Should a modern farmer buy a car or farm land first?

 “You should immediately put into practice what you have learned from the business convention, visit premises of some of the exhibitors that attracted your attention and ask them more questions” emphasized by the owner of His Grace Amazing Farm during his interview on High Flyer program on Impact FM. Eva took this advise seriously and went ahead to put into practice what she had learned during the Victory Business Convention and Jinja Show. You can read more about the event experience on her previous blog "why should farmers go to agricultural events and exhibition"

Eva and other family members prepared the local maize seeds that were bought during the event by sorting out the broken ones and removing the ones that had been attacked by the weevil. The broken pieces were sold to one of her children’s business enterprise project on rearing local chicken. He calls it Koki Project. Of course, he was excited to feed his hens on local maize instead of kyakyu and he booked for more kilos once they harvest. In other words, there is already a secured market right in the house. In addition to seed sorting, they soaked the maize seeds for 12 hours using Fete Organics NPK fertilizer. They used two spoons of the organic fertilizer per kilogram per litre. They also did the same for red beans and Tanzanian beans seeds which required 3 hours of soaking. Eva put the maize seeds in water at 6pm and at 3am she soaked the beans. Early that morning at 6am She had boiled water and soaked calliandra seeds which require 24 hours. She also added some organic NPK fertilizers though calliandra was not on the  listed crops of Fete Organics. Sometimes, we need to experiment out new things. This time she did the seed preparation before planting with almost every family member as they were not worried of any poisons compared to when they were soaking hybrid maize seeds. The children also participated in planting maize who were restricted while sowing hybrid seeds. There was a time when one of the children chewed the treated hybrid groundnut seeds thinking that they were roasted. For this exercise of local seed varieties, It was very relaxing! The little stress came in when she burned the packages of hybrid maize seeds, the chemical was still strong and she again got agitated. She is not sure if it is her body in particular whether it is a mindset thing she needs to deal with or if this hybrid medium affects other people as well. Eva is glad that this is her last season to deal with all that drama.

As usual, Eva was awake by 5am and they had katogo breakfast (bananas/matooke mixed with groundnuts, tomatoes, green pepper, onions and some cow ghee) along with milk. She got the joy of serving food and eating without fork since she was not worried of any poisons from organic fertilizer. Of course, the organic fertilizers are also made based on chemical reactions so she still had to wash her hands properly before cooking and taking in foods. By around 6am they were out of our house with a half bag of 50 Kg sac full of different materials: maize seeds, bean seeds, calliandra seeds, white and orange flesh sweet potato vines and sozi cassava cuttings. Apparently, the sales woman conned Eva on cassava variety, she convinced her that sozi can grow in 6 months and it is one of the local varieties. After paying, the lady from another stall who had honestly told Eva that her cassava was of “NAADS”; came by this woman's stall asking for more cuttings since she had sold out all her stock! Eva was disappointed but immediately forgave this woman and she decided to take the cassava for future testing when they start the cassava chips business for one of her children. Eva was lucky that she had just read two books which have facilitated her to attain the skill of instant forgiving and looking at the positive side. One of them is “Baits of Satan” by John Bevere and the other book which she is yet to complete reading is “the power of your subconscious mind” by Joseph Murphy.

Farmer with a truck for transport. Courtesy, www.freepik.com. 

 To continue the farm journey, Eva stopped the taxi/matatu, public 14-seater mini-bus and they headed to the main town to board another taxi that drops them to a trading centre where they get a boda boda to the farm. It normally takes between 1.5 to 2 hours in public means and one hour in private car. By 7am, they got the call from the field staff that they were finalizing digging out holes for maize after which they will be weeding some part of the gardens incase Eva has not yet arrived they will fetch water that will be used for applying Black off organic pesticide and fertilizer. Eva normally shares these details with the workers such that they don’t just sit in the garden and wait for her. With time, they have acquired a skill of having more optional tasks as they wait for Eva to come from town. This helps in case of the delays with public transport vehicles, or car break down or when the client or boss calls her or if there is an emergency and she cancels the trip. For this trip, Eva and her team were the first people in the second taxi and they had to wait for more persons for it to get full and then they can leave. It took like an hour then we had over 3 stops by the traffic police as the boot of the taxi was open due to overloading it. The driver had orders from market vendors along the road who had ordered for vegetables and fruits from the main town. Sometimes, he would need to offload all items to pick the small sac for the vendor who was on the first stop. Eva made herself quiet and still by reading Joseph’s book but in her background, she could hear complaints of other passengers on the delays. Eva finally got to the farm at mid-day when they were expected to arrive at 9am, at most by 10am. Unfortunately, they had soaked all the seeds which needed to be sown on that day. It was a marathon! As usual, Eva normally walks around all corners of the farm to say hello to every crop in the gardens and to notice any pests or theft attacks. This time she noted a missing banana which she inquired from the field staff and he was shocked that she noted it. The answer on its whereabouts was not clear at all. 

 On arriving to the maize section, she noted that one of the new lazy boys in the village was already at work. He was recently working with a fishery company and he was laid off on selling the business to some foreigners. As usual, he quickly threw his hoe down and welcomed Eva at the same time blaming her for being late and that he is already hungry! She almost wanted to burst to him on why he was on her farm in the first place when the last time he done a poor job. But her spirit calmed down and she apologized to all the workers for being late and she prayed that they will accomplish the day’s work. As they were planning on tasks, the young lazy man was busy making a small house for one of Eva's children as he was anticipating rains and he kept declaring it. It finally rained while they were still planting sweet potato vines. He asked Eva if he can go and buy some snacks for children as we wait for rains to stop. She gave him money and she told the rest to get back to work even though it was raining. Eva felt sorry for them because she was once like them. Had it not been my university training in Costa Rica where it rains 24 hours in the tropics, she would be fearing to work in rains too. She had to acquire the rain coat jacket and work with her fellow students in heavy rains. Unfortunately, in Uganda, the fear of rains is too much and someone can easily miss a job interview because it was raining! As expected, it took 2 hours for this lazy boy to come back, the rest of the workers proceeded with the job and they planted the sweet potatoes, cassava, maize, sorghum, millet and calliandra. Eva is using calliandra to create a farm hedge or fence to stop her neighbors from encroaching her land. She actually uprooted some cassava cuttings and banana suckers from one of her new neighbors who planted them on the road reserve where village people pass there to fetch water at the well.

 By around 5pm, the lazy boy started packing and complained of how Eva overworks them compared to other farm owners more over for the same fee. This boy could not remember that sometimes when they have few tasks to accomplish and they end farm work by 1pm especially during school time since Eva needs to return home earlier to pick the children from school. This time is normally compensated during school breaks. Eva noted the discouragement from other workers and they were in agreement with the lazy boy’s comment. They complained that the man who helps them to fetch water for fumigation has declined since that place is very slippery after the heavy rains. Eva told them not to worry about the water, she will fetch it but they needed to apply the pesticide as scheduled otherwise pests will attack the young maize of 3 weeks. You need to apply Black off after 21 days after planting, again fumigate after 21 days and then apply it after 21 days until the maize flowers. Some times it takes 3 or 4 times fumigating if you need good results. Whereas Fete Organics, you apply after 21 days and then fumigate every after 7 days for 3 more times. But in Uganda, we can spare even a dosage from the hospital once you start feeling better! So the workers were suggesting that they apply the fertilizers next week when they are not tired. Eva told the lazy boy to leave and she convinced the rest that they can do this task and get enough rest on Sunday and do other works next week. She totally agreed with them that she understood they were tired and it has been a long day. Eva offered to fetch water and they went back to job! In other words, Eva needed to apply some leadership, management and communication skills for the day's work to be completed. She released their payment with some bonuses but paid a flat fee to the lazy boy. She keeps wondering why they invite him whenever they need extra casual workers even after explaining to them that he will not be a blessing to her farm. Is it time to practice patience or get rid of him to spare the performance of other workers? 

You see, Eva once faced such a challenge while at university managing a student entrepreneurship business project. One of the six students in her company that she was acting as the general manager, would go to the beach every weekend when the rest were in the laboratory making herbal bathing soap. If she came during the week days, she would always be declaring negative comments about the business and how she hates this and the other meanwhile she is seated while the rest are doing the assigned tasks. Eva was forced to fire her which meant that she would also not participate in the academic programs until she gets a business project and she could also lose her scholarship. It was the hardest decision in Eva's life to fire that girl but she did it and her company became the best business of the year. This girl eventually got a project and she is now a powerful woman in Costa Rica. Eva was glad that towards her graduation, this same girl thanked Eva for awakening her!

