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!