Uganda is full of organic farms thanks to rich soils and direct airlinks to European markets. One of the most popular cash crops are pineapples. They are grown by smallholders with as little as one acre of land. These farmers face many challenges including pests and disease, drought, floods, declining profit margins and productivity. Organic farming requires farmers not to use agrochemicals and to build soil fertility with manures and intercropping. However, this can mean more labour, often in short supply in this one farm following an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80s and 90s. Knowledge about good agricultural practice is also in short supply not least due to a non functioning extension service in rural areas (like most of Africa). This has left barren hillside churning out cash crops with insufficient soil conservation measures. These measures include shade tree planting, manuring, intercropping and mulching. The organic encourages but does not require soil conservation measures - perhaps an achilles heel of organic?
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