 

In Uganda, we normally carry farm produce on head
from gardens and to the market. Courtesy, www.freepik.com.

Anyways, the day's targets were attained and Eva left the village at around 8pm. She was lucky to board a boda boda of a fellow farmer who is planting cucumber, very rare crop in Uganda. He told her of its productivity and profitability compared to tomatoes. Remember Eva plans to do tomato growing in kiboxi that she learned during the exhibition. So it was important to listen and ask useful questions to this boda boda man. Eva plans to visit his farm on her next farm trip for it sounded interesting! 

Eva is still trying to count the number of taxis they boarded to reach to the main town. They would board a taxi, it reaches the next trading centre, then it sells the passengers to another taxi. They negotiate with the new conductor and when they all know that they are soon reaching to their destination, suddenly the driver stops another taxi and they re-sell the passengers. Having a private car in Uganda is not a luxury, it is one of the basic needs that every person needs otherwise, you will be frustrated by the conductors and taxi drivers. Eva lost it with one of the conductors who asked her in particular to pay before boarding! She blew it up! Unfortunately, one of the children was listening and probably doing “copy and paste” in his little minds. The next taxi that sold them, the young boy came out of his deep sleep and shouted at the conductor, “we are going nowhere!”. Eva had to convince the boy to come out of the taxi. As parents, sometimes we need to let it go as we groom our children to be better citizens. They arrived home at around mid-day and they had to buy food from street vendors, fried rice/pillawo with beans and maize porridge. Not good food to feed on after the long day working but there were not much options! Eva did not carry any matooke for home use as it was too late to move with the luggage given the anticipated transport public means. This implies that she will have to depend on market vendors for matooke supplies during this week.

Eva desires such a truck on her farm, one day
so shall it be. Coutesy: www.freepik.com.

 Given last week’s experience on public transport, Eva is still wondering, should a farmer start by buying a private car first before buying farm land to avoid inconveniences or buy farm land first and bear the irritating taxis until you make enough sales to purchase a vehicle for farm use? Is buying a car in Uganda as a farmer a luxury or a necessity? Why do most people in Uganda bear the type of conduct from the taxi people? Imagine, it is now difficult, what will happen when we start selling our farm produce in large quantities. Won’t we be forced to sell them to the middlemen cheaply to avoid transport costs and inconveniences? Is it time to worry about this now or we move on with the production and we will cross the bridge when we get there? Eva cheers up the Masaka coffee farmers who are now driving expensive cars-Harriers and Pajero Land Crusers after the good harvest that has rewarded them with a lot of cash. They don't care whether they are living in a grass thatched house as long as the car is packed in the compound. We look forward to your points of view in the comment box below as Eva works out the way forward for the lazy boy at farm! Alternatively, she will recommend him to try applying for the newly advertised Posta Uganda jobs, Uganda's postal service company that distributes mails across the country. May be he can start a new career at United Nations (UN) Volunteer jobs in Uganda!

Why should a farmer go to agricultural shows, exhibitions and events?

The last two weeks have been a marathon and a pile up of organized and uncoordinated data, information, contacts, advise, meetups with old friends, sharing experiences and gathering knowledge attained from two agricultural events that were happening in central region. I am using this week to organize the collected materials and do the necessary follow-ups as we prepare for the upcoming POWESA event in September. Fortunately, I was a showgoer and not an exhibitor or event facilitator. This helped me to use most of my time in these events to prepare better for this second planting season. Early this year, I learned a lot from the big national event, Harvest Money Expo organized by New Vision which we normally have every February at the beginning of the first planting season. I mainly went for training sessions of coffee, bananas and urban farming.

 As I post this blog, I keep on thinking of how we and the government could have avoided the death tolls happening at Kiteezi garbage land fill where Kampala wastes are dumped. We can do better and recycle the 80% organic domestic wastes collected from towns and make organic fertilizers. Wastes can be converted into Ugandan shillings to US dollars and make us rich by making manures, electricity e.t.c. Kudos to Marula Proteen Limited for the partnership they have with KCCA to recycle the wastes and make organic Black Soldier Fly fertilizers. It is a good initiative that we can base on to go miles. Our sincere condolences to the families around Kitenzi and may God strengthen the relatives and friends.

 About Jinja Show

To proceed with today’s sharing, last month, on 26^th July, the 30^th Uganda National Agricultural Show 2024 event commonly known as Jinja Show commenced and ended on Friday, 4^th August 2024. It usually happens at the source of River Nile in Jinja city at Jinja Showgrounds. It is being organized by the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) in partnership with the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF). I have been participating in this event ever since secondary school as an Agriculture student when I was in senior two that’s around 2000. I had just won the title of Miss Agriculture and by then I was very active in asking questions to the exhibitors as I was aiming at being the next Queen of Agriculture which eventually happened in 2004 while in A’level. During this year’s event, it was relieving to learn that the management has now separated the Agricultural educational show for students from the traditional Jinja show. I think it was a good idea as students overcrowd the event as they dance to the music in Uganda playing in different stalls. This time around, it was quiet and well-coordinated. Thanks to the new competitor, Harvest Money Expo which brought a difference in the event market.    

Exhibition section at Victory Business Convention 2024 

About Victory Business Convention

Shortly after the Jinja show, we had the 10^th Victory Men’s Business Convention on 7^th to 10^th August at Victory Christian Centre in Ndeeba near Mengo Kabaka’s palace (olubiri) on Masaka Road just before BMK House opposite Emerald Estate after Kibuye Roundabout within Rubanga Division in Kampala. This event is a combination of training seminar and exhibition mostly on farming and agricultural products and services.  The convention is organized by Victory Church Uganda, Impact FM, Dream TV and First Christian Credit Finance (FCCF) under Victory Men’s Ministry. It is being hosted by Apostle Dr. Serwadda Joseph and Mr. Joel Zziwa Mukisa. This was my second time to attend this particular business convention. To be honest, I had never heard of it before joining the Born-Again community. I actually tried to market it to my former colleagues in Agriculture sector but they seem not to have an idea of the occasion. To make matters worse, it was competing with the Jinja show for the second season in Uganda. Last year, I did not benefit a lot from the convention as I was up and down with the supplies of G25 African Coffee Summit in Munyonyo Resort in Kampala. This time I was settled and focused to learn of new ideas on how to improve our farm and make it more profit-making business venture.

 Why I did I go for these events?

Personally, I went to these events with two major objectives which included buying the local untreated maize seeds for planting in this season. If you read my post on planting maize in the second season 2024 you will get the background behind the search for local seed variety and not hybrid maize seeds. Another reason why I went for these events, I was seeking for an idea of the new enterprise which can generate for us the desired net profit on the farm. I actually prayed about it and sown a seed for the new idea and for God’s intervention to answer us as it was promised in the Bible, Matthew chapter 7 verses 7. To be honest, we are very busy on the farm but we are not making any money! It is not that we are not making sales of produce but what I mean here is that we are not making a positive cashflow (passive income) whether we work or we do not work as being taught by Robert Kiyosaki in his book of Rich Dad Poor Dad. We are busy in a rat race. We hope to start making passive money after a year or two when the cassava, banana and coffee have matured! This sometimes discourages the start-up farmers as they only do investing of money with no immediate returns! We needed a solution of an enterprise we can develop on the farm that can generate income within 3 to 6 months and grow in harmony with other crops since maize is not that friendly.

Did we achieve our set goals for participating in the agricultural events?

While in Jinja Show, I met Madam Babirye Winfred, I had visited her stall during Harvest Money Expo in Kololo early this year. She again convinced me that I needed to plant local maize seeds for sustainability of my farm. I have been in sales team with her in some organizations so I knew the language and that she was selling me her stuff! I listened to her, smiled as usual but I did not give her my attention. I again met Winnie in Jinja Show, telling me the same story.  I was not yet convinced if we really want to add more maize or we just plant the hybrid for this season and stop growing maize on our farm. This time, I promised to make purchase in the near future. Hardly did I know that I will meet the same person the following week at Victory Business Convention with the same gospel of “plant local maize”. I finally opened up and I shared our experience of hybrid seeds and she laughed it off and jokingly told me that “you will gather for yourself cancer of the body and of the pocket”. On the last day of the convention, I finally accepted and we bought some kilograms of local maize seeds. I respected her sales techniques of persistence.

