Janet Amongi

Eating local vegetables changed my life! My name is Janet Amongi. I am 28 years old, a resident of Obia East, Bardege division, Gulu Municipality. I am married with 2 children. I joined the project of production and consumption of local vegetables through our VSLA group -Waneno Anyim. I liked the project right from the inception, training, planting and now consuming local vegetables.

After several trainings, VEDCO established for us a demonstration garden where we could learn practically. VEDCO also gave seed to all group members to establish their home gardens. I planted a quarter an acre of cow peas where I started consuming leaves only after 2weeks. There are changes in my life as a result of producing and consuming local vegetables such as: I have knowledge about local vegetables including their nutritious values. My household can now eat local vegetables daily unlike before when we ate only twice a week, the community can now access local vegetables from my farm at a cheaper price compared to the market price, at times I give them freely. In the group, I was able to settle my loan dues in a short time after selling local vegetables. However, the most significant change in my life is increased consumption of local vegetables on a daily basis unlike before where I used to eat twice or even less a week. That is the most significant change because local vegetables are quite costly according to my level so sometimes I never used to buy because of lack of money. I was trained that if I keep picking cow peas leaves it makes the plant to produce more seed, as a result, I multiplied more seed which I can now plant, I can now afford quality seed unlike before. To sustain the changes I have experienced, I will ensure I always maintain the seed distributed by constantly producing my own seed, I will also give my neighbors seed so that we all continue producing so that incase of seed loss I can still access from them