Growing Hope in Refugee Settlements in Uganda

Guest: Adriko Negro Simon, farmer and food system leader in Northern Uganda

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Transcript

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You have officially found the Global Stewardship Podcast. This is the weekly show for you if you feel disconnected from where your food comes from. Concerned with our current food systems or are just in need of a little encouragement about the future of farming and food. Every week I chat with a different farmer or producer around the world who's growing high quality products for their communities and stewarding the earth the way God intended, nourishing the planet as they go. Let's get real This week. I've been thinking about this a lot. Individualism In the West, our default is privacy independence. The US is listed actually as number one on the individualism index, which is a measure used by researchers to determine how where you live influences what you think about the role of the individual versus the group. Australia ranked second, great Britain and Canada are three and four. These are the happen to be the. Four largest listener based countries for this show. So the reason I say this is because in contrast, most countries in South America, central America, Asia, Africa, fall much lower on the list and they value the group over the individual a lot of the time. In fact, collectivism. Happens to be the rule in our world and individualism is the exception. It's no wonder that so many of us who are listening from these top four individualistic countries often feel super isolated and lonely. And so as I welcome guests from some of these warmer climate cultures on the podcast this month, I would love to encourage you to focus on the community aspects of these conversations. All of these guests focus more on their own community than themselves and their own feats. Genuine care for your neighbor and cooperation and open doors is clearly making for the most resilient communities. That's my motto on my farm in South Carolina, that we have a co-op farm, and while most Americans listen to our, my goal on this land and think it's strange. We haven't even begun to tap into the dream of a community that many of these upcoming guests have known their whole life. So it's just something to observe as you listen. It's, um, there's a lot we can learn from it. Today I'm joined by ADD Rico, Negro Simon, a food producer in Uganda with Quite an impressive resume. But more importantly, he's a passionate player in the Ugandan food system, advocating for more organic and regenerative practices and resources, teaching people along the way. Specifically, he teaches large communities of refugees. Uganda's one of the largest refugee hosting nations in the world, with over 1.8 million refugees. So please join me in welcoming him. What was it that inspired you to become a farmer?

Audio Only - All Participants: 2:47

Yeah, thank you so much. My name is Aico Aico Negro Simon. I'm from Uganda, uh, Northern Uganda. Border in South Sudan and, uh, and Congo. But, I come from Rego District, which is, one of the largest, district hosting two refugee settlements, rhino Camp refugee settlement, and, in VP refugee settlement. Uh, of course, uh, Uganda. Basically we do farming. And our family is a backbone of Uganda where every home does, farming activities. So I grew up in, uh, in a farming community whereby your neighbors, your family members, and everyone is engaged in farming activities. So that is where basically I picked the passion for agriculture when I joined primary, of course, there was that system where everyone is supposed to undertake, uh, the farming activities. From nursery school primary, up to secondary, you are taken through the practical aspect of the family activities. Raising nursery bed for vegetables, trying to manage them up to marketing. So that's where basically how I gained the passion for agriculture from, from my parents, from the neighbors, and also from school. So we're learning this through out. So when I joined, uh, secondary, because our education system in Uganda, it's a bit different. When you join senior one we had 16 different subjects. So agriculture was inclusive. So when we rate senior three in Uganda, you now choose the best 10. Subjects that you want. And, uh, some of them are compulsory, like eight of them are compulsory. You only choose two optional, subjects. So I decided to choose agriculture and, uh, entrepreneurship as my optional subjects. So it just as a result of the passion that I gained from childhood when I was born, I grew up in a farming, system where when we were growing young, we used to move with our parents when they're digging. So from there, I just gained the passion for agriculture. So when I risked senior theory, it was easy for me to choose agriculture because I liked it. I was already practicing it. So it was a bit easy for me. And then the part of entrepreneurship, of course, uh, I saw my parents. After Harvest investing, they'll go to the market, they sell the products, and I'll, I'll understand how they do negotiation with, uh, with the different, uh, dealers in the market, the different customers in the market. So I also gained the person for entrepreneurship from there. So that is basically how my personal tructure came up. Yeah. That's awesome. I specifically thought it was so fascinating to learn about your education for refugees. I've been working with refugees since 2018,

5:39

And don't always find a lot of people who know about that world. It's amazing to hear about your childhood immersed in agriculture. What was the turning point? How did you then begin to go through all of your schooling? You got your degrees, credentials. How did that lead you into working with refugees? I.

