The untapped gold in Nyendo

Everyone in this village in Masaka runs crazy in April and November, the peak season NYENDO Trading Centre, a suburb of Masaka Town is once again booming with business. During November and April, the residents of this small town go crazy over nsenene. They have more experience in trapping the nsenene than any other area on earth. The business boom rotates around the supremacy used in catching nsenene. Nsenene is the name given to a species of grasshoppers, that are a delicacy in Buganda Nsenene has no fixed price, perhaps this is why so many people get taken up in the business. Teddy Namuddu, a single mother said a person can refuse to buy a bunch of matooke at sh4,500 complaining that he is being cheated, but goes ahead to buy a plastic cup of Nsenene at whatever price. Namuddu had no words to describe what nsenene business has done for her. "I can't even remember the year I started dealing in Nsenene, but the creature has given me the things that any person would long for in life,"she remarked. She boasted of having been able to educate her children on the nsenene fund every year. "I bought a plot of land in Nyendo and constructed a residential house on it. Next, I bought a piece of land, (Kibanja) in Bukomansimbi, I got all this money from nsenene business, now what else does an ordinary person like me want apart from what I have just told you that I own," Namuddu said. She boasted that in all the years she has dealt in nsenene, she has encountered only profits in the business. How does she make money out of the nsenene? She buys bags of nsenene very early in the morning from those who trap them. She then moves to the Masaka-Kampala main road and sells nsenene from morning to evening making a big profit which she was reluctant to reveal. Namuddu is not the only person who gets crazy when the nsenene season comes up. The unemployed, the primary school pupils, the secondary school teachers and the students, mechanics, the housewives and the street children all get very busy during this time. Ibrahim Nsereko is an O'Level drop out who has done well with the money from nsenene. This is what he had to say. "I have enjoyed catching grasshoppers for the last 10 years. I make sure that every season I work for something and I get it" said Nsereko. He said with the nsenene business around the corner whoever is involved in the business can even get a loan and pay it back in the early stages of the season without any problem. Nsereko said he has been able to acquire his properties with money from the nsenene business. He is one of the hundreds of people who trap nsenene in the night during the months of April and November. "Last year, 1999, I bought a Friesian cow at sh1.2m, but all the money came from the profit I got that year. In the 1998 season, I completed the construction of a video hall worth sh5m. In the same year, I bought a video system and today that one is a complete business on it's own," Nsereko revealed. Nsereko also owns a big family house in Bunja, Kasaana in Nyendo. He constructed the house in phases depending on the yields from nsenene. The house was built on a plot he bought from the nsenene money. "I don't think I can tell you all about nsenene but, actually this business is an occupation that is unique in itself. I don't know how I would be financially if there was no nsenene in Nyendo," says Nsereko. When it is not time for nsenene season, Nsereko spends most of his time looking after livestock at his home. In April this year, Nsereko expanded his nsenene business by opening up a branch in Kampala at Kamwokya. "I'm confident that this season will be great to me because the nsenene skipped Nyendo at the beginning of the season, for Kampala, Jinja and Mbarara town. One of my branches is in Kampala at Kamwokya where I started business at the start of the season. I managed to catch a lot and sold readily," Nsereko said. Nsereko said after November 18, nsenene changed movement and Masaka from then on enjoyed it's share. He said he has had no loss because he has one branch in Kamwokya and another in Nyendo, Masaka. Robinah Nakayiza a widow from Binyonyi in Nyendo said, "Ever since my beloved departed, I have entirely relied on nsenene to educate my children and those of my siblings." Nakayiza has been in the nsenene business for a decade now. She is a landlady who owns a building that contains space which she hires out to nsenene trappers. When The New Vision visited Nakayiza's home, over 100 drums and a lot of iron sheets used for trapping grasshoppers were found in her compound. She said she gets sh40,000 from every four drums for the whole season. Nakayiza said if there were no nsenene business, then she would not have been in position to pay for the school fees of 18 children and on top of buying a piece of land, the majority of who go to boarding schools. When it is not the time for a nsenene, Nakayiza sells pancakes(kabalagala) and chapati in Nyendo. She said that apart from hiring out the space in her compound, she also has drums she uses to trap her own share. Nakayiza says nsenene can be sold to any rural village in Masaka. This, she says, is because Ugandans no longer have the time to catch grasshoppers from the bush as they used to do. Nakayiza gets sh1.4m annually from the nsenene business. She however, said that part of the money goes out to the payment of electricity. Joseph Atwire, also a dealer in the nsenene employs over 20 people daily to trap and remove the wings of nsenene. "I joined the nsenene business in 1991 when I came to Nyendo. Life becomes easy during the nsenene season, even a small kid can earn over sh3,000 daily by only removing the wings of the grasshoppers before they are sold to the customers" Atwire said. The children, including school pupils remove the wings off the grasshoppers at sh250 per 250 ml plastic cup. In Nyendo, business is so good during the nsenene season that residents here are not bothered about the coffee season. Atwire said Masaka grasshoppers have a potential market yet to be tapped. "Just imagine the number of Ugandans living abroad missing the nsenene right now." Kateregga was among the first people to own a boda boda motorcycle in Masaka, he paid dowry for his wife and eventually organised his wedding party from the nsenene. He has also constructed a permanent house, bought a piece of land and started up a retail shop. "All this money came from nsenene, and to me the business is great having made me survive all these years," said Kateregga. Kateregga said the April season used to yield dearly but that today things have changed and the November season is the one that brings in a bigger catch. Ends