Mbale Project

History

The local partner for the Mbale Goat Development Project is Body Alive Ministries International (BAMI). This is a local organisation which carries out training in a various aspects of agricultural development. The organisation operates chiefly in the districts which have recently been formed out of the historic Mbale District, centred around Mount Elgon.

During 2009 the Mbale project received a donation of 13 bucks from JOY Goat Development Programme.

Opportunities

• Mount Elgon is one of the areas in Uganda where goats are traditionally milked, so acceptance of the milk is not a problem and people are keen to improve the productivity of their goats.

• Many other organisations such as FARM-Africa, Send-a-Cow and Heifer International have already introduced dairy goats, and thereby helped to popularise them.

• The mountainous terrain means that erosion control is needed, which can become a source of fodder.

• The partner organisation is well regarded by local people.

• The goats provide manure which is needed for the vegetable growing programme

Challenges

• Some parts of the project area are difficult and time consuming to reach, especially in the frequent wet weather (see picture).

• The current buck stations are rather scattered and do not fit into the programme’s plan of working with clusters of villages.

• The breeding plans of the other organisations working in the area are significantly different from ours and each other, which can lead to farmers becoming confused if the projects are located near to each other.