By Gladys Kalibbala

At the Garuga stage on Entebbe road, the boda boda riders refer to Jessica Kyoshabire Bitwire of JB Poultry Farm as ‘Maama Bugabo’. When you ask them why, they will tell you she has transformed the village and gives them free fruits whenever they take her visitors.  Jessica and Benon Bitwire, who are both retired secondary school teachers, are the owners of JB Poultry Farm located at Bugabo- Bukaya village in Katabi Sub-county, Wakiso district. 

They settled in this place in 2006, but the popularity the couple is enjoying may convince you they were born there.

How they started

They bought one acre of land, which was a bush in 2005 and started clearing it in 2006. They picked 60 suckers of bogoya and gonja from Rwakirungura, their home village in Buyanja sub-county, Rukungiri district. 

Kyoshabire says the banana stems performed well as she applied manure comprising cow, chicken and pigs dung. “I soon started harvesting them and this gave me the impetus to work harder,” she says.  

A bunch of gonja from her farm costs between sh40,000 to sh45,000, while Bogoya is between sh30,000  to sh45,000. 

Later, Jessica introduced matooke and says everything has been going on well until recently when a disease suspected to be banana wilt hit the plantation. Efforts to get agricultural experts have not helped as she says they have not provided any solution. 

She, however, still manages to get three bunches of matooke daily for sale at between sh15,000 to sh25,000. The cassava shamba is also infested with an unknown disease, but she still gets about sh100,000 monthly.

“We can no longer get big cassava tubers which used to fetch us good money in the beginning,” Benon explained. 

He says they now lack cassava stems as those harvested are already infected. 

Jessica says this forced them to try Irish potato from which they have already harvested four sacks.

“We charge sh120,000 per sack, while a basin goes for sh25,000,” she says.

Other farm products grown are sweet potatoes, ntuntunu (goose berries), different types of vegetables, pumpkin and ntula (egg plants).

“The ntula alone brings in over sh40,000 a month, while the pumpkins fetch about sh50,000,” Jessica says.

She explains that the compound is spacious enough to accommodate family functions and vegetable growing. 

They use bird dropping as manure for the gardens and use fresh green vegetables and beans throughout the year for chicken feeds and food for the family.

“The greens are good for layers and ours produce a yellow yolk because of the greens we give them,” she says.

Starting the poultry project

In July 2011, Jessica received 150 layer chicks from the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme at Katabi sub-county, Wakiso district. However, 50 of them died in the first week, while 74 turned out to be cocks.

“I then purchased another 200 layers on my own, but 40 also turned out to be cocks,” she explained.

However, the couple does not complain much because the cocks have been profitable during the just-concluded festive season as they sold them at sh30,000 each. 

Kyoshabire says by early December 2011, the layers had started laying eggs. 

She gets three trays of eggs a day from the local chicken and hopes the number will increase when all of them start laying. A tray goes at sh15,000 at their farm, while she packs six eggs in containers, which are sold at various super markets around Entebbe town at sh3,000.

Kyoshabire explains that since her chicken are an improved breed, she lets them out in the evenings. 

How they achieved this

She says she has implemented what she learnt from the NAADS training. 

“I give the birds the right feeds at the right time and provide right doses of treatment,” she explains.

She also feeds them on vitamin supplements monthly, while providing them with preventive feeds like poultry care. 

“This has helped our birds to grow healthier and has improved on the health of the family as we feed on poultry products,” she adds.

Kyoshabire adds to realise good performance, its is necessary for the birds to have enough space. 

Challenges

She decries the high prices of poultry feeds, especially maize bran, which she says eats into their profits. 

“Also, the concerned professionals should visit hatcheries to ensure that when someone places an order they get what they ordered for not cocks instead of layers,” she pleads. 

Kyoshabire is, however, trying to solve some of these problems by improvising. 

She also gives them yam leaves to enhance their growth. She too plans to start mixing her own feeds in order to reduce on the expense of feeds. 

Kyoshabire also says pests and diseases affects their projects. She also decries the lack of agricultural extension services.

Future plans

The Bitwires plan to expand the gardens of Irish potato in case they get more land as it has a good market. 

“I will also maintain JB Poultry Farm alongside a multicultural bridal palace dealing with bridal items like omugamba, calabashes and other items used in introduction and give-away ceremonies,” she says.