Best Farmers 2025: Mityana's Hood Kiwana Kasirye is 2025 Best Farmer in Uganda

VISION GROUP | HARVEST MONEY | BEST FARMERS | MITYANA

At 42 years old, Hood Kiwana Kasirye has established himself as a leading figure in Mityana’s agribusiness. A bold signpost at Tamu trading centre directs visitors to his enterprise, Kasirye Breeders Uganda Limited, an integrated modern farm in Nakaziba village, Mityana district.

Spread across 25 acres, the farm is a hive of activity, over 200 high-yielding dairy cattle, 20,000 layers, 100 goats, and 60 sheep graze and thrive.

The pastures are not just for feeding animals but also serve as a demonstration ground for farmers eager to learn. Equipped with walking tractors, a maize mill, hay stores, and improved dairy breeds for sale, Kasirye’s farm reflects innovation, ambition, and a new face of agribusiness in Uganda. According to the best farmers judges, Kasirye emerged overall winner because of the quality of his dairy cattle, clean poultry houses and elaborate supportive infrastructure.

“The animals are clean. The feeds system is very clear. He has also got a sustainable marketing system which includes selling farm products through his own outlets,” Dr Emma Naluyima who visited the farm says.

Genesis

Fifteen years ago, farming was the last thing on Kasirye’s mind. He was a banker, steadily rising through the ranks, his days filled with approving loans and processing facilities. Yet, as he handled files, he began to notice a trend, banks were always eager to finance agriculture. Loans for farmers carried lower interest rates compared to other sectors, a clear signal that farming was serious business. That realization planted a dream.

In 2014, Kasirye decided to take the bold leap. He resigned, closed a fixed account with his wife worth sh100m, and invested his savings in livestock. “When I set out to start this farm, I wanted to give my animals the best,” he says.

Together with his wife, Latifah Tusingwire, he began purchasing land in phases.  Their first major step was buying 20 in-calf Friesians. Within months, 15 produced heifers and started giving milk, while the remaining five delivered bulls.

Beyond business, Kasirye has always emphasised impact. Neighbouring farmers regularly consult him, and his borehole supplies free water to the community. What began as a banker’s dream has grown into a model farm inspiring hundreds in Mityana.

These and nine crossbreed dairy cows were used to start the farm’s breeding enterprise, Kasirye Breeders Uganda Limited.

Initially, they sold raw milk at the farm at sh800 per litre. Tusingwire says the returns were not commensurate with the investment.

“The answer lay in value addition,” she explains. The couple soon opened a modest restaurant in Mityana town, serving milk tea, yoghurt, and ice cream. They started small, investing little, and gradually learned the craft through hands-on experience.

Customers embraced the products, and their turning point came during the COVID-19 lockdowns.  “While others were closing shop, we expanded. Milk demand rose, and so did sales of yoghurt and milk tea. We even had to buy milk from other farmers," Kasirye admits.

However, outsourcing the milk came with challenges. Kasirye says some farmers delivered contaminated or medicated milk, threatening product quality.

Kasirye keeps White Holstein from the USA, Fleckvieh from Germany, Jersey from Switzerland, Guernsey from the UK, and Girolando from Brazil. Each breed is selected for productivity, adaptability, and breeding potential.

Rashid Matovu a resident and has visited the farm says the dairy unit is the beating heart of the farm. “Here, world-class breeds thrive under a system that balances tradition with modern science. Walking through the neat, spacious shelters, one is struck not only by the size of the herd but also by the meticulous care invested in every animal," he says.

To ensure efficiency and accountability, all cows are tagged for easy identification and management, making health monitoring and record-keeping seamless.

All floors are concrete, ensuring durability, hygiene and ease of cleaning.

The calf units are covered shelters equipped with cattle mattresses, play zones filled with sand, and resting areas, reflecting the farm’s commitment to animal welfare.

Daily production ranges between 600 and 650 litres of milk, with each going for sh1,500 to sh2,000, depending on the season. The milk marketed through the farm’s dairy centres, restaurants, and direct orders in Mityana town. Collectively, the farm earns between sh1m and sh1.3m daily from milk.

The farm runs a highly-intensive system, where cows are fed indoors on a balanced diet that includes dairy meal, silage, hay, Napier grass and nutrient blocks.

Kasirye maintains a 5,000-tonne silage bunker, enough to feed the herd for six months, while also sourcing Napier from neighbours with excess land.

There are four feed-crushing machines across the farm.

Water, a critical resource, is never in short supply. The farm relies on a solar-powered pump system, rainwater harvesting structures, and a standby generator to ensure uninterrupted flow. The water is distributed to the livestock via automatic drinkers.

The herd is divided into three, that is, the milking herd of 35 productive cows, the breeding herd that includes bulls, and heifers reared for sale.

Aside from milk, the farm also sells heifers and in-calf cows, depending on age and size. A mature heifer fetches between sh7m and sh12m, depending on pedigree. Each year, 60 heifers are sold, totalling sh90m and sh100m. In addition, 10 bulls are sold, generating sh30m to sh75m.

This is the tenth year running that Vision Group, together with the Embassy of the Netherlands, KLM Airlines, dfcu Bank and Koudijs Animal Nutrition, are running the Best Farmers competition. The 2025 competition run from March to November, culminating in today’s awards ceremony.