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So from there, that was in 2014 when I graduated with my diploma I started doing some small work. Uh, I applied with NGOs. They gave me work with, Danish Refugee Council that was my first humanitarian work that I started in 2016 in Rhino Camp Refugee equipment. I was, recruited as the livelihood assistant. Whereby I was working directly with, the different farmers, both the refugees and also the host community farmers. So I worked there for three years. Then after I, I moved to World Vision, Uganda handling things of environment. There was an approach that was introduced. It's a farmer managed natural regeneration. So I was basically piloting that in the refugee settlement, right? So after that I also moved on. To food for the Hungary, a US based organization in Uganda as, uh, the livelihood officer. I worked there for two years and currently, I, I work for Dan Church eight as the production and marketing officer. So, learning from experience and also understanding the concept in the settlement where farmers face a lot of challenges. There are a lot of things that farmers go through. So, uh, in 2018 there was a call from Access Agriculture for young entrepreneurs to apply. So I did apply. I presented my business plan, which was so nice and. They, they gave me the, the projector and the whole system, and I was trained how to use the projector and the rest of the things. So I now impact on training farmers because I really had a passion. For agriculture and learning the challenges that my parents, my neighbors, my community members were facing. Basically I took it so serious that I was really, really, uh, doing the aspect of training the farmers, the host communities, and also the refugee farmers on, uh, the aspect of agriculture. And, as a result of that, I started a small business. It's, a company that I started in Uganda in the refugee settlement where I now, support them with, certified seeds, organic seeds. And I also train them on how to manage these. I provide extension services for them and also do set demonstration sites like trials for the committee members to learn. But my interest in basically. Sustainable agriculture, regenerative agriculture is what I currently do, yeah, so basically that is, uh, a brief about me. Yeah. I find it really fascinating that. Yeah. You were sharing how so many other people are raised in agriculture in Uganda. Yet when you get to choose your studies, not everyone chooses agriculture. Are you finding that fewer and fewer people want to continue farming? Yeah. Uh, the interest for families now moving up because of, uh, there are now a lot of challenges that, uh, the farmers are facing. And there is demand for agricultural extension services. When, I joined, my professional course, that was in 2011, there were very few people who wanted to agriculture. The interest of the committee members or the interest of the youth were basically to be doctors and to be a lawyer want to be in those offices. But as of now, the passion has changed. There are now so many people who are interested in doing farming activities. They have also seen that, uh, in, in farming activities there is money.'cause people now do farming as a business and they're getting a lot of money out of it that can support them in running their, uh, different homesteads. So I see a lot of growing demand for agricultural activities. That's amazing. That's very exciting. It's the same here in the United States. Why do you think there was that shift? What was the moment for, do you think, for people in Uganda to find a renewed interest in farming? Yeah. Uh, I think it's basically because of the, the job market. There are very few, uh, people who are employed. Like currently. There are very few, and also our age limit is at 60, 60 years. So this is someone who has started working at, uh, 22 years, who will be working for 38 years without being replaced. It is really very hard for you to start getting jobs. There are now very currently, there are very few partners who are in the settlements and also doing humanitarian work because of the funding cut. So that really press people to do, uh, farming as a business. So they have realized that the need for food is increasing because of the progression growth people are producing. There are people who are, uh. Coming to Uganda, refugees are coming, the lands are nonproductive. So there are a lot of things that is really making agriculture to move to that, uh, to that level. It's basically because of the population pressure and also, the job market. There are now very few people who are employed in the world market. So people really think of doing farming, which can give for you some support because there's really demand for food everyday people