Additionally, I gained the second objective which I almost missed had it not been for Impact FM program of High Flyer which is aired out every Wednesday from 7am to 8am and a repeat is done on the same day but at 8pm to 9pm on 98.4FM Kampala. On my way to Victory Business Convention, I listened to the featured High Flyer and there were two gentlemen: one was a farmer from His Grace Amazing Farm and another one was Joseph Ddugu, founder of Fete Organics. Joseph caught up my attention as he explained what God has instructed him to teach in the Business Convention for this year, 2024. He was very particular on how most farmers are frustrated of not making profits from their farming businesses especially those growing bananas (matooke). He shared his new idea of growing high value crops in boxes between banana plants (gagawala ne endima eyo mu kibosi). I listened to his calculations on the required costs and returns on investments within 3 to 6 months if you grow tomatoes or watermelon among other high value crops. I was impressed to the extent that it was his first stall to visit and get the business card before going anywhere else. During my visit at his stand, I learned of Fete Organics fertilizers, NPK and liquid foliar pesticide and manure which could cut our costs by almost half of the expenses we have been incurring in using the imported organic inputs. I also got to know of the herbal medicinal products and Joseph’s manual on being a millionaire from rearing local chickens in Uganda. Then I was connected to the lady who supplies high yielding climbing tomato seeds for growing in the box. It was good stuff and you could not resist from buying something! I spent money immediately without making circles like for the case of Winnie!

KCCA displaying Urban Farming technique for
rearing chicken (poultry), vegetable growing (horticulture)
and fish farming (aquaculture)

What advice do I give to fellow farmers before attending the exhibition, during and after the event?

In conclusion, I encourage fellow farmers (both starters and established farmers) to participate in these exhibitions and training seminars every year. They will facilitate you to learn of the new technologies; network with other people to share experiences; ask questions to find answers of unique problems you are faced at your farm and in your community; acquire knowledge and make informed decisions; buy quality agro-inputs from the producers themselves not traders, distributors or middlemen; and finally meet and laugh with old friends and new people, stress off!

However, for the farmer to benefit more in these events, you need to be specific on the reason or goal as to why you are attending these exhibitions before going to the events. Write down your goals; calculate the costs involved for your education; decide on what you will buy if it is available; how much you will spend in that event regardless of the exhibited products; and pray about it for God’s guidance and divine connections. If you just show up at the event, you will end up buying everything the sales person convinces you to purchase. After the event, sit down and go through your notes, organize the contacts and make priority of which people you need to call and visit their farms or premises. Plan on what technologies you will put in practice. Immediately, start the implementation of the new thing you have learned. Then in the future event, share the results with the fellow farmers or with the exhibitor/facilitator to advise you more as you will be his or her case study to encourage other farmers.

In future, I will share the results of what we have learned from these events. I will also be happy to hear from you of things you have gained by participating in these agricultural events. Please post your experiences or questions in the comments below. Thank you!

Getting along with casual workers on farm

 As we celebrate our new Miss Uganda 2024, I thought of how every girl wants to be in that place but circumstances could not allow them even after acquiring degrees. In Uganda, it is very challenging to find workers including casual workers to work on farm. Farming as an activity is categorized to be a dirty job whereas young people who dominate the population of Uganda prefer white collar jobs or prestigious positions like Miss Uganda or Member of Parliament or Councilor. Jobs in Uganda are not easy to find for both the educated and non-educated. If you do not find a relative to connect you, it is by luck and God's mercy to acquire an employment in Uganda on merit. Of course, this is highly attributed to corruption in Uganda and favoritism where some people don't mind about the quality of job done but prefer a cousin or brother to have a salary. Uganda's jobs are also scarce for there are few opportunities being created by industries compared to the graduates that come out of universities every year. 

Some youth try to apply for jobs in agencies such as NFT Consults while others visit and subscribe to different job websites such as everjobs, brightmonday among others. If someone is not carefully, you can easily find yourself at betpawa Uganda or Fortbet Uganda loging in hoping to multiply the little money you have and earn more to survive in Kampala. High living standards in urban areas have also led some youth and adults to migrate from urban areas to rural places after failing to find a job. While others who can afford find travel agents who promise them to go and work abroad in Canada, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other states in the United Arab Emirates to do casual jobs. They are normally referred to as kadama or security guards e.t.c. Can you imagine a master's degree holder working as a househelp or security personnel?! If you are lucky and you not being conned by the agency, you will get on the Uganda airlines and for the first live and work abroad. According to the statistics of Central Bank of Uganda, some of these people mark their first time to open up bank accounts with Equity Bank, Exim Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of Africa e.t.c. While others it is their initial stage of getting into the fores bureau to exchange Ugandan shillings to US dollars. I mean different life which is very exciting in the first couple of days until they face the truth of living and working abroad where culture and food is different. 

We have also watched on different televisions such as NTV Uganda where they normally feature stories of the Ugandans that were conned by the travel agents and they never travelled while others managed to travel but went through tough times and had to return. The returnees most of the times have sold out their properties including their inherited family farm land. Some of them are afraid of meeting their friends, former workmates, OBs and OGs so they return, they go to the village and live with relatives who are also struggling in their own ways. When they manage to associate with old child friends that remained in the village especially the school drop outs, they get connections to work in different farms. Now these are some of the people we find in the village that are seeking for casual works. They are depressed, frustrated, divorced or separated and they hate every thing about themselves. 

A casual worker sowing soya bean seeds

Since our family farm is closer to town, we have had a chance of working with all the kind of casual workers including returnees from middle east. There is a time we needed support in digging out holes for planting maize and we went to the local radio "kizidalo" where they make announcements for the village. For instance, if someone dies, they pass the announcement on that kizidalo and fundraise from there. So we took our announcement that we needed workers to dig holes and they will be paid after verifying their work. Young and old men came to take up the job. Most of them were already drunk by 7am and others were all smelling marijuana while some of them had injuries on their faces and hands. Two of them came with their "ludo" game board to play from the garden while others were busy surfing on betting websites. Anyways, we started working. After work, I had instructed the boy who helps to give me a call after verifying their job and I send them payment via mobile money. Unfortunately, I got engaged in a meeting and I returned his call later in the evening. 

The boy could not say much but he kept on lamenting. He told me not to send the money until I reach the farm. I also took it easy as I had a planned trip to the farm. On reaching at the farm, I found all the cassava was dug out, sugarcane were cut down and bananas were taken. I asked him what happened. Then he explained that the workers needed their money immediately on their last hoe. He narrated that he tried to explain to them that payment will be made in the evening after working day. They could not listen. All they wanted was their money regardless of the work being verified or waiting for few hours to send the cash on mobile money. They dug out cassava and took it to the trading center then sold it cheaply. After that they returned to the bar and others went to betting while the rest joined the group of drug takers and started playing ludo. 

We learned our lessons from that day. Ever since then, we make sure that we have cash at hand if not, the cash is already deposited on the boy's phone before taking announcement to the kizidalo. We have also grouped the kind of work to give them such as making holes after marking, slashing and weeding. We do not offer them activities where they need to do a lot of thinking or memorizing. We also agree to work per area coverage instead of the daily work load. We noted if we contracted them at a daily rate, they spend most of the time taking their drinks on their way to have lunch. I personally don't go there when they are working as some can easily abuse any woman. My partner always takes care of their duties. They are of great importance to the village and work force but you have to deal with them with a lot of care. We have been thinking of hiring prisoners to support us during rainy seasons when the weeds are growing too fast. It also has its pros and cons that we are yet to face.

Anyways, that has been our experience so far. How has been your experience with the casual workers on your farm? Looking forward to hearing from you soon and learn more on strategies of effectively engaging the casual workers for mutual benefits.

Living with the community, power of silence and forgiveness while farming

 One of the challenges I have so far noted is how to effectively manage a family small farm while living miles a way from the land at the same time having a formal job or business or consultancy works. I had got a new consultancy job and I was going through orientation and milestone development. My other family members were also busy with school and career development. I depended on the casual field workers to get feedback of what was happening on farm via phone calls, what we call telephone farming. It was about a month for us to visit the farm then we went to the village for Christmas holidays and family get together.

