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One Dad’s Mission to Build a Better Future for his Kids

Written by Charity Nalwoga
Smiling dad stands proudly in his thriving Forest Garden.
Joseck Wafula is a hardworking father of 11 from a small Ugandan village called Budibya West. He is the lead farmer for Buyosi Farmer Group, one of several farmer groups in Trees for the Future’s (TREES) Busia 3 project.

Joseck says it was his desire to provide for his family that motivated him to join TREES in March of 2020. In a little more than a year, Joeck has already established a very promising greenwall around his Forest Garden and has successfully implemented agroforestry and permaculture techniques. The difference in Joseck’s garden is visible as the diversity of crops and trees has increased significantly.

Joseck, motivated by his desire to provide for his family, joined TREES in 2020 and stands proudly with his children.
“Joseck says it was his desire to provide for his family that motivated him to join TREES in March of 2020.”

“I am learning a lot from this project, like intercropping which I have not been doing in my garden. The technicians have taught me how to intercrop and I already see the benefits like improvement in quality of my yields,” he says.

He also successfully harvested seeds from last year to feed his family this year.

“I managed to harvest 60 kilograms of amaranth from my garden, which was the biggest harvest my garden has ever given me,” he says. “I took most of this harvest to a grinding mill in our local town, mixed it with some soya and maize flour to make porridge for my children, so I can improve their breakfast diet.” Joseck adds that he shared some of the amaranth seeds with his fellow Forest Garden farmers

Joseck demonstrates storing taro root in trenches during Forest Garden training.
“Through his Forest Garden training, Joseck learned how to store taro root in trenches before transplanting the crop.”

Local TREES staff train farmers on the Forest Garden Approach over a four-year period. The average Forest Garden farmer has at least 2,500 trees on their one-acre Forest Garden by the end of the four years. Farmers learn how to protect their land and diversity what they grow. They learn climate-friendly farming practices and how to increase and improve the quality of their yields with techniques like intercropping, compost making, alley cropping. Farmers like Joseck with big families are in position to increase their yields by year one to feed their households.

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Joseck wants to set his children up for success too.

“I want to teach my children how to work hard early in life, so I start giving them small tasks in the garden from a young age,” he says.

Joseck's children proudly display harvested taro roots from their family’s Forest Garden.

As nutrition and income increase, farmers like Joseck say they’re able to afford to send their happy, healthy kids to school.

Help more farmers like Joseck. Become a monthly donor today and help provide the life-changing training and supplies TREES staff need to help farming families thrive.

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