Lamwaka Emerensiana

The best are local vegetables! My name is Lamwaka Emerensiana. I am 47 years old, a resident of Obia East, Bardege division, Gulu Municipality. I am married with 6 children. I decided to grow local vegetables because of the need for balanced diet for my family as my children constantly suffered from malnutrition, and also the need for increasing my savings from our VSLA as a result of quick income from the sale of local vegetables since they don’t take long.

After receiving training in Agronomy from VEDCO’s field Officer I got interested in the production of cow peas just like the rest of my group members. The trainings equipped me with skills in production of cow peas. After that I planted a quarter an acre garden of cow peas seed provided by VEDCO. Production and consumption of local vegetables brought several changes in my life and household. I no longer go to the market to buy local vegetables, I have also my own seed for planting and my family has enough nutritious food for eating. There has also been reduced expenditure in my household, increased income from the sale of cow peas leaves to market vendors. There is reduced food shortage in my community as I sell to community members in bulk at an affordable price, I sell to them also seed to ensure they have enough so as to reduce malnutrition levels in my community. This has also fostered unity in our groups as each member supports the other in case of unforeseen challenges. The most important change I have realized since I started producing local vegetables is that I have ready nutritious food for my household therefore ensuring my children are healthy. It has also provided me with income to save in our group hence increasing my income.