Early January at the beginning of the year in preparation for new season, I finally went to the farm to visit without any warnings or phone calls. I would be honest to say that I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to go there. It was not in my weekly plans. I used a different route from the usual one and got into the farm in unexpected move. I was surprised to find a neighbor packing a sac of cassava before the field traders and one of the boys at the farm. I reached at the exact point of exchanging money and I had an opportunity of seeing how much they were paid. It was not a good moment for both parties but I smiled and they proceeded with the transaction. After that, the young man brought money to me and he told me that they had plans of sending me the sales via mobile money. I again smiled and asked him how much money he was demanding me. I told him to deduct it from the cassava sales they had made. 

We proceeded to the coffee section and I noted that someone harvested coffee and branches were broken all over. I paused and I was wondering what happened. Then the young man again explained before I asked that while he was a way for Christmas holidays, some neighbors and her children came at night and harvested all the coffee. I again smiled at him and reminded the young man that it was that family that hosted me and my family the first time we camped in that village. Then we proceeded and I saw the ripened bananas and some that were not cut well. This time, the boy did not say anything. Then we passed by the nearby house of an old woman. We found her eating one of the produce from our farm, they are unique and she did not have them in her garden. She quickly panicked and asked me how did I come, when did I come, how come I did not make any phone call.....I could see her heart pumping very fast. Then I smiled at her and comforted her that all is well, and in fact I had brought for her some soap and bread as I normally do for the elderly women in that village. She waited for me to say anything about her act but I instead bid farewell and appreciated her for keeping well my farm as a good neighbor. On my way out of her compound, we met the key suspect of coffee harvesting. I humbly knelt down as a culture in Buganda and greeted her. After that I left back to town.

The following week, I started on the new strategy of developing short-termed crops which will require my family members to do frequent visits at least once a week or once in 14 days. That's how we started projects of maize, vegetables, beans, groundnuts, cowpeas and soya beans. By the time, I returned to the village, our farm had gained total respect. I found a talk in the village that I was a witch and every one was warned not to touch anything on my farm otherwise the "silent smiling woman" may be cooking up something. I listened to the talks and wondered why someone referred me to be a witch! But later I learnt that it was the secret of learning how to forgive and not keep grudges at heart. In fact, I did not share the details back home with exception of coffee which is currently the man's project and he has his eyes on that gold. I had to communicate such that he does not expect a lot from the field as there were some natural hazards that had affected the ripened coffee! He believed me but later I explained that I was covering up for the family that was involved. Up to today, he does not know which family was involved, he wished to know them but I kept it to myself. I acquired the skill of the power of silence and total forgiveness from R.T.Kendall as explained in the video below: 

Video explaining steps to Total Forgiveness 

In conclusion, I also had to forgive myself and my family for abandoning the farm for that long. Then I sought forgiveness from God who trusted us with the farm but we got busy looking for money and chasing our careers. Because, I needed forgiveness, It was a MUST to forgive such that my Father in heaven can also forgive my debts and acquire protection of our farm from thieves. Ever since then, we find matooke ripe, sugarcane and jackfruits all over. No one can touch them for God has protected our farm and put fear to our neighbors. They report each other in case they see anyone trespassing our farm. One time, we were busy on farm and one of my children had gone to buy drinking water from the nearby trading center. He was accidently knocked by the boda boda. It was a hit and run. The same families that I had forgiven rushed quickly and gave him first aid and sent one the children to call us. We all rushed to the clinic as a family and a community. I imagined if I had made these people pay off everything they had stolen from my farm, would they have gone this extra mile to help our child?!

 Please share with us some things that once happened at your farm and how you responded and what were the outcomes of your response. 

The gold we found on the farm land we bought

 Gold has value and once you have gold, you have it all as per earthly standards. However, Jesus tells us that He is better than silver and gold. As you may have noted in the previous blogs, it was by God's guidance, Yahweh, that led us to that farm land. Before we owned the land, someone had already done most of the work of tilling up the primary forest and we found there crops, trees and fruits. After making the first payment, we were broke and back to the grass. We needed gold to survive that period as we were waiting on a payment from a certain client and restoration of some of our properties that were taken while we were a way in line of service. It was so challenging to believe that all will be well amidst extreme conditions. 

Farm land consisting of cassava, the gold that became the cornerstone

Nevertheless, God provided and we went through that period. On purchasing the land, I had wanted the former owner to cultivate every crop and we restart our own crops. However, the chairperson did not approve it and he told me in a low tone, you will need them in the near future. Hardly did I know what we were heading up to. After a month, we could not find transport to travel from town to the village. Things were tight! No money to purchase food. We all looked at each other and looked at the children and wondered if we had done the right decision to pay all that amount and we did not reserve any savings. However, we did what was right and we had remained true to our promises. Sometimes, I would imagine the former land owner feeding well and enjoying himself as we starved. But I trusted that God had a bigger plan for us after acquiring that asset. 

As a mother of the home and someone who has been trained to be a virtuous woman as per proverbs 31, I didn't have to wait for external handouts for my home. I got a small loan on MTN mobile money and I asked the worker of mutaka to send us matooke and some cassava then put them on a taxi to town. We went to taxi park and picked the package. It was a happiest moment, we ate and filled our stomach. By morning, the matooke was already ripening. I had to quickly find the local vendors to sell them and they can pay me with cash or I keep on getting bananas from their shop (mudala). I managed to identify a lady who I always buy food from. She preferred to give us cash instead of disbursing in form of food. It was a deal until I learned of the real market of the matooke around town! As if she cheated me but anyway, we needed someone to bail us out for other household needs. Cassava was meanwhile smelling bad, we put it in basins of water, it could not last. I piled up gabage, kasasiro, and got a new problem of wastes. 

I did not give up on the idea of using what we have as Moses did with his stick while taking children of Israel out of Egypt. For us famine and poverty had become our Egypt in the time of waiting for the consultancy payment. I again asked the boy in the village to send more food for us using the money I acquired from the matoke vendor lady. He sent us another sac and with joy we picked it from the taxi. This time I started searching for solution to the challenge of cassava perishing and rotting in shortest period of time. I shared with boda people, in a taxi and with market vendors. They all advised me almost same things that we had tried out but cassava could not last for a week. Some included: deepening cassava in water; digging a hole and burry the cassava tubes; washing and put in the refrigerator e.t.c. The last one could not even be thought of as we were looking at our 0.19 unit balance on Yaka. You know that moment when you just switch on the light to see if a snake or something is not on your way and then you switch off. 

Finally, I put it before Almighty and asked Him to open my eyes to see opportunities and give me wisdom to make profit from what we have. I was on my way from dropping children at school and I was convinced within my heart that I should use a different way on my way back home. It was a longer distance and it involved me making circles. Anyways, I had no pending work on my desk so I took the walk. Then I found a construction site where young women were selling snacks (madazi, chapati, subusa, porridge, tea e.t.c). My heart prompted me to buy chapati. To be honest, it did not look good at all. I took faith and bought it then matched home. Since I was seeking God, I was fasting but the Holy Spirit insisted that I eat that chapati. It was terrible! I took courage and completed the chapati and took some water. The whole day, I kept on wondering what was there that I needed to see. I went back in the evening on way to pick children from school and I asked the terms and conditions for being one of the snack vendors at the construction site. The gentleman just laughed and told me to bring anything I have and sell if anyone even a Chinese touches my hand, I should report to him. I smiled at that statement. The next thing he was asking for my phone number! I promised that I will share it when I start working. 

When I returned home, I started googling, how to fry cassava in Uganda. I watched the video below and grabbed the idea of what I required. Of the balance that the banana vendor lady had given me, I quickly got some ingredients. A family member also contributed some saved money and I went to the local market to buy pan, spoon and stove. I even had not idea what quality I needed, I just bought. 

The video I used to learn how to to fry cassava locally in Uganda

I was set to go. I peeled the cassava! Slicing, washing it and fried it for testing with my family. I needed to be at the site between 6:00am to 6:45am after that the workers would go to their assigned places. By 2am, I was awake and I started the the business. It took me like 2 hours just doing the peeling. We normally use gas at home for cooking. I was not used to setting up charcoal stove, I took more 40 minutes struggling to have sigiri set. Finally, I had my cassava chips ready. I had to be faster as it was getting to time for the children to get to ready for school. Thank God, I managed to catch up with everything and dropped them to school then proceeded with my bucket to the Chinese construction assembly point. It took me 20 minutes for my cassava to get finished. I had of course prayed for God's favor to be upon. But the favor that was upon me on that day was beyond Esther's favor before the king of Sushan. A lady from GoTV/DSTV stopped her branded car and asked me for my cassava and she promised to be buying from me. I actually started selling people who were passing by walking and in cars and sometimes to boda cyclists. On average, it would take me 15 minutes to get my products sold off and run back home. Some family members even never took notice of that.

