Current Borel Global Fellows Program Recipients:

Francis Akitwine

• Major: Soil Science (Agronomy)
• Major Professor: Dr. Lee Burras
• Degree being pursued: Ph.D
• Anticipated graduation date: December 2025
• Home City (and/or region) and Country: Kabale, Uganda
• Schools previously attended and degree(s) achieved: Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda (Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Land Use and Management), Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (Master of Science)

Previous experience with Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods, ISU-Uganda Program:

• I was a service learner in the summer of 2017, then became a student leader the following summer (2018). I had an opportunity to work with two groups of semester-long students (Fall 2018 and Spring 2019). I worked as a volunteer in the Nutrition Education Centers where I worked with the graduated mothers to form support groups and conduct trainings, primarily in crop management, nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation.  

Aspirations/plans after graduation from ISU:

• I have a passion for Agriculture and working with people to improve their quality of life through farming. With a Master's degree in Soil Science, I hope to be in a better place to address issues that pertain to soil management and improve agricultural productivity in the rural communities of Uganda. This will be through research, extension, outreach programs and collaborations with people I have met at ISU.

MS. Graduate research topic: Pedology of typical soils of Kamuli District and pedotransfer functions to predict cation exchange capacity in limited-resource settings.

• Typical soils of Kamuli District, Uganda, were examined and summarized in this thesis. A total of 19 representative pedons located in Kamuli municipality (KM), Butansi subcounty (BS) and Namasagali subcounty (NS) were studied. Morphological properties of the soils were investigated in situ. Majority of the soils described had profiles greater than 1m deep except where plinthite was encountered. Greater than half of the horizons exhibited a subangular blocky structure and the epipedons had a texture ranging from coarse sandy loam and sandy clay loam with clay content increasing down the profile. Laboratory analysis revealed that the soils had a pH range of 4.9-7.7 and organic matter ranging from 0.61% to 6.33%. Exchangeable bases were in the range of 0.004 to 38.7 Cmol/kg in the order of Ca²⁺> Mg²⁺> K⁺> Na⁺ on the exchange complex. The soils were classified as Alfisols, Entisols, Mollisols, Oxisols, Ultisols and Vertisols. Humification, leaching, lessivage and bioturbation are some of the pedogenic processes occurring. I further examined two benchmark catenas in the study area i.e., BS and KM catena. In both catenas, the soils at the upslope were classified as Oxisols with plinthite while the soils downslope were classified as Vertisols and Entisols for the KM and BS catena respectively. The Oxisols in the backslope of both catenas had a shallower A horizon and shallow depth to plinthite as compared to the Oxisols at the summit.  The soils at the toe slope showed hydromorphic features and accumulation of materials from the upslope. This study indicated that there is a systematic variation of soil properties along the hillslope in the study area.

A protocol referred to as the Mpirigiti protocol was developed as an alternative method to determine cation exchange capacity (CEC) in limited resource settings. This protocol relies on delta pH (∆pH) measurements made in water and commercial powdered drink mixes. A total of 212 samples from Iowa, United States and Kamuli District, Uganda were analyzed using this protocol. Two separate commercial powdered drink mixes i.e., Popjuss (PJ) and Kool aid (KA) were used independently in this study. There was a significant positive linear relation between ∆pH and CEC for both drink mixes. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) based on this relationship were highly significant with a p-value <0.0001. Better and precise predictions were made when ∆pH was combined with both clay and SOM (RMSE= 2.10 Cmolckg^-1 and r²= 0.94). A PTF based on clay and ∆pH gave nearly as good of an estimate of CEC (RMSE= 3.00 Cmolckg^-1 and r²= 0.92). This method is highly reproducible, rapid, and inexpensive for predicting CEC in both Iowa, United States, and rural Uganda with limited-resources.

Shillah Kwikiiriza

• Major: Horticulture
• Major Professor: Dr. Gail Nonnecke
• Degree being pursued: Ph.D
• Anticipated graduation date: December 2025
• Home City (and/or region) and Country: Bushenyi District, Uganda
• Schools previously attended and degree(s) achieved: Makerere University- Kampala, Uganda (Bachelor of Science in Agriculture), Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (Master of Science)

Previous experience with Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods, ISU-Uganda Program:

• Before joining graduate school, I worked with the Iowa State University-Uganda Program as a Community Innovations Officer, facilitating projects to generate income from community-based innovations with female youth (both in-school and out of school) and mothers. These projects involved crafts making, soap making, tailoring, and bookmaking for out-of-school female youth and mothers and home gardening projects for in-school female youth. I ensured that these community members organized themselves and worked in smaller manageable groups to develop business plans, receive training, and implement these projects while sustaining themselves by operating as independent community-based organizations.

Aspirations/plans after graduation from ISU:

• On completing my graduate studies at Iowa State University, I plan on continuing to work with farmers, especially females, in the rural communities of Uganda to demonstrate creativeness and innovation in agriculture for increased food production and income generation. I plan to integrate the results and knowledge obtained from my ongoing research with the existing farmers’ knowledge in Uganda for their adoption of research-based and new innovations in agriculture.  New innovations can enable smallholder farmers access to good quality seeds and improve their crop production management practices while working in farmer groups for better market access. Establishing a smallholder commercialized horticulture farm is one of the other plans I have, which will demonstrate how “cool” farming can be – especially to youth farmers.

MS. Graduate research topic: Evaluation of Horticultural practices for Tropical Squash production and marketing among smallholder youth farmers in Kamuli Uganda.

• Consumption of nutrient-rich vegetables in sufficient amounts is recommended to meet vitamin and mineral nutrient needs in the diets of rural communities of sub-Saharan Africa. Overreliance on staple crops (carbohydrate-rich foods) and increasing poverty levels have contributed to limited diet diversity, micronutrient deficiencies, and undernutrition among rural communities in Uganda. Tropical squashes (Cucurbita spp.), locally termed pumpkins, are multipurpose, nutritious vegetables rich in vitamins A, B, and C, iron, zinc, and essential acids needed for human nutrition. Squashes have potential nutrition and economic benefits due to their long shelf life, sustained quality during transportation, high nutritional value, and high yields in a unit harvest. In Uganda, squashes are underutilized, grown on a subsistence level with minimal inputs on marginalized fields, and mostly consumed during times of food scarcity. Our study assessed the feasibility of soil mulching (±) and cultivars (open-pollinated and hybrid), and market accessibility by the smallholder youth farmers of Kamuli, Uganda. Field experiments were conducted in two soil-type locations in two tropical growing seasons in Uganda and one temperate growing season in Iowa. Two surveys were also conducted with youth farmers in Kamuli and market vendors in the main food markets of Kamuli and Jinja districts, Uganda. The study demonstrated that squash production would provide an opportunity for youth farmers to increase their food security through its increased production, consumption, and market sales.