eat. Yeah. Definitely. Uganda has some interesting systems where they actually let refugees grow their own food, and many of the places I've worked with refugees don't offer anything like that. So it's, it's super unique. Can you talk a little bit more about what that looked like and what life looks like for them? Yeah. Uh, I think Ugandan refugee policy is a bit flexible because of, uh, the free movement and also the free access to services. Uh, basically in the settlement they're located 30 by 30 meters plot, where you have your structures and also some Garden kitchen, the rest of the things. But also through Office of the Prime Minister, they have negotiated with landlords whereby, refugees are given access to land. And they go and do their farming activities in those specific areas. So at least in Uganda, the refugee farmers have access to land. It's not now a very big challenge for them. And also through coexistence with the fellow host committee member, when you have that good relationship with the host committee members, they can actually offer for you land that you can do your production activities for free. Without really, uh, giving them some incentive to access, to access the land. So that is basically the advantage with the refugee policy in Uganda. And also there is that free movement refugees move. You can be from a different district and also you move to a another district where the land is a bit fertile and it's a bit favorable for you to do your production activities. So that is basically the advantage with Uganda refugee policy. Mm-hmm. Wow, that's interesting. Yeah. So do you find that a lot of the refugees already know how to grow their own food or when you had this. Partnership with Access Agriculture to teach them on the projector. Was this the first time for many of them to really learn these methods of growing? Yeah. There were very few people who knew how to do it. Very few.'cause we had partners who were doing, uh, different agricultural trainings, technical graduate training, but there were very few farmers who had access to such trainings, but through Access Agriculture, it was now very easy for us to enroll. One key advantage with Access Agriculture videos is that you can download in your phone and then you share it with the, with the farmers, they watch it at any time, at their convenient time. Wow. Yeah. So that is an advantage. And uh, that was basically what I was doing in the community when I moved to, to communities. I trained them. I also shared these videos with them. So that when they go home, it'll be like, a reference point for them in case they have missed some other key points. They'll check their phone and then also they'll water their convenience and also their advantage. Uh, these videos are translated into their different languages, like in lubricity, in Arabic, in Kawa, different languages. So whereby it doesn't need you to explain further because it is in their language. And also the advantage is that these are real, real approaches or real practices that other fellow farmers are carrying out. Like if they bring a video from, Somalia, when, when someone from Somalia is doing such a production, how about you in Uganda? What can't you do? At least we have favorable climate where you can do activities. So it's really a plus that, uh, when they see this being done by their fellow farmers, it gives them that credit to, to do more. That is, that is really amazing. There's so many languages that are spoken there, so it's, it's wonderful that it can be translated into several different ones. Yes. Yeah. And I imagine that people coming from different growing regions come to Uganda where it's so much more lush and they don't know what they can do and what, what kind of growing there is at their fingertips. So that's really incredible. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The farmers, the refuse that I was working with, they really impressed the technology that we're training them. An example was, during the COVID-19 period. Where there was, uh, limited movement of the goods of people to different locations. So when I started training them on, kitchen Garden Establishment, where they do the S mounts. It really gave them a positive, uh. A positive, uh, reaction because they were able to produce from the limited resources that they had. So it was really a very good, positive impact on them. And also the aspect of the environment, uh, the farmer managed natural generation. Whereby farmers, take initiative to manage. There are different, trees that they have at the compound and also in the garden. During that time, their life really improved well because of the, uh, SAC mound, the kitchen garden technologies that they learned from from us when we were trying to, to solve for them the