However, It seemed I had become a threat to other snack vendors. The whole week they were watching my steps. The Holy Spirit warned me but I could not believe that someone would be jealous of the little money I was making there to buy household materials. One of the ladies bought my cassava on arriving at the site and she praised my quality cassava then she packed it in her bag. It was not a praise only but the truth is that Holy Spirit had given me knowledge to add spices and soak it in the salty water over night then slice it well. Give it enough time to boil and always use new packed cooking oil. I can't remember very well what really happened, I had maintained all the standards but one morning after about a week of this lady taking the cassava pieces, no one wanted to come back to buy more cassava. She actually missed like two days to come to sell her products at the site. I would always be the first one there and pray for God's blessings upon every vendor so I was concerned why she was not around and if she was sick! When she returned, on that day, she was the first to come even before opening the gates. I greeted her and prayed within my heart for blessings upon all of us. On that day, I stood for almost 30 minutes serving other vendors' food and no one was asking for my cassava chips! It was bad! As a Christian, I interceded for my business immediately and repented for anything on my behalf and on behalf of others. Finally, a group of construction workers came and asked me for the whole bucket that they will eat it during lunch hour. I gave them a discount and there I went home. I asked the Holy Spirit if I should go back to the battle ground and I did not get an answer. I struggled for some days as I returned home with some cassava. Thank God, He opened another door and I got some consultancy job where they needed me by 6:30am for briefing meeting with key staff. I knew that was the end of cassava business.

I thank God Almighty, for taking through that period. Cassava become gold and a cornerstone that I had rejected and wanted to pull out of my garden. Thanks to the chairman for insisting that I do not give out cassava to the former land owner. It was such a blessing for us to go through tough times. We also learned ways of saving and how to invest and still maintain the family needs being fulfilled. On the other hand, I kept on thinking of the spiritual battles that local market vendors go through on daily basis to maintain their successful micro and small businesses amidst unbelievers. I learned to be more sensitive to the still voice of the Holy Spirit. For God makes a way where there is no way! 

That was my gold, what has been your gold that took you out of the challenge? what things did you find on the farm land that became a blessing after purchasing it? 

Planting Maize in the second planting season 2024

 After acquiring prices for different items and services that we needed for the coming planting season 2024 as mentioned in the previous blog post about second planting season preparation, we accessed finance through our family savings account and went for purchases down town. There were surprises and discounts along the way. Nevertheless, we made our first batch of purchases for maize seeds, medium for soaking seeds and fertilizer required at planting of maize. Since we are setting up a forest garden farm, there are many things we had to put into consideration for the first batch to avoid wastages and to do experimental works with our boys back at the farm.

Cleared land consisting of holes for planting maize which already had
been marked for intercropping cassava, bananas and Robusta coffee

Maize Hybrid Seeds: We decided to buy white maize or corn seeds for making posho and maize porridge from Syova Seeds, formerly called East African seeds. We had preferred to purchase more seeds from NASECO seeds for Bazooka maize variety but unfortunately, they were not yet stocked until the following week. Our target was to plant on 29th July 2024 such that by weekend, one of us can return to the farm to determine the germination rate of the purchased maize and the quantity of seeds required for replanting and covering all the space. I got the price on Friday, 26th July 2024 to be 9,500 Ugandan shillings per kilograms making it 19,000Ugx [5.10 USD] for each 2Kg pack. I was surprised to be billed 20,000Ugx [5.37 USD] per 2 Kilograms in a pack for the quantity I bought. I went back to the help desk and asked them why the difference with the information I was given last week. I was then educated of the available discounts depending on quantities of seeds purchased. Anyways, I had to proceed with the order and we will sort it out during the family meeting. 

Sac of FERTISOL of 25 Kilograms, it is very handy if 
you are using public transport means, taxi and boda boda. 

Fertilizer at planting maize: It is a common practice for most farmers in Uganda to use NPK which is being put first in the hole, cover some few soil and then insert the maize seeds. Since at our farm we are working on soil conservation and minimizing the use of conventional agrochemicals, we preferred using organic based fertilizer, FERTISOL to serve the same purpose. It is in form of pellets, user friendly and adds more organic matter in the soil. It is imported from Netherlands. The only challenge with such fertilizers of the same category as FERTIPLUS is that they are not easily available and their prices are slightly high. They also need to go through Customs at Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) which causes a lot of delays. They are also under technologies to be adapted by farmers. Thus I recommend the use of Marula Proteen fertilizer if you have transport means and it is slightly cheap. Alternatively, you can get training on making compost manure and make your own fertilizers or use the local animal dropping manure if you have access at the time of planting. FERTISOL was between 75,000 Ugx [20.15 USD] to 85,000Ugx [22.84 USD] per sac depending on the quantities to be bought. 

Medium for soaking maize-Black off: It is always recommended to soak the maize seeds before planting them for about 12 hours preferably with a medium based on fertilizers. Some farmers use mix water with NPK and they add maize seeds; others use plain water without anything while others just plant without soaking. I recently learned that we can use Black off as an organic fertilizer and pesticide for soaking. They recommend 25ml for every 5liters of water. We purchased enough quantities which we will use when maize gets to 21 days. 

After making purchases with all noises downtown, we finally had our pack ready. We went to Shoprite near sawa ya Queen close to Old park where there is MTN and Airtel Customer service center. Syona Seeds is on the second level on the same building. After which we proceeded to Container Village before Faith Agro-Inputs outlet, you can see the post of Black Off then we got another boda boda (motorcyclist) to Kiseka for FERTISOL. And finally, we returned to City Square to board a taxi. Very exhausting if you are not used to be downtown! However, I was informed for my next purchases, i can make orders and they get delivered to my place of work by using one boda person who they work with. What a relief to know that!

one of the farm helpers planting soya beans
that remained in the last planting season

On reaching home, we opened the maize seed pack indoors hardly did we know that it consists of chemicals that can't be contained in a place with less aeration. We have been sending these seeds to the farm and the boys work on them then we plant together. This time we did the process ourselves and carried soaked seeds to them. Why? Some seeds kept on disappearing in the process of soaking. To reduce on these losses we did the mixing ourselves. Unfortunately, we almost lost a life instead. One of my children could not handle the scent from the maize seeds and we had to take everything outside the house. In the morning, after packing the seeds in the sac, I washed my hands very well with soap and served breakfast. I was not aware so I used hands to eat katogo of groundnuts with matooke. I was agitated all day with the chemical from the seeds, we had to get milk and all the anti-poison drug and drinks to stop the agitation. I took courage and we planted our first batch of maize. 

A mixture of seeds in one hole for plot under test 

As we were planting, I was also reminded of the batch of seeds that had remained in the first season. Of course, I knew but I wanted the boys to take initiative of accounting for what was given to them to keep. One of the boys suggested that we do a mixture of all seeds in one hole and see how they come out. We normally have a plot for doing tests, experiments and argument grounds. One of them thought that it was a weird idea, on voting the new idea got more votes and we planted in a small plot the following 2 to 3 seeds per hole per crop type: maize seeds, soya beans, ground nuts, cow peas and some with millet. Added their pelleted fertilizers of FERTISOL and covered with soil using a hoe. We had issues with spacing since we are intercropping coffee and cassava in young banana plants. We had to be careful to leave 1 meter from every plant of banana so as not to be affected by the oluyange (flower) of maize. In the process, the boys got bored of measuring and they requested us to let them do it their local way of planting randomly without measurements. It was a hard decision to take as they are the ones on the ground holding the hoes. I could tell that they were getting bored to follow 75cm between rows and 60cm between plants of maize. We changed to counting feet whereby 2.5feet between rows and 2feet between maize plant as the spacing. Later they convinced me that they will use their eyes to determine the spacing but they needed to meet their daily targets as planned. Making measurements was hindering their performance to meet the goal of planting 2 acres in the first batch as they proceed to other part of the land.  As the manager on the ground, I let them proceed with what they found easy to do since we could not provide technology of tools and machinery to do the measurements. This is also a challenge that most extension officers face with smallholder farmers when they train them to use good agricultural practices. Practicing the practice consistently is not easy especially for larger pieces of land. Farmers will always go back to their traditional way of doing things like their great grand fathers.

