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.
To proceed with today’s sharing, last month, on 26th July, the 30th Uganda National Agricultural Show 2024 event commonly known as Jinja Show commenced and ended on Friday, 4th 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.
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| Exhibition section at Victory Business Convention 2024 |
Shortly after the Jinja show, we
had the 10th Victory Men’s Business Convention on 7th to
10th 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.
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!
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| 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!
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