Peter Byaruhanga is an interesting agriculturist. Around his home in Bukalasa, near Bukalasa agriculture training college is all kinds of plants under research and innovations. However, the most interesting innovation is the use of charcoal dust as a fertilizer or farm soil additive.
“This is one resource that many Ugandan farmers do not know about,” he says as he digs around the base of a coffee tree. As he digs, the soils look quite black, irrespective of the dry season that was still ravaging through the area.
“You see, these trees are just one year old,” he says. The trees look good. The stems look strong. The branches are long, hence a promise of good production. He then points at one of the avocado trees in his garden. The trees had lots of fruits and were largely green irrespective of the dry spell in early February. “It produces all year round because I used charcoal dust to cushion moisture around it,” he says.