 After the planting, I returned home for further check-up as I was still under agitation. On my way back home, I kept of thinking, do we really want to continue using hybrid seeds to grow our home food for a healthy lifestyle or we rather start thinking of restoring local seed varieties which are health and do not consist of preservation chemicals? Are we ready to harvest less quantities compared to using hybrids? What percentage of chemical persists in the food after using the seeds that have been treated with a poisonous medium? Any ways, I may have gone on the extreme to think about all the effects of the usage of hybrid seeds. Nevertheless, I will visit the 30th National Agricultural Show in Jinja to learn more about the local crop seed varieties and their performance. Please share with me your opinions, what has been your experience of this second planting season in Uganda or in the country where you farm from? What is your opinion on hybrid seeds towards our health? Looking forward to sharing with your on the plant growth especially the testing plot which reflects Uganda's plate of food served in most restaurant and in most buffet.

Second Season Planting preparation in Uganda

After listening to the speech of president of Uganda, H.E. Museveni on Parish Development Model, one of the presidential initiative projects with the aim of transforming some citizens from subsistence economy to money economy, I started thinking of how I can use 1,000,000 Ugandan shillings (268USD) to develop our farm to a commercial enterprise. I listened to the success stories and I started believing in multiplying and developing projects using one million shillings. In preparation of this second season, I did allocation of resources, made a budget and planning to do commercial farming "farming with ekibalo". In other words, make calculations and determine your profits before hitting the road. We may not qualify for the Parish Model money but at least we had something to learn from the model.

Preparing for the second planting season, agro-inputs bought include Organic Fertilizers (in sac), FERTISOL imported from the Netherlands to Uganda; pesticide for soaking maize seeds before planting (in bottle) Black Off fertilizer and pesticide; Maize seeds - hybrid maize seeds from Syova Seeds (formerly East African Seeds).

By July, we started land preparation by slashing the part where the bananas and coffee are still very young. With our field supporting staff and my family members, we agreed on the enterprises we should major on during this season. We also agreed on the variety of crops we should plant and whether we need to hire more land or stick on our own. what kind of fertilizers we should apply and how many casual workers we need on farm during the second season. The following were some of the choices we made.

Land Preparation: At our farm, we use integrated model where we do our best not to use agrochemicals until we can't avoid it. We are not certified organically and neither do we use agrochemicals (pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers e.t.c.). This choice is hard to manage a farm in Uganda without using herbicides since the manual labor is scarce and everyone in the neighborhood is seriously fumigating their land against weeds, pests and any simple injuries. We tried to apply herbicides (sorry to mention this brand: Weedmaster) but the section where we applied it to has never recovered. The owner the land told us that it was the first time to apply an agrochemical to her land and she had thought that we would maintain natural way of managing the land to maintain fertility. After observing the effect of the herbicide, we agreed to slash and do hoe digging and removing weeds by hand. This decision comes with a lot of expenses to acquire persons to do this work especially during rainy seasons. It also takes a lot of time for people to complete simple tasks which one person would have done by spraying. For this season, we did land preparation by slashing and young women used hoes to fine tune the soils. 

Enterprise selection: We decided to concentrate on few crops for this season as we learned that having many does not help but it adds more work load. However, we are setting up a forest garden farm where intercropping is a must and we do not do any monoculture as it is not good for soil conservation. I sound more organic! Anyway, we chose to grow maize, cassava, coffee and complete the section of bananas. We also agreed to do it in line to facilitate the process of fertilizer and pesticide application. 

Land Marking: With two boys, we made land marking whereby we are planting crops in between the young bananas. There is a common believe locally that you cannot intercrop young bananas with maize. However, I noted that this can be dealt with since the flowers of maize are the problem, you can put the line of maize at 1 meter from the banana hole. Our bananas were spaced at 3m by 3m (around 10ft by 10ft). We left one meter off but in between plants and added two holes of coffee and in between was a hole of cassava. Between the rows of bananas, we also left one meter off the bananas and put a line of cassava on one end and another line from the other end. Then in between, we put 3 holes of maize at 2 feet by 2 feet spacing. I had preferred four holes but this time I learned to listen to my field supporting team. I also learned that we were both correct. If we decided to go by 2 feet by 2.5 feet, we would use 2 seeds per hole but if we did one feet by one feet spacing for maize, we would use one seed per hole. However, we needed to decide on what comes first, the hole for coffee or maize of cassava. Lucky enough the holes for bananas were dung last season. It was a puzzle but we finally accepted to start with coffee, then cassava and lastly maize.

Maize Seeds, Cassava cuttings and Coffee seedlings: We are lucky that we found good cassava on the farm land we bought so we have enough cuttings for the cassava. We also tested it with the market and we got positive results thus no need to change. Coffee seedlings was also had to decide on whether we should use the local variety we found on the farm or use the improved varieties as promoted by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) who certify nursery bed operators to supply coffee seedlings. We visited some farms and noted a common a challenge of the improved varieties that they easily dry off especially in the neighboring areas where we farm. We agreed to use local robusta coffee varieties. For maize seeds, we tried to get price information from NASECO Seeds about Bazooka maize variety but the seeds were not available, this was the same thing for DK 777 an imported variety from Kenya by Faith Agro Input and then we went to Syova Seeds, formerly called East African Seeds and we learned of a variety of KH 500 which is resistant to ear rot. We faced this challenge when we used Naseco Long 10H and DT MAX maize variety. We got estimations that DK 777 was around 43,000 Ugx per 2 kilogram pack on retail at Container Village; Bazooka is likely to be at 8,500Ugx for one kilogram from Naseco stores and KH 500 is at 19,000Ugx for 2kg pack. Something very interesting, as thought of waiting for DK 777 and DK 90-89, I saw the packaging branded "Monsanto". That was the end of my search on this variety even though everyone in the country is praising it. I will reserve my debate on Monsanto products for the time being. 

Fertilizers: We made phone call to another imported organic fertilizer supplier, FertiPlus from the Netherlands. However, we are ever getting the same report as other years. It is never in the country at the time of planting. The gentleman always gives some days or weeks when they are expecting it to be shipped in the country. We had the option of going back to Marula Proteen but we had one challenge with their fertilizer that it is packed in 50Kg sacs and a bit lose which makes it hard to transport using public transport means (taxi/matatu). We opted for packages of 25Kg that are manageable during the transportation. We resorted to FertiSol another importer of the Netherlands organic fertilizer which is form of pellets. We used this fertilizer at planting maize and we didn't regret. The 25Kg used to be at 80,000Ugx but it increased now by 85,000Ugx almost the same range as FertiPlus. Marula is cheaper, a sac of 50Kg can be got at 49,000Ugx due to the fact that it is locally made and more effective. 

Pesticides: The organic foliar pesticides, we are likely to use BlackOff once again for maize. However, for bananas and coffee, we will use Bekana organic products. They are both good but seem to respond differently depending on the crop. The liter is about 20,000 to 25,000Ugx for both brands. The advantage of Bekana organic pesticide is that you can apply it at any time whereas Blackoff is recommended to apply after 3pm in the evening. Unfortunately, this is a time when we are normally packing to return home. I am sometimes forced to stay to supervise the process. 

Other inputs for maize enterprise will include labor for weeding about twice in the season; harvesting; transportation; packaging and storing. We plan to use PicsBags to store our maize. We still have harvests of 2023 of maize that we stored in Picsbags and it is still in good conditions without pests. It goes around 8,000Ugx at Bukoola in Container Village. 

In conclusion, we estimated about 1,140,000Ugx to invest in season for developing the coffee, cassava and maize enterprises. We will share the details at the end of each crop harvest. For maize, we need about 3 to 4 months to make sales; cassava may take 9 to 11 months and coffee needs some 2 years due to the variety we selected. I look forward to hearing from you on how you have prepared for the coming season or if you have any questions on item I have mentioned above. Kindly post in the comment box. Chao!

