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.