INTRODUCTION

Agricultural land occupies approximately 38% of the planet's land surface and the spread and intensification of agriculture are recognised as two of the most important global threats to wildlife.

Farming in Uganda in undergoing a massive series of changes. One of the main pillars of the Ugandan governments commitment to eradicate poverty is to modernize farming by improving crop husbandry and increasing farmer access to suitable markets. These changes will inevitably impact on biodiversity.

In April 2005, BTO was awarded a grant by the Darwin Initiative to investigate this problem, determine how the changes in farming will impact on birds, invertebrates and/or plants and devise methods of mitigating some of these negative effects.

THE PROJECT
The project is being carried out in the banana-coffee arc around Lake Victoria. We aim to identify a series of best practices for sustainable agricultural development that have both biodiversity and farmer benefits. Whilst the bulk of the project time will be spent on research and collection of baseline data, we will produce a handbook for farm extension workers and provide policy advice to the Ugandan Government.

LATEST NEWS

In September 2007, the third farmer discussion group took place in Mukono. The theme of this discussion was agroforestry and a selection of trees which were useful for both biodiversity and farmers were taken along to the meeting. These were sold at the end of the meeting for 200 shillings each.