Our experience of Late Planting in Uganda

In the central region of Uganda especially Buganda near Lake Victoria, there are two main planting seasons. One starts in February/March to June/July and the second season commences in July/August to December/January of the following year. Due to climatic changes, the months when the rain starts are varying, something which is really affecting smallholder farmers that can not manage irrigating their crops. However, God has been with us in the previous seasons and we have been having great harvests naturally depending on rain water. In the first season of 2024, we lost it! Timing was really bad. We did late planting due to the limited resources available at the time of land preparation and sowing. 

Maize plants that were planted late. They were stunted and we had to cut them down during land clearing in preparation for the second planting season.

We did not have enough cash to open up land and buy inputs for the season in time. We also did not want to get a loan for farming as we are still establishing our farm. Money lenders may end up taking over our inheritance given to us by God! The financial resources that were available were allocated to a very crucial family project. However, as a mother of the home, I hoped that may be if we do late planting, we may manage to harvest. In April, we planted maize, beans, groundnuts, soybeans, cowpeas, millet, cassava and bananas. We used some organic fertilizers while planting produced by Marula Proteen Limited using Black Soldier Fly. We applied organic foliar fertilizers every after specific days as prescribed for each crop using Black Off pesticides and fertilizer produced by Reticia Products Research. We have been getting good results with these organically based fertilizers. I got the maize hybrid seeds from the reliable supplier NASECO Seeds for the high yielding maize variety, Bazooka. I had saved some kilograms of maize seeds in the previous season. We started off with prayers and waited for rains.

After some weeks, very few seeds germinated. All the maize that managed to germinate was so weak and miserable. Our field supporting staff suggested that we fetch water from the nearby well and irrigate. I agreed with him and the boys fetched water over and over. But there was no life in the crops! It was dry through May, June and few rains in July. However, the bananas and soya beans survived and made it through. The maize corn tried to flower and put fruits but they were still young by July. We had to cut them down and prepare for the second season as we had learned our lessons on late planting. 

Our supporting staff was so sad. I could tell it from his face of the pain he was going through for not harvesting the produce. He told me "madam, okoze bubi" literally meaning I have hurt him. He kept on narrating how he fetched water and irrigated the crops, applied fertilizers, did land preparation..... I was impressed as I didn't expect him to lament for the produce since he is paid for his labor and he doesn't take part in the harvests. This experience helped me to know the kind of person I am working with on the farm project. I learned to share my plans with him and listen to his opinions. He demonstrated passion for his work beyond his salary. The other casual worker was quick to slash as my usual boy was still lamenting. I could tell the attitude of the two persons. As we develop our farm project, we have now incorporate him in planning, organizing and budgeting. 

In conclusion, I am learning a lot about timing, seasons, climatic changes, smart climate agriculture, planning, budgeting, organizing and resource distribution. I look forward to hearing from your experience on season, planting timing and climatic change adaptation happening at your farm. what are your plans for the next season, end of the year season, August to December? Please share in the comment section below. Thank you.

What I learned while buying farm land in Buganda

 Land in Uganda is very tricky and you need to be "sharp" while making the purchase. You need to do background check. Even though God had connected me to the real land owner without brokers as mentioned in my previous blog, "how I acquired farm land", God expects me to do the check ups before making payments. If you are buying the land with a land title, it is very easy to go to the responsible ministry of Lands and check the database. I have not been in this so I can't say much about it. However, I have had opportunity of purchasing land that belongs to Buganda Kingdom locally known as "Kabaka's land". Here you mainly do a write-up in form of agreement indicating that the land owner has not been forced to sell off the land and there are should be witnesses. 

In this case, I made a surprise visit back to the village and I walked in the neighborhood. I passed by a certain homestead. I was lucky that I found there an elderly woman who was good at talking as if we knew each other for long. She deserves to get a TikTok channel. She talked and talked and talked until I had to stop her to introduce myself. When the husband showed up, she introduced me as one of clanmates. He immediately treated me with honor as an in-law! I kept on watching! Finally, I told her that I am looking for farm land in that village. She immediately called her brother-in-law to find out if the land at so and so's place had been sold out. Fortunately, she mentioned the name of the grandmother of the seller who I had met earlier that week. The brother-in-law came and told the land price and the motive for selling the land. 

While buying land in Uganda being for constructing a house or farming or setting up a factory, it is always good to know the motive of the seller. This helps you to know your negotiation power over the seller. If the person is selling at leisure, it will be hard to reduce on the price. However, if the person is going through a pressing problem, the buyer has an advantage of negotiating and stating the amount for the first deposit. Through this family, I learned that the seller was given his inheritance by the grandmother but his uncles were not happy with his gift. So he had been advised to sell the land immediately and go to a far village where he can buy his own property without strings attached. He had already identified the land but he needed quick cash to make a deposit the other side. This was a good indicator for dealing with a motivated seller. I had bigger advantage and I could pay as per agreeable terms. I made more confirmation by buying food at a local food joint where the locals were taking beers and having a village talk. I heard of someone saying that there is a rich man, a general from Uganda's army who had brought money to pay that land but the mutaka refused the money and he stated that some lady had already made a deposit. I was motivated to proceed with the purchase.

Additionally, I needed to confirm the local authorities especially the village chairperson, defense and secretary. These are the people who sign against the agreement on behalf of the government and the mutaka plays the part of Buganda kingdom. However, there are some cases where the mutaka is left out. It is important to verify this information and make sure that the stamps and all signatories are authentic. I had learned all these while working as a real estate broker on completing studies after failing to get a job. I could witness people crying that someone conned them to be the chairperson and all their hard earned savings were stolen. I used my previous experience to do more background check-up. In other words, there is no experience in life that is not relevant. 

We finally met to make the payment whereby I was the only person on my side and the village people. This was very risky to be alone! There were family reasons that made me do this but I also believed that God wanted to make this an adventure and separate me from my clan family members who had exploited me. I also had few friends as most of them had disappeared when I went bankrupt. I trusted in my guts and in my God to make the payment. I briefly shared it with my pastor and he was worried of me. He suggested that I go with his lawyer. I tried contacting the lawyer and she was not sure if she wants to deal in kibanja agreements. Most elite people prefer dealing in land titled properties. So I was not offended by her response. I made up my mind and made my first deposit amidst all the strangers. I knew that my grandfather Abraham had gone through the same while purchasing the land in Cannan to burry his wife Sarah. I completed the payment in four installments and finally got the ownership under that mutaka. 

The narrator in this video uses Luganda language and she is mainly describing the key content of the Kibanja Land Agreement document. {Disclaimer: This video link is shared for example purposes. We are not affiliated to the video publisher.} 

I learned many things. One of them was gaining trust from the seller, he would contact me every now and then if I took sometime not going to visit the farm land. I also learned that while making the kibanja agreement, it needed to state that "I have bought everything including whatever is being grown there". The grandmother of the seller kept on encroaching my land, harvesting food, coffee, cutting down trees, digging out cassava e.t.c. until we addressed the issue to the chairman. We agreed that they needed to stop once I have completed the payment but I was also given an opportunity to start growing some short-termed crops such as maize and beans as I complete my payment. This was to my advantage, I still needed to validation of the land before completing the payment. I started showing up in the garden and planting maize. That's when I learned of problems and issues with neighbors and walk ways. We always settled our cases before the mutaka and the chairman. Within the period of nine months, I completed the payment even after establishing the banana plantation. 

I also learned that payments should be in cash as the seller had made agreements with the mutaka and the LC committee to get their commission. One time, I made a bank deposit as I was working from a far district. On returning to the village, I had issues and they were offended. On completing the payment, we noted that 3 trees were cut down by the grandmother. I asked for compensation. The seller was so pissed as he claimed that it was not his responsibility the old woman made that mistake. I was surprised how the old woman, who once told me that instead of selling me her cassava, she rather cuts it into pieces. She humbly called me and pleaded for forgiveness and offered two mango trees in her remaining land in return of the money that was deducted. I was touched by her intercession prayer and I requested her to be patient as I need to discuss the issue with my family back home. She waited until I gave her my feedback. The grandson was so annoyed that he even did not want to sign the agreement. The money was refunded but I didn't take her offer of mangoes. As an intercessor, I learned that we can interced for people who are still arrogant and proud and God forgives them and restores them like how Lot was restored after the intercession prayers of Abraham!

Have you ever bought land in Buganda, how was your experience? Please share with us in the comment box below.

How did I acquire the farm land?

