It has been written and told many times how Nelson Mandela spent hours every day gardening when he was a prisoner. He grew vegetables so much so that at one time he had grown and looked after as many as 900 types of vegetable plants.

Last year, United States First Lady Michelle Obama did what hadn't been done at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady of the United States from 1933-45, during the great depression and WWII by planting a vegetable garden on the White House lawn with the help of nearby school children.

Michelle's vegetable garden attracted so much international attention and it soon became fashionable to have a garden at home and at school, which facilitated School Garden Projects being launched in other places.

 Across the Atlantic, Michelle's idea appealed to Her Majesty the Queen of England who has started growing her own organic vegetables at Buckingham Palace for the first time since WWII. According to the Queen's Head Gardener Midgley, the idea is to promote gardening and to inspire people to start growing their own vegetables.

''We're trying to promote growing your own food, vegetables, getting families and children involved, getting their hands dirty to create and grow food so that they can have a meal," she said.

Michelle Obama said that "I'm a big believer in community gardens because of their beauty and for their access to providing fresh fruits and vegetables to so many communities across this nation and the world."

Research shows that FAO encourages schools to create learning gardens of moderate size, which can be easily managed by students, teachers and parents with emphasis on a variety of nutritious vegetables and fruits as well as occasionally some small-scale livestock such as chicken.

It (FAO) has even prepared a Manual 'to assist school teachers, parents and communities.
The manual draws on experiences and best practices of running school gardens all over the world'.

It links classroom lessons with practical learning in the garden about nature and the environment, food production and marketing, food processing and preparation and making healthy food choices.

Ugandans know that garden products are expensive to buy from the food markets especially during times of financial hardship.

Because the majority of our people have for most of their lives lived in abject poverty, they have always found it natural to grow their own food from their small home gardens.
 What should be done is to launch a national campaign to teach our children how to grow food, vegetables and fruits at home and in all schools.

Schools like St Mary's Kisubi have enviable school farms managed by the school children.

The government should seriously invest in a deliberate and sustained campaign to mobilise all our children to start gardens at home and schools by for example making Agriculture a compulsory subject.

The exercise can be made competitive by organising home gardens competition where winners are rewarded with scholarships plus monetary benefits as incentives.

Ugandans selling trees should also include vegetable and fruit trees to enable substitution of shade trees with productive trees in people's homes.

The budget for propagating Patriotism should encompass this noble movement and consequently, corporate bodies would come on board if government could take the lead. This must surely be cheaper and simpler than making roads.

May 21 - 27 2010 blog comments powered by Disqus

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