different videos on how they can do, uh, a backyard gardening approach for. Uh, nutritious production of food. Yeah. Why did you guys decide to teach them to grow in the sacks? yeah. They were basically these sacks for, uh, for food items like a hundred kilos, these 50 kilos of sac. Uh, of course they had access to this, but also it was more of circular economy of, uh, reusing. The, the waste, because most people assume this is a waste for them. So when we teach them how to use this, it is more of a circular economy where they're supposed to reuse it, to produce some, some food. So basically our approach was to address aspect of the environment and also improve on the food production. Yeah. How did they, yes. How did they get soil? Did they implement composting or what kind of Yes. What did that look like? Yes, yes. We were trained in on how to make compost and also we're trained how to make, some repeller and liquid manure and the rest of the things. So basically, the swell that they had. We use them and also we train them on how to make, uh, uh, fertilizers and also how to make compost. Some of them have animals. They have chicken, they have goats and the other kind of animals. So we're drawing them on how to use the waste from the animals to add value into their garden. So it was really a positive thing that we were doing with them. So actually this really moved my intention. I was starting, uh, the other business that I told you about. Yes. So as of now, the business is operational and it is really working in the settlements where we set different demonstrations for them. Access agriculture, it gave me that, uh, that interest to start. If I can do this, really, it can improve the life of the community members. So basically that is what I did, and I wanted to name my business as Access Ag Agri Solutions. But of course, you know, youand system. But before you register business, you have to go to, to the system, the registration board, and you check. So when they tried to check in the system, there was a match. To what I'd suggested. So they gave me a name called Dilemma across Solution. Dilemma means having luck. So I took it positive, they gave me that name, having luck. So I took it positive and uh, that is the business currently that I, I run in the community. That's very cool. Yeah. That's amazing. So will you explain in more in depth what your current business does? So many farmers have started relying so much on synthetic fertilizers and materials, that there's a lost knowledge and so for you to have that natural mindset is really incredible. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. I think, uh, basically my business, I, I do more of, uh, the regenerative way where we train them on how to reduce on the use of the synthetic chemicals, but do more of the organic, uh, organic aspect. Though in the market, there's limited access to some of those inputs. There's limited access to some of those inputs, but we had linkages within, uh, with some of, some few, uh, dealers who are dealing in, the production of the organic product. So they supply me with some of these things, but basically my interest is to do extension services in the community, which I currently do. I have set demonstration sites for, uh, regenerative agriculture where you are supposed to do zero tillage, but you do intercropping and you do complete marching of the field. So basically my interest. Is to do more of the extension services to the farmers that are, that are in the community. And also we, we do sensitize them on the dangers of using synthetic, fertilizers, which will really affect them in the future. So basically that is what my business is, is all about. It's a registered company now in Uganda, and, uh, we're doing operations, uh, within the settlements in West Nile. It is basically from my savings that I started doing this. I have one motorcycle that, uh, basically supports me in moving to the communities to set these demonstrations with them. Wow. Yeah. What do you think is the biggest issue for farmers in Northern Uganda right now? Yeah, I think right now the biggest challenge is, uh, on the access to inputs. Which is very, very key in the market right now. There are too many, uh, companies that are distributing synthetic, uh, chemicals, fertilizers, and also some of these hybrid seeds to the put. So it's really a very big challenge that we have limited access to these organic products. But also the other challenge is of course, our system. Uh, our education system in Uganda was that there was more of training on synthetic, not on on organic, but now there are some universities that are trying to adopt trainings and also trying to adapt, uh, organic agriculture trainings, which is really helping to improve that. But the extension support