As you have noted in the previous blog post "Why I started farming", it all started with a CHALLENGE, the NEED and then the FAITH and DECLARATION! I was challenged that the farmers I was training were attaining food security while in my house we were hungry. I  encountered this challenge after being put in a environment that I was not used to. Had it been that I stayed in Kampala or abroad, I would never experience it. Instead of complaining about the problem, I had learned from motivational speakers that the person with the positive mindset starts to think of how to solve the challenge at hand from the grassroot. While I was receiving a salary, I could not afford the expensive bunch of banana every week along other responsibilities. This is something that middle class employed people go through on daily basis, the rat race as noted by Robert Kiyosaki in his book of Poor Dad Rich Dad. Being in developed country or developing countries! There is never enough for a salary earner!

Additionally, I was spending a large percentage of my earning towards the my studies to acquire masters degree in business administration (MBA) at UNICAF University Zambia campus. At this UNICAF, students access online classes as per their schedule which is a good program for the full time employers that want to want to go for further studies. You don't have to travel abroad and abandon your family and career. At this institution, the student normally contributes 20% of the total scholarship and UNICAF pays 80% of the total expense. This is generally a a great opportunity to the African community but the challenge is even the 20% can also be hard to pay per course unit given the level of poverty in some developing countries. 

We found the land consisting of coffee,
bananas, cassava, jackfruits, mangoes etc.
The maize was planted by us

The challenges I am mentioning above are happening in everyone's life but in different dimensions. For me it might have been matooke but for you it might be marriage, house, school fees, insurance, medication, car e.t.c. It is applicable to any field in life. You may be challenged by your landlord on how she/he treats you when you can't afford to build a house. You can be a banker, super broke but you are issuing out lots of money at the counter. You can even be a teacher whose children are at home because you can't afford a good school but you are busy teaching other people's kids. You may be a pastor who ushers married couples but you don't have a wife at home. You can be an insurance agent but you are not issued for accessing good health services but you advice your clients on the best packages. The list is long......The main thing is what challenge are you facing in your life and it has persisted? 

Every challenge comes along with the need and desire. The lack of enough money (poverty) was a challenge which led me to have a need and desire to buy enough matooke for my family. Instead of asking for a salary increase which actually accumulates Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes for the government through Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). I also had an option of being re-allocated to another district where there is enough matooke. However, I chose to critically look at the problem and I started thinking of the solution to the challenge. To solve this problem for good and for my children and the next generations, I needed a piece of land where I can grow bananas, have enough food at home, give some to my neighbors and sell a lorry of matooke every week for income. If you are going through a certain challenge that has persisted, it is always good to sit down with yourself, understand the depth of the problem and be specific on the solution which will not only benefit you but also profit your family, descendants and community at large. 

Even though I didn't have money to purchase land at that time, I had a dream! I kept on confessing it with my mouth for the Bible says whatever we decree and declare it shall be established. I sang this solution, I  would state it in the bathroom, in the mirror, while riding my motorcycle to check on farmers...in fact, I started dreaming about it as if I was already in an established banana plantation. However, I kept it to myself with a few close people I could ask for referrals to search the land. Why keep it a secret? I had already gone through injuries of being damaged by some people who did not like my dream but pretended to be my supporters. My consultancy firm had gone to zero and that's how I ended up searching for a job for a daily meal. My advise is keep your dream to yourself and only surprise people to see something established. Look for key guidance and support from people that you can trust. If you don't have money at the moment for your dream , don't worry about it! In my life experience, I have learned that you can do anything with FAITH and prayers for nothing is impossible with God. Keep praying about it!

When I resigned at my job in Busia and I returned to Kampala, I joined a new church as guided by God. I really don't why God preferred that I change the church. However, as children of God, we always believe that He has a good plan for us as stated in Jeremiah 29 versus 11. At first, I did not like the church and the people there nevertheless I stayed as per God's command. Anyway, I sat there for lunch hour services everyday for almost a year. But at the same time, I was offering consultancy services in some government agencies but there is something that my spirit longed for which I could not explain to anyone even to myself. 

During my stay at that church, I learned of the long fasting period in the middle of the year. I  joined the mass but I was even not sure of what I wanted from the fasting apart from being close to God and seek His kingdom first (Matthew 6:33). In the middle of the month, the Holy Spirit went upon me and led me to a place that I had never been in through a vision. I did a Google search of the place. I got a one sentence search about that village and its sub-county. Early in the morning, I got in a taxi and went to that village using the sub-county as a reference to get the directions. Of course, I was afraid with a lot of fear because It was funny for someone to move to a place because the Holy Spirit has said so. I did not tell anyone at home. For I knew they would discourage me or think that I am now out of my mind. I took courage and took the first step. However, I got a running stomach from the time I got into the taxi throughout the way. Taxi conductor wondered what was happening to me. I kept on requesting for stop-overs to run to the toilet! I was fighting with the common disease called FEAR, the Goliath that David fought (1 Samuel 17).

I finally got to the sub-county and lucky enough a boda person knew that village. On our way, I saw the house that had appeared in the vision where I was supposed to ask for directions. On stepping off the boda, I heard a voice within me, do not fear, do not be afraid, I am your LORD, I will help you. Immediately, my stomach got settled and I started regaining life. I went to that home and I found there a young lady who gave me her phone to talk to a gentleman, omutaka.  I actually thought that it was his name until I learned that it meant the land care taker on behalf of the king of Buganda (Kabaka). He talked to me over the phone and I promised to return but I did not explain to him why I needed to see him. For I did not know why I was there in the first place!

the bananas that were found on the land were enough
to satisfy my family and provide suckers for planting
new banana plantation

After some weeks, It was a Sunday and I was moving out of church. I heard a voice clearly that I should call the Mutaka. I made a call and he again asked me why I needed to see him. As I posed to think of the reason, he quickly stated that if I need farm land, there is a land that he has just signed off and it is on sale in case I am interested. I smiled on the other side of the phone and confidently told him that I will return for inspection. The following morning, I was on a taxi but this time with no fear and with a reason why I am going there. I meant the land owner and in faith I bought his cassava at 2,000Ugx and got some fruits from the village and brought them to my pastor to bless me. He looked at me and wondered what on this earth I was doing. Anyway, the pastor on duty prayed for me declaring how the children of Israel were sent by Moses to see the land that God had promised them and they returned with fruits from that land. I started praying from that verse. 

On the other hand, I did not have even transport to take me back home from church. However, this was no longer a challenge. I was getting used to living by God's grace. Are you wondering why I was broke? even when I had consultancy jobs? Yes, people were not paying me, others would delay and I had a lot of debts to cover up in addition to running in different courts to restore my property that some of my relatives had taken while working upcountry and abroad. When the money got finished, I believed in God's restoration, judgement and mercy.

God is so gracious! It passed some months and I wondered what next! However, the Mutaka kept on calling me and mentioning that I had got favor before him, his wife, his grandmother and the seller's family. They think, I will be a good neighbor. They had rejected other buyers and could not take their money. I ran back to God and I kept on thanking Him for buying me the farm land and fulfilling my dream that I had even forgotten about. However, within me I would be shaking, where will I get that money they are asking for. One day, God told me, you have already paid for that land. I asked how? and He continued to explain, when that young man accepted your 2,000Ugx note, it was a seed for you to gain favor before the land care taker. So start preparing for the coming season to plant maize. I believed and I started learning about maize planting in Uganda. 

After three months of waiting, one of my old clients called me for the job. I had worked for this organization with integrity but unfortunately the finance team was corrupted. When they received the payment from the donor, a small group of the staff distributed it amongst themselves and submitted my work for accountability. When I learned about it, I was offended but I chose to step down and I totally forgave them without expecting anything in return. From no where, I get a call from the new boss who was interested in my services. I did not share with him of what happened in the past, I went ahead and did his work as per the contract. I was not sure if they would pay this time but I was satisfied with the kind of work they were doing for the farmers. After a few days of my final report submission, Lo and behold, the SMS alert message from my bank on my phone came, indicating the exact figure that the land seller had asked me! From that point, I learned that vengeance belongs to the LORD!

As I conclude, I can't explain in layman's language on how I acquired the land without the broker, real estate agent, recommendations from friends and families or doing Google business profiles and searches on yelp and other classified websites. I give glory to Jehovah and I appreciate the Baganda who did not discriminate me by my tribe. Kindly share with us by posting in comment section, on how you acquired your farm land.