Gardens and Family Farming

The Gardens in Africa project was launched in 2010 on the initiative of coordinators in Kenya, Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire, with the initial objective of creating 1,000 food gardens. This was reached in 2013 thanks to the mobilization of the international Slow Food network and the hard work of the African convivia and communities. Boosted by this extraordinary result, in 2014 the African Slow Food network re launched the project with an even more ambitious target: to create 10,000 food gardens.

Behind this extra zero lies a political proposition. Creating 10,000 gardens means producing fresh, healthy, local food, but it also means constructing a network of young African leaders who will lead the Slow Food movement in Africa in every sense (political, strategic and operational), and who will be key players in the future of the continent, defending the values of their lands and cultures.

The garden project is fundamental to the strengthening of Slow Food Uganda’s network and allows for the on-going formation of new food communities, the identification of local products to save (catalogued in the Ark of Taste), and the establishment of Presidia and Earth Markets.

In 2015 the Slow Food Uganda continued to work on supporting the existing gardens and identified and created over 50 new gardens in 20 Districts. Today we operate in close to 200 Educational Gardens in all regions of the country