do you want to export it to your own country?” I told as many as possible about the health benefits nakati could have for their family and said that we already have many vegetables like nakati that we eat in the United States. I explained that my hope for this research was to increase the amount of vegetables their own family consumes and the amount of money they are able to earn from growing and selling nakati. And next time I visit Uganda I will bring with me a picture of a salad so people can get an idea of just what I mean when I say Americans eat more vegetables than they do. 

--- Lauren Pincus, UC Davis graduate student, International Agricultural Development