There are two growing seasons in Uganda. Potatoes are a staple. Seed potatoes are saved from each crop to start the next. These have been piled in the back of thatched huts. The St. Augustine Community Love Programme noted that these often rotted during the few weeks between seasons. Three times, TILT has donated $3000 for construction of simple ventilated secure buildings with racks for potato storage, built with volunteer labor and bricks provided by the farmers who benefit from them. This solved the problem of rot loss, and allowed sales of some of their supply at times of greater need and demand, and donation of other seed potatoes to impoverished families.

Potatoes grown in fields produce seed potatoes for the next season, but over time they become subject to disease. Every three growing seasons (every year and a half), new “foundation seed potatoes” need to be purchased to keep healthy crops growing. TILT sometimes shares part of the cost of foundation seed potatoes to help the farmers to attain financial self-sufficiency, by growing enough potatoes to sell to cover the cost of new foundation seed potatoes.

In order to improve the supply of foundation seed potatoes, five specially educated and experienced potato farmers, each with at least an acre of land for use as a demonstration plot, will be selected as role models and trainers. TILT will supply inputs for growing improved potatoes on their plots.

TILT will fund a store for curing, storing, and distributing seed potatoes grown by the model farmers. The model farmers will donate 20% of each season’s crop to the store, which will be managed by SACLP. The potatoes will be sorted into two grades to allow purchase at an affordable price by even the poorest subsistence farmers. SACLP members will receive free seed potatoes. In this way, improved potato varieties will become available to every farmer in the district.

The farmers who get seed potatoes from the store will also receive training and supervision from the model farmers. This will teach all of the farmers in the region the best agricultural practices. The improvement expected in both quantity and quality would open up larger markets and raise families’ standard of living.