Parents and students of Serere Township Secondary were stunned by a presentation of the Greening Project. This happened on 28th, October, 2019 when parents had been invited to visit their children as well as the annual general meeting.

 

The project is the brain child of the American-based teacher, Klein Annalise, who visited the country under the Fulbright teacher exchange program. The core objective of the project is to make fertilizers and plant grass all over the school compound. This in consequence would act as a a lasting soil erosion control measure, Klein contented.

 

Anyipo Peace, one of the nine pioneer students in the senior five chemistry class, told

our reporter that they were working tooth and nail to ensure this project succeeds.

Okiror Moses Opolot, also a chemistry student in S.5 and one of the most committed

implementers of this project said that the school had already designated a piece of land

and demonstration experiments were in the offing. He added that the experiments

were aimed at investigating how different fertilizers improved yields of different plants.

 

A visit to the demonstration farm revealed that the land was fragmented to four different

pieces in a bid to plant peas and maize and test the different fertilizers locally made by

the students themselves.

 

The first plot acted as a control experiment. Here fertilizer was not added to the soil and it was likely that the crops planted on this piece of land would register retarded growth as a result of stiff competition for nutrients and water. It is obvious the yield from this piece of land would be the worst in recorded time. 

 

On the second demonstration plot, urea is added to the plant at its ready during the planting season. Maize and peas were planted. Being a legume crop, peas fix nitrogen into the soil through the nitrogen fixing bacteria which freely mixes with the urea thus making the soil acidic and helps improve its fertility. Urea can be added to the soil after every three months depending on the longevity of the crop. It is no doubt that the intensity of soil fertility is relative to the high proportionality of the yield.

 

Organic fertilizer was added to the soil in the third piece of land. Although Teso subregion is a nomadic community, most people for lack of knowledge have underscored the role of cow dung as an organic manure. It is from this project most parents learned that mixing urea with cow dung is a cost effective means of acquiring a fertilizer. This mixture is spread over the top soil and allowed to decompose in a span of two weeks. At its ready, this fertilizer aerates the soil and breaks soil particles. It also breeds and provides oxygen into the soil, a condition necessary for the germination of seeds. During watering, this plot would absorb more easily as opposed to the control experiment in the first plot.

 

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) was applied to the soil in the fourth plot. It was extracted from bone meal. The uniqueness of this fertilizer is, water is not necessary at the time of application or planting in order to allow the seed moisten. Whereas peas absorb phosphorus and potassium faster, maize absorbed nitrogen more quickly. NPK generally helps in the manufacture of chlorophyll in plant roots, boosts root growth, and aids plants in opening and closing of stomata.

 

Challenges of inadequacy of garden tools such as watering cans and absence of bone crushing machines have been cited. However, pioneer students advocate for the continuity of the project arguing that there would be a need for a committed patron after Klein’s departure back to the united states. Besides, the teenagers have appealed to Ms. Klein to establish a strong leadership team of students who would remain manning the project. A similar plea has been tabled with the head teacher to support this project within any possible means.

 

When contacted, the head teacher Mr. Edamu Patrick confirmed and pledged to support the project until it achieves its purpose. He further urged students to initiate similar projects back at home.

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About the Author

Ruth Abeno was born on the 11th June, 2001. She lives in Alere village, Gweri Sub-County, Soroti district in Uganda and is a student at Serere Township Secondary School. She is born to Egabu John Ben and Abeno Regina.

 

In her young age, it so happened that she got an infection in her left eye after falling on a stony ground, but it was all God’s will. She joined Serere Township Secondary School in 2017 on sponsor after performing well in Omugenya Primary School, with aggregate nine. Her performance has all that been better since S.1 to S.3, her current class.

 

She hopes to proceed to A-level, join university, and after all the struggle, she wishes to either get for medical course or engineering, if it all goes well and so hopes to live a life as in being with God.