Teso Oxen Re-Stocking Project

Background

The region of Teso lies in central eastern Uganda and has a rural population of 610,000. Its main town is Soroti and it relies upon agriculture for its livelihood. It is an area where oxen have been traditionally used for many years for cultivations and where the people are familiar with the principle of co-operation. During the Amin/Obote years, however, 95% of the oxen were destroyed by army operations. 200,000 people were also displaced during this period.

Peace was gradually restored in the mid 1990’s and the people of Teso were able to start re-building their lives.

How TORP works

The TORP project begain in 1995 with the aim of improving the agricultural production in the area by the re-introduction of oxen for draught ploughing and cultivations. It takes 10 labourers five days to hand-break one acre of land however one man with a pair of oxen and a plough will do the same work in 2 days. Tractors are extremely expensive and inappropriate because of their high running and maintenance costs. Increased agricultural production gives subsistence farmers the ability to pay for education and medical help. It is the key to a better living. It breaks the 'poverty trap'.

The scheme was devised by Soroti Baptist Church in 1995 but is open to people of any, or no, faith or denomination without discrimination.

FOAG and TORP

With £250 FOAG provide 4 families with

· One pair of oxen (in eastern Uganda)

· One single furrow plough (assembled in Soroti)

· Experienced Ugandan veterinary supervision for 3 months

The ownership of each pair of oxen, plus plough, is shared between 4 families (beneficiary groups). Each beneficiary group is expected to repay the £250 over two years. The repaid money is then used to buy another pair of oxen for another group of 4 families.

Administration

Each beneficiary group of 4 families is responsible to their Village Parish Committee. Each Parish Committee is responsible to the Project Organising Committee based in Soroti. It is the task of this small body to implement and supervise the whole scheme - to control finances, to select, visit and advise families, to monitor veterinary oversight and to discipline if, and when, necessary. John Echeru, of Soroti Baptist Church is the administrator of the scheme. He is assisted by Leo Dijkman who looks after the accounts.

2003 - 2005: The Lords Resistance Army

FOAG started assisting financially in late 1997 and at 1st June 2003 oxen numbers stood at 160 of which 75 were bought by repayments. These were in 5 regions of Teso and helped 640 beneficeries.

At that point, in June 2003, Teso was subjected to major insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army forcing much of the population north of Soroti into hiding or into large refugee camps. Much damage was caused to the oxen scheme but this paled into insignificance in comparison to the suffering of so many innocent families. During 2005 most of the displaced people returned to their villages and TORP sought to pick up the threads and re-start in three of the original five villages. At the same time we funded a new scheme in Awoja, just south of Soroti, and Otatai nearby. Despite the disappointment of setback FOAG has taken the view that the project was working well and that the Teso people who were innocently caught up by the LRA’s invasion should be encouraged to re-build for their future.

Since then we have continued to support the Project in two ways. Firstly by paying for administration on the ground. John Echeru (co-ordinator) and Leo Dijkman (auditor) are each paid 150,000 Ush/- salary per month (approx £50.00 each ).FOAG also bears various incidental costs such as transport of new animals from market, veterinary costs, a proportion of JE vehicle costs etc.

Secondly, by investing in more oxen.......some as replacements for those destroyed by insurgency and some to continue making the scheme available to more families wishing to take advantage of it.

2008: Progress

After the severe floods of 2008 Teso was again hit by the extremes of weather......this time in 2009 by drought with only 2 nights of rain in some areas during the so-called ‘long rains’. For the time being it was agreed between all parties that no further villages be added to the Project and that no further oxen be supplied to an existing village until that village has repaid at least 75% of its due repayment. At the same time FOAG agreed to delay the schedule for repayments in the light of some very tough times brought on by the difficult weather conditions of 2009.

Project Update: November 2010

Today, as at 1st November 2010 the oxen numbers are back up to 187 and help over 700 families.

Currently emphasis is on 2 issues:

· Repayments: all 7 villages are making good progress with repayments and there is a target date of 31st December 2010 for total repayment except for Eukasi which only started with oxen in 2009.

· Micro-finance: future funding of oxen and ploughs will be by direct finance with farmers who are prepared to enter into a 2 year agreement and a planned schedule of repayments. Eligible farmers will have a good record of debt repayment under the village scheme and will qualify for a loan at approximately half the cost of a bank loan (currently in excess of 20% interest)........even if they could get a commercial bank loan which many can not for a variety of reasons. We expect the first micro-finance loans to start early in 2011.

FOAG remains very firmly committed to this project. There remains a big need for more oxen in Teso and the benefits which their use and ownership can bring to a rural family are all too evident. These families are moving away from mere subsistence farming into a new era in Uganda of commercial farming.

We remain indebted to John Echeru and Leo Dijkman for their untiring work for the project and its people.

Project Coordinator: Malcolm Rankin

It is a privilege to have been involved with FOAG's work in Uganda for 28 years. I am proud of the fact that FOAG remains an 'Action Group' .......it doesn't just talk, it does...often very quickly and with very little red-tape ! It's direct, it's hands-on, it's consistent and it's experience has been honed by 25 years of regular visitation and face-to-face liaison with every project with which it is linked. It is a delight to have built up many trusted and deep friendships in Uganda over the years. It is also very rewarding to not only be able to look forward and respond practically to a call for help from a small project but to also be able to look back and actually see lives and living conditions that have changed, and are changing, for the better thanks to a little bit of encouragement and support. Uganda is a fascinating country and it has become a way of life for me. I cherish the 3 months a year that I am able to spend there.