Lira Resident Benefits from Moving Beyond Hunger Program

Martin Nek, 26, is a resident of Adekokwoc Boboro Parish in Lira District Northern Uganda. Martin is one of the many beneficiaries of the Moving Beyond Hunger (MBH) project implemented by CPAR-Uganda. Before being selected as an MBH project participant, he had just dropped out of school at senior three level. Later, he resorted to farming. Martin recalls that before joining MBH project, he had very poor crop yields. He attributes this to a lack of proper farming methodologies.

"By being an MBH project participant, I've learnt a lot of improved farming techniques, such as the use of oxen and ox plough to till the land, I've also learned how to rear pigs, make and use energy saving stoves to preserve the environment and crop rotation," says Martin.

"My thanks go to CPAR-Uganda, which has opened up many future possibilities. Now I am building myself a permanent two-bedroom house," Martin states.

Martin and all of the selected MBH beneficiaries of Adekokwoc and Amac got a pair of oxen, ox plough, a wheel burrow, rake, spade, hoe and a hand spray gun. At Martin's homestead, there is now a pig sty, chicken loitering around the compound, some goats, mangoes, sweet potatoes, maize and a rice garden – all signs of long-term food security.

Moving Beyond Hunger is a new three-year CPAR program (July 2006 - June 2009) that will contribute to the Millennium Development Goal (agreed to by all 191 U.N. member states at the Millennium Summit of 2000) of reducing by half the proportion of people that suffer from hunger. Funded by CIDA’s Partnership Branch, this program will make this contribution by addressing the determinants of food insecurity in select communities of Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda where hunger is a major problem.

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