Why did I start farming?

I developed the desire of owning banana plantation after getting a job in Busia Uganda to work with an international NGO whose goal is to break the cycle of hunger, poverty and environmental destruction by using the approach of training smallholder farmers to set up Forest Gardens. Busia was my operation office for Eastern region. However, there was a challenge that I encountered from day one. The fresh food was scarce and the bananas sold there were very expensive and of poor quality. Sometimes, it would be hard to get any bananas in town since we would be competing with Kenyan traders. 

As someone who has grown up from Buganda and Western Uganda, it is hard not include bananas, locally known as matooke, in your every day meal. Matooke is not tasty as such neither are bananas very nutritious. In fact for my house, we add some salt to make it taste better. However, I went for studies abroad, I used to eat matooke as it is but when I returned after 5 years, I had a mindset shift which was largely influenced by my former dean at EARTH University where I was awarded a full scholarship for my bachelor's degree. He had visited Uganda and I was eager to find out what he liked most about Uganda and what he never liked but wondered why everyone liked. Matooke thing was on his top list to narrate. After that conversation, I realized that our matooke is actually over 90% water and we only benefit on 10%. I also agreed with him that the matooke alone is not sweet at all until you add some salty sauce. Anyways, we grew up eating that and we are as strong as any other person in the world! 

Back to Busia challenge, a community where the staple food is cassava bread. In the first months, I tried to stretch my budget to buy a bunch every week which was between 40,000Ugx [11USD) to 80,000Ugx [22USD] and sometimes to 100,000Ugx [27USD]. As a salary earner, it was not making sense to maintain that expense. So I started buying banana fingers and I was surprised that I could get 3 pieces for 2,000Ugx {0.54USD], more over the smallest size of the lower cluster. My family could not have enough food and we resorted to eating posho and rice. Lucky enough, one family member enjoyed the cassava bread meal and our maid would always share with us. To be honest, I failed to eat cassava. This also had to do with my background, we were raised in a community where cassava was termed as a crop for poor people or the meal eaten during famine. I had to work on mindset to accept the reality. But as you follow my blog, you will be surprised that this cassava experience rescued me and my family.

The fruits of farming bring joy in the  farmer's heart.

Time went by but as a mother in the home, I was not happy at all with the situation. I started asking myself questions. How can I train farmers to grow the best forest garden and I sleep hungry? Then I recalled that this was not the first time to have this conversation with myself. I remembered my late uncle had insisted that I should find land and set up a farm to practice what I had studied from Costa Rica. I was very young and naïve. I innocently told him that I will set up my consultancy firm and we will be buying all we need from the market. He kept telling my cousins on the kind of education I had acquired and he looked forward to seeing my farm. Unfortunately, he passed on before witnessing it.

After this reflection, as a Christian, I started putting this request before Almighty God, Jehovah, every time we had a meal. I prayed to God to bless us and we buy land near our town where we can grow bananas and load a lorry of matooke every week after having enough to eat at home. I actually expected God to hear my prayers and act immediately. So I started searching for farm land within Busia as I decreed and declared for my words to be established. Year passed and no success! 

Nevertheless, I give thanks to the technical officers at Busia District Local Government, my colleagues at Trees for the Future and my neighbors who would feed me with information on the land for sale. I remember the man who used to supply us with milk, took me to search the land and he scared me that witchcraft is a big deal in that area. I could pay any money if I can stand the fight. I was not sure if I really wanted to add that on my to prayer list...! On the other hand, the bitter truth was - I did not have any money to buy the land, all I had was FAITH! 

After my contract, I returned to Kampala and I went back to my old routine of having abundant fresh food in the local markets from all parts of the country every season. Very soon, I forgot my prayer request but God did not forget the desire of heart and the meditation of my uncle. God humbled me when He made my dream a reality!

Are you a farmer? what motivated you to start farming? If you have not yet started, why would you ever start farming in case you get the opportunity? or why haven't you started farming? or why have you stopped farming? Kindly share with us your experience by posting a comment. Looking forward to hearing your wonderful stories!