Farmers Voice:
<b>Where can I get a competent farm manager?</b><br>Editor — I have a small farm unit around Kampala with a few heads of cross breed cattle and some pigs. I would like to include a poultry unit but I have so far failed to get a reliable manager to run it professionally.
Where can I get a competent farm manager?
Editor — I have a small farm unit around Kampala with a few heads of cross breed cattle and some pigs. I would like to include a poultry unit but I have so far failed to get a reliable manager to run it professionally. It is far from where I live and being a civil servant, I can’t find the time to do the day-to-day management myself. Do you have any advice for me on how to get a reliable and competent manager?
Sam Bikangaga
Editor’s note: Yours is a common problem. Unfortunately there is no straight forward answer. You have to keep on trying different people until you get the right person. When looking for a farm manager, emphasis should be on practical experience and personality rather than paper qualification. You are always better off with an unqualified worker who is willing to learn, than a “professional†who thinks he or she knows everything. Alternatively you can hire several farm workers and keep them under observation till you identify who has leadership qualities, then start grooming them to become your farm manager.
Need contacts of bird’s eye chilli growers
Editor —Thank you for the good work you are doing to ensure that farmers find markets for their produce. We deal in fresh food and vegetables. One of our items is red pepper or bird’s eye chilli, as it is alternatively called. Last week you ran a letter from a Brian who was looking for a market for his chilli. Can you kindly assist me with his and any other contacts of farmers of bird’s eye chilli? God bless you.
Wilberforce
Walusimbi
Managing Director
OFVUGANDA Limited
Editor’s note: To get in contact with farmers of bird’s eye chilli all over the country, just place a classified advert in the Harvest Money’s Farmers Market section. To advertise, you can call any of the given numbers at the back of this pull out, on page eight.
Looking for farmers who can grow cayenne pepper on contract
Editor — I am interested in chilli growing and I am currently looking for 20 metric tonnes! I would be glad if anyone with information on potential suppliers could get back to me. I am also looking for farmers ready to grow Cayenne chilli for me. I will provide all the necessary inputs, technical support and each farmer should be ready to offer 500 square metres of land. There should be a source of water on the land. The contract we sign means that I will buy all the produce as long as the right and minimum standards are met. I would like to start with 400 farmers, although working with farmers’ groups would be the ideal.
Oscar Ankunda,
Kampala
Can I grow profitable crops on a small piece of land?
Editor — I want to grow crops that can be profitable on a small piece of land in Uganda. Any suggestions?
Drake
Editor’s note: It is usually the horticultural crops like vegetables which you can be grown on a small piece of land. Some of them are of high value and can comfortably grow in a small piece of land.
Since you are asking about what is profitable, I suggest you go and carry out some simple research in some markets to find out what produce has a good price, what is on demand and which varieties are popular.
In addition, you should check how many traders are dealing in it and whether they can allow you to supply them directly.
This is to reduce the length of the value chain so that you get closer to the final consumer. From the selected commodities, find out how easy they are to grow or market.
Consider the technology or agronomic practices to use (fertilisers, hanging or trellises, harvesting machinery), the effect of weather on them and their ease to handle during transportation. This will help you determine the cost of production and marketing, hence determine your profits. You can get this information and more from farmers growing them or traders who collect from villages.
Livestock theft rendering meat boom useless
Editor — Instead of benefitting from the growing demand for beef, pork and goat meat both on the local and regional market, livestock farmers are suffering from the rampant livestock thefts in most parts of the country. Goats and chicken are the main targets. The animals are stolen and ferried at night to markets in urban centres, where they are sold off cheaply. One way of stopping these thefts is to stop trucks transporting cattle and other livestock from moving at night. In addition, the anti-stock theft unit should be scaled up to cover the entire country, not just Karamoja area. And so should the satellite-based livestock tracking system that was recently introduced in Karamoja. Otherwise, livestock farmers will miss out on the current meat boom.
Lawrence Ssendegeya,
Mukono
Thanks Sameer, for the fruit plant
Editor — I would like to thank the management of Sameer Group of Companies for setting up a fruit processing plant in the country. Many farmers have run from fruit growing because of the low prices offered to them by traders. Just a word of caution to the Sameer Group management: Some years back, there was a fruit processing plant in Masaka which closed down after operating for only a few years. They need to find out the reasons why it failed, so they don’t make the same mistakes. Otherwise farmers are eager to supply fruits to the new processing plant, provided the prices are good.
