Women smile in Uganda through Lilian's vertical farming solutions

These were the words of a former Ugandan President at the 3rd world conference on women in 1984 in Nairobi, Kenya. He is not wrong to have said that, as prejudices against women were rampant in that age. Sadly, it still exists to date in several parts of Africa. For example, Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa, where agriculture has for a long time been their economic mainstay. This is evident in its status as the food basket of East Africa due to its capacity to produce diverse foods in large quantities to meet both local and international consumption. The country's agricultural sector contributes 40 per cent of GDP and 85 per cent of export revenues.

In Uganda, smallholder farmers champion agricultural productivity, and women constitute 76 per cent of agricultural labour. Hence, women play a vital role in the sector. Logically, a higher number should result in higher output, but this is not the case; women's productivity is relatively poor compared to men's. This is because, in addition to the responsibilities shared by all smallholder farmers, such as the rippling effect of climate change and a lack of access to agricultural resources, the burden faced by women farmers is exacerbated by cultural norms. 

In many African communities, women are still not allowed to own lands and have less decision-making power. Naluzze Bonita, a single mother of three children living in one of the suburbs of Kampala, Uganda, is one such woman. Being a full housewife with no source of income had its pitfalls. Women become vulnerable, especially financially when separated from their partners by divorce or death. The absence of Bonita's husband necessitated the need to transmute from being just a caregiver to the breadwinner of her family. The more she strained to make ends meet, the further apart they became.

Fortune smiled at her in 2018 when the Women Smiles Uganda team approached her to start smart agriculture. Women Smiles Uganda (WSU) is a social enterprise improving the lives of women and young girls in under-served communities of Africa, especially those living in urban slums who are landless and have limited spaces through smart agriculture using vertical farms. This meeting positively changed the course of her life. "After the training, I purchased a vertical farm unit at a fee of 150,000 Ugandan shillings ($42) and got quality seedlings from Women Smiles Uganda, and that is how I started my farming journey. Now I plant cotton, herb spinach, lettuce, and strawberries," she said.

Bonita isn't alone in this struggle. Lilian Nakigozi, founder of Women Smiles Uganda has a similar story. Having lived in a slum, she understands the travail of women to feed and cater to their children. She was raised in hardship with her baby sister by a single parent. Her mother had no money to put food on the table and no land to grow crops on. And when she was eight years old, she lost her baby sister to hunger. "As I grew older, I promised myself that I needed to do something to change the experience of women and young girls in urban slums and underserved communities. That is why I ventured into vertical farming and established Women Smiles Uganda in 2018," Nakigozi said.

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Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV from Pexels

Source: Ventures Africa