Abstract:
The farm and community practice attachment was carried out at West Acholi Cooperative Union (WACU) Limited which was established and registered as an Agricultural production, processing and Marketing entity under the Cooperative Act of 1960. WACU in partnership with We Effect is implementing Cooperative Production and Marketing Enhancement Project to improve on Agricultural Production and productivity. During the attachment, activities carried out included; Pre-season planning meeting which was conducted to help at planning for first season's activities, training farmers on Crop insurance, training farmers on enterprise selection was also carried out were farmers were trained to select enterprises as guided by the project. Training farmers on Good Agronomic Practices and setting up demonstration for their selected enterprises were also among key activities done. In addition, Sensitization of farmers on contract farming and profiling farmers for local seed business and Establishment of seeds multiplication gardens at farmers' sites were also key activities done to improve farmers' access to input and improve their farm productivity. During the attachment the skills gained included field marking when setting up demonstration plots, skill in profiling farmers using digital app, and also gained skill in facilitating trainings and resolving conflicts that may arise during the training process though some challenges such as poor weather, lack of protective gears affected some field activities. Conclusively, the farm and community practice was successfully done and the trainings offered by the host organization were of a great impact towards skilling students and preparing them to join the industry of work that can be through self-employment and wage/salary employment. I therefore recommend that organization should timely plan for their trainings so that the activities are implemented inconsideration of the rainy season and the university should identify and frequently consult organizations for places of internship so that the students are placed were they can gain more knowledge and skills like in WACU.
