2024 Recipient
Name: James Ntambi
Department: Biochemistry / Nutritional Sciences
Position: Professor
Project Title: Impact of Enhancing Soybean Sack Gardening on the Lowering of Protein Deficiency Among Children in the Lweza-Mukono Community of Uganda
Project Location: Uganda
Project Description: More than 204 million people experience malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa. Undernutrition is a category of malnutrition defined as an insufficient intake of the quantity and/or correct foods which may result in stunting, wasting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies. Children under 5 year sold are more vulnerable to malnutrition, associated with long-term socioeconomic effects such as low human capital, low income, and increase poverty in adulthood. Improvement of nutrition education for mothers has the potential to reduce undernutrition related morbidity and mortality.
Growing crops in sacks, an alternative agricultural method coined “sack gardening”, aims to assist those with limited or no land. Soybeans are one of few crops that contain nine essential amino acids and 36 grams of protein per 100g. Enhancing the distribution of soybeans through sack gardening can potentially increase protein intake among the community of Lweza-Mukono.
This project distributed soybean plant sack gardens in Lweza village Mukono, Uganda. Along with the sack gardens, the project team members distributed nutritional pamphlets that included an overview of basic nutrition information. This project worked in collaboration with the Lweza-Mukono For Community Health Initiative non-profit organization which provided information to households about gardening and maintenance.
2025 Recipient
Name: Geoffrey Siemering
Department: Soil and Environmental Sciences
Position: Outreach Specialist and Lecturer
Project Title: Colombia Climate Smart Dairy: Soil Health
Project Location: Colombia
Project Description: This project proposed collaboration with a group in Colombia to provide soil-focused technical training and assistance to augment outreach efforts encouraging small-scale dairy producers in the Caquetá region with the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices such as zero deforestation agreements, rotational grazing, and other practices to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The dairy industry is vital to the Caquetá region’s local economy with 20,500 families producing nearly 600 million liters annually on 2.6 million hectares. The informality of the sector creates obstacles, including vulnerability to illegal activities that affect both producers and consumers, hindering the traceability of products and compromising the quality of the milk. The lack of regulation and quality standards has led many producers to prioritize price over quality. Transitioning to sustainable practices like silvopastoral and regenerative ranching could reverse deforestation and unlock premium dairy markets.
This project funded the project team’s travel to Colombia where they trained approximately twenty individual farmers and conducted two full day trainings with local extension and industry group technical staff. Activities included hands-on education, individual site soil testing and lab-based soil analysis.