Muawiyah Mukasa is the best Youth Farmer in Uganda

VISION GROUP | HARVEST MONEY | BEST FARMERS | YOUTH | KAPEEKA

Muhawiyah Mukasa has been declared winner of this year's special category (Youth) in the Vision group Best Farmers' competition. Mukasa, whose dragon fruit and rabbits make him a unique farmer received his accolade this afternoon at the Best Farmers' Awards held at Vision's head offices in Kampala.

With the right practices, every area can support production and sustain life, thus it is upon every individual to make the best of where they are. This is Mukasa's explanation for growing the exotic dragon fruit, a relatively new enterprise in Uganda.

At his 370-acre Kapeeka Agro and Livestock farm, one is welcomed by a lush garden of dragon fruit. Other enterprises include mangoes on 50 acres, oranges on 22 acres, pineapples on 20 acres as well as 30,000 rabbits and goats. He also grows food crops and pastures for the rabbits and goats.

“I set up a commercial demonstration farm so that people who want to invest in the enterprises that I have on a large scale can come here and learn,” he says. 

In 2010, he went to Dubai to work at an airport. Seven years later and he and others started the Association of Ugandans in the United Arabs Emirates. Its main objective was to connect Ugandan farmers to the market in the UAE. The association also organised agriculture shows and training for Ugandan farmers in Dubai and other countries.
“Mukasa talks like a real commercial farmer. Irrespective of the fact that he has other businesses, you clearly detect his love for farming. He is also more than willing to share information with other farmers,” Ssekitoleko observed.

This is the eighth 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 2023 competition run from March to November, culminating in today’s awards ceremony.