Moses Mubiru,
Luweero
Editor — I have a small farm unit around Kampala with a few heads of cross breed cattle and some pigs. I would like to include a poultry unit but I have so far failed to get a reliable manager to run it professionally. It is far from where I live and being a civil servant, I can’t find the time to do the day-to-day management myself. Do you have any advice for me on how to get a reliable and competent manager?
Sam Bikangaga
Editor’s note: Yours is a common problem. Unfortunately there is no straight forward answer. You have to keep on trying different people until you get the right person. When looking for a farm manager, emphasis should be on practical experience and personality rather than paper qualification. You are always better off with an unqualified worker who is willing to learn, than a “professional†who thinks he or she knows everything. Alternatively you can hire several farm workers and keep them under observation till you identify who has leadership qualities, then start grooming them to become your farm manager.
Need contacts of bird’s eye chilli growers
Editor —Thank you for the good work you are doing to ensure that farmers find markets for their produce. We deal in fresh food and vegetables. One of our items is red pepper or bird’s eye chilli, as it is alternatively called. Last week you ran a letter from a Brian who was looking for a market for his chilli. Can you kindly assist me with his and any other contacts of farmers of bird’s eye chilli? God bless you.
Wilberforce
Walusimbi
Managing Director
OFVUGANDA Limited
Editor’s note: To get in contact with farmers of bird’s eye chilli all over the country, just place a classified advert in the Harvest Money’s Farmers Market section. To advertise, you can call any of the given numbers at the back of this pull out, on page eight.
Looking for farmers who can grow cayenne pepper on contract
Editor — I am interested in chilli growing and I am currently looking for 20 metric tonnes! I would be glad if anyone with information on potential suppliers could get back to me. I am also looking for farmers ready to grow Cayenne chilli for me. I will provide all the necessary inputs, technical support and each farmer should be ready to offer 500 square metres of land. There should be a source of water on the land. The contract we sign means that I will buy all the produce as long as the right and minimum standards are met. I would like to start with 400 farmers, although working with farmers’ groups would be the ideal.
Oscar Ankunda,
Kampala
Can I grow profitable crops on a small piece of land?
Editor — I want to grow crops that can be profitable on a small piece of land in Uganda. Any suggestions?
Drake
Editor’s note: It is usually the horticultural crops like vegetables which you can be grown on a small piece of land. Some of them are of high value and can comfortably grow in a small piece of land.
Since you are asking about what is profitable, I suggest you go and carry out some simple research in some markets to find out what produce has a good price, what is on demand and which varieties are popular.
In addition, you should check how many traders are dealing in it and whether they can allow you to supply them directly.
This is to reduce the length of the value chain so that you get closer to the final consumer. From the selected commodities, find out how easy they are to grow or market.
Consider the technology or agronomic practices to use (fertilisers, hanging or trellises, harvesting machinery), the effect of weather on them and their ease to handle during transportation. This will help you determine the cost of production and marketing, hence determine your profits. You can get this information and more from farmers growing them or traders who collect from villages.
Livestock theft rendering meat boom useless
Editor — Instead of benefitting from the growing demand for beef, pork and goat meat both on the local and regional market, livestock farmers are suffering from the rampant livestock thefts in most parts of the country. Goats and chicken are the main targets. The animals are stolen and ferried at night to markets in urban centres, where they are sold off cheaply. One way of stopping these thefts is to stop trucks transporting cattle and other livestock from moving at night. In addition, the anti-stock theft unit should be scaled up to cover the entire country, not just Karamoja area. And so should the satellite-based livestock tracking system that was recently introduced in Karamoja. Otherwise, livestock farmers will miss out on the current meat boom.
Lawrence Ssendegeya,
Mukono
Thanks Sameer, for the fruit plant
Editor — I would like to thank the management of Sameer Group of Companies for setting up a fruit processing plant in the country. Many farmers have run from fruit growing because of the low prices offered to them by traders. Just a word of caution to the Sameer Group management: Some years back, there was a fruit processing plant in Masaka which closed down after operating for only a few years. They need to find out the reasons why it failed, so they don’t make the same mistakes. Otherwise farmers are eager to supply fruits to the new processing plant, provided the prices are good.
Moses Mubiru,
Luweero