is a bit limited to the farmers. Yeah. Where do you think all of these synthetic material companies are coming from? Are they all started in Uganda? Are they coming from other countries? Uh, they're coming from outside Uganda, but also they have tried, uh, to connect now within, within Uganda with the different aggro, aggro, input dealers, and also some companies within. They have, uh, now it has fight distributing inputs and also they do demonstration. By the way, if you check their demonstration sites, you'll see good result. You'll see the harvest. You'll say, wow, this is some good harvest. But of course, they do that to market their product. So if we can also do our own, uh, organic products, we set demonstrations, we do radio toils. That will really help us to change the mind of the farmers. I know with time. This will help us to transform their mindset from synthetic to to organic product. Definitely they do the same thing here the genetically modified seed companies and pesticide companies. It's actually required for growers to post signs to advertise for them in many states. Yeah. And they, so they get basically free advertising and it looks really appealing, but you don't see just the, the decay of life underneath the soil and the amount of knee having to. Pump into the soil and the water erosion issues. There's a lot of things you don't see when you see that pretty green corn, you know? Yeah, true, true, true. Mm-hmm. It's the same thing, actually decide, uh, when you see their adverts, the way they can rebrand their product, you'll say, wow. It's really in the market. They do television adverts, they do radio adverts. They also just, the website they have now, uh. They give credits for them to promote their products. They set demonstration sites, so it's really a very big threat to, to the Ugandan market. But there are some few companies now in Uganda that are trying to bring the aspect of agri, bring the aspect of, uh, organic agriculture, which is, uh, a plus, but also this side of Northern Uganda. It's still. It's still the synthetic aspect, which she has taken, which has taken the upper hand. Yeah. can we talk just a little bit about your childhood and how the education system does teach about agriculture? Where I'm from? We never learned about farming even a little bit in school. Um, wow. You know, if we did, we learned about it in history class as something that people used to do, and that, that's certainly not the case all over the world or even all over the us. There's some states that are more farming focused, but where I'm from. We didn't learn about farming. And so how did that shape your mindset? I know it, it's led you to where you are today, but can you remember Yeah. Like as a young person, how that, why that was so important? Yeah. Uh, basically what was important was, uh, when I joined, uh, primary school, of course, Ugandan system has, uh, agriculture from nursery. Those, uh, nursery kids, uh, the kindergarten, when they come home, they, they start teaching their parents even on a different aspect, how to grow this, how to do this. So that is how the Ugandan system is. And, I didn't go to kindergarten. I went read to to primary, primary one when I was already six years old. And of course, I was learning this for my parents. So when I joined school, it was a bit easy for me to start picking this up. Because we used to go, there was a time, uh, allocated in the afternoon. On Fridays from 2:00 PM up to up to 3:30 PM you'll be in the garden doing a different, um, management practices. You start raising nurse bed. The other class will do the different aspect of, uh, the family activities. That received my passion for agriculture, just the way site after when I start, for my primary living education science, we only had four uh, subjects. The science, english, mathematics, and so, so, uh, social studies. Mm-hmm. So my best performing subject was science because it was more of agriculture. Basically the whole thing was on agriculture, the anatomy, and basically things to do with, with, uh, with sciences. So there were clubs at, uh, at my school in Koboko, so it was easy for me to join some of those clubs. There was a club for agriculture, there was the Environment Club. There were different clubs at the, at the secondary school. So I joined at two clubs, agriculture Club, and I joined the Environment Club when I joined the senior one. So I was part of those clubs up to senior four. My understanding helped me to do my activities well in the communities. So my passion to empower communities really killed me because I gained this from childhood and also in the education system that I went through in Uganda. Yeah. So that is basically, so, uh, God willingly, by November this year, I'll be graduating with my,

