This project will assist farmers to address some of the above-mentioned constraints and other emerging issues and needs so that people in the project area can derive maximum benefit from fruit growing and agroforestry practices as a strategy for improved food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods. It will encourage and support the local farmers to transform the current smallholder subsistence farming into economically viable agro-businesses. The project will, inter alia, facilitate access to improved seeds; promote the adoption of modern agricultural technologies by farmers; provide training in appropriate sustainable farming practices (including: soil and water conservation, integrated fertility management, composting, crop rotation, mulching, intercropping/use of cover crops, sylvopastoral systems and integrated pest management); facilitate the establishment of farmer producer-groups and foster competitive marketing of locally produced fruit products, including through training in harvest and post-harvest handling and quality control skills.

The project is expected to improve the livelihoods of more than 100 farmers in the project area. This will be achieved in a number of ways, including: enabling the beneficiary farmers to increase production of fruit and other vegetable crops for sale in the local markets in order to increase their incomes and to achieve domestic food self-sufficiency and improved nutrition, which will in turn result in better health and increased economic productive capacity. The project will also act as a catalyst for the local beneficiaries to engage in other off-farm economic activities, community development initiatives and social networks that would further improve their well-being and self-esteem. It is hoped that the project will serve as a model in Nabitende parish and that other villages will gain from our success.