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After recording and listening back during the editing process, I noticed something I didn't notice while interviewing Ed Ricoh, Negro Simon, did you notice the part where he shared about how the job market is a huge reason why there's more of a desire to farm as a business? I didn't catch it, but he had shared that the humanitarian funding cuts and fewer like NGO kind of partners that have. Now left, or they have those funding cuts have pushed homesteaders to farm as a business. I find that so fascinating and one of my biggest and uh, least popular or politically correct opinions is that so many of the international efforts in Africa have actually, um, in many ways like harmed local communities and. Harmed the homesteading and farming, uh, food sustainability, food sovereignty, just because there's so many people with their hands in everything going on.

Audio Only - All Participants: 28:29

my master's. Hopefully that I will also enrolled for my PhD and that is my dream and my passion and my dream for future is to be, uh, I want to be a teacher. I want to be teaching people, I want to be teaching young, young generation on aspect of agriculture so that when they go back they also try to transform their communities and also transform Uganda. So that is actually my interest and my passion. That's amazing. I'm excited. I hope to follow your journey and catch back up and see all the new things that you're doing that is just really, exciting. I also just think hearing about the education system is so fascinating to me because you know, we, like I said, we never talked about agriculture. I had one club in the fourth grade, I was nine years old and we got to grow vegetables, but that was the only time throughout my first 18 years of life that we did that in school. So I think that's important for listeners to hear and. Maybe implement some of those things. Especially for, there's a lot of homeschooling parents, for any parents who do teach their own kids, to teach people these things from a young age is important. Um, yeah, if we're teaching science, agriculture of course should be a huge, if not the main part of it. So just wild. True, true. Yeah. True. Yeah. Yeah. So that is, that is actually our, our education system now. Is there anything else before we go that you think listeners would like to hear or a message you would just want to leave with people who listen? The system in Uganda is more into the synthetic world, which is really affecting the farmers right now. They're not understanding it, but, uh, because in the near future they will try to understand the challenges, things of disease, low productivity, things of low production. They'll understand it in future, but, uh. Basically that is a challenge that we face in Uganda and also in the, in the markets. There are so many, uh, synthetic companies that are really spreading the news of, uh, chemicals, uh, GMOs, hybrid. They're really spreading it so as people who are passionate on, uh, organic agriculture, we really need to take this up and educate. Yes. The way I'm doing in the community, I've already raised over 5,000 farmers within West n with, uh, with a different knowledge and information on organic agriculture. So I plan to reach over 20,000 in the near future. God willing me, yeah. Well, I will add your work to my prayer list'cause that is really impactful things that you're doing. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much. I'm excited to help share your message have a great day. Thank you. All right. Bye. Alright, bye Thank you guys so much for tuning into the Global Stewardship Podcast today.

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As I listened back to this episode, during the editing process, I noticed a part where Addico Negro Simon shared how the job market is a huge reason why there is now an increasing desire to farm. I didn't catch it during our conversation, but he shared that the humanitarian funding cuts and fewer partners have pushed homesteaders to farm as a business, and this is so fascinating. We will continue over time to talk about this myth that like America feeds the world is a huge myth that I've been taught that many farmers believe, and oftentimes a lot of the work that we are doing in other countries is causing them to have a lack of food sovereignty or not. Empower the local farmers, and I thought this was just really interesting and I'm excited to keep discovering more about this and sharing it. It's also great to hear that universities in Uganda are also trying to make the switch to studying organic and regenerative and aiming to promote it in my state and the United States of America. So each state has a special extension agent office, and for decades they've been dominated by industrial Ag. And whenever I see states go to the more organic route, it really brings me immense joy. I can't say that for my current state, but I definitely have hopes and um, would love to just follow suit. After Uganda, our conversation reminded me of a book that I once read. It was called Seeds of Destruction, and how big companies infiltrate countries and make them reliant on their products and then take over the market in almost a bio-terrorism kind of way. To me, it's actually a huge red flag that foreign countries have and continue to funnel harmful chemicals into countries masked behind, you know, what they call feeding the world or improving local food systems. And I think we know enough at this point, it is 2025 to know that they are harming the environment, human health. And local farming economies. It's time to support people like En Rico, Negro Simon, who are leading the way towards regeneration in nourishing the land, actually feeding people with long-term sustainability.

Audio Only - All Participants: 33:38

We will be back next week with another episode. Actually, someone else from Uganda will be joining me. I find this really fascinating because I did live in Uganda as a young adult. But this just gives some more insight into places I didn't get to go or things I didn't necessarily get to see. And it always shows that there's just so much depth to. the world of food and farming all over the world. I am so humbled every time I speak to a guest on the podcast because I learn and grow so much and I just, can only hope and pray that the same is happening for you as you tune in every week. is, and you do find value in these episodes, Please send me a text. There's a link in the podcast description to message me or if you would like to leave a review. Those are always appreciated and if you do leave a review, I'd love to shout you out on a future episode just to say thank you. I hope you guys have a fantastic week, and I will see you next Tuesday.