Bunyoro a potential national food basket
Morris Baguma whistles as he harvests comb after comb of maize from his shamba. His 20-acre shamba is located in Kinyabutunzi village, Bugahya county in Hoima district.
Morris Baguma whistles as he harvests comb after comb of maize from his shamba. His 20-acre shamba is located in Kinyabutunzi village, Bugahya county in Hoima district. His wife and farm helper follow him, clearing away whatever comb Baguma might have failed to pick. This is one of the most fertile areas of Bunyoro. “I am going to dry the maize, then sell it later to the buyers from the city,†he says.
Bunyoro is one of the areas in Uganda that are gifted with fertile soils. Where as Ankole can only grow bananas and keep cattle, Bunyoro can grow cereals including maize, sorghum, groundnuts, millet and rice, and keep all kinds of animals. Potatoes, Cassava and other food crops can all sustainably be grown in Bunyoro. It can also grow tobacco and sugar canes. There is also fish from Lake Albert. Cereals are mainly grown in the fertile areas of Bugahya in Hoima, Buyanja, Buliisa and areas that formerly formed part of Budongo forest in Masindi.
“I grow more than 15 acres of maize every year,†says Achilles Ahebwa, of Byeriima in Buyanja County, Masindi District. However, many other farmers in the area cannot grow maize. Ahebwa is lucky that about one year ago, he received a set of ox-ploughs from Bunyoro-Kitara Diocese that enabled him increase acreage. There are about 50 farmers in the area with big acreage of uncultivated land.
“If every farmer in our area gets at least a pair of ox-ploughs, we shall have an increase in maize produced per a year,†Ahabwe says. Even with the lack of mechanisation or better farm tools, maize farmers in Buyanja produce an average of 50 bags (5,000kg) each. But poor infrastructure and lack of maize processing factories means much of the maize is sold in the villages at as low as sh100 per kilogramme. Much of the maize is bought by traders from Kampala’s suburbs such as Kisenyi.
“I wish we could get our own flour-making factories. Factories that will pay us more than we are being paid at the moment,†Joram Bagadya of Buliisa says. If maize farmers in Bunyoro can get just a small percentage of the kind of mechanisation in say Kapchorwa, farmers here would be better off.
“Goats and other animals can also be kept in Bunyoro,†says Reverend Jonathan Kajura of Hoima Diocese, who is in charge of a small ruminants project to help multiply the number of domestic animals kept in Bunyoro. At the moment, the project has about 70 goats. “We are going to expand it and turn it into a breeding centre for goats,†he says.
Throughout the hills and plains of Bunyoro, goats and sheep graze gracefully by the roadside. However, no single person owns more than 100 or more. Mobilisation for large scale animal keeping has been low.
“Goats and pigs can be kept here in large numbers, but we don’t have them. We only have a few,†Victor Samuel, a fisherman on the shores of Lake Albert, says. Deep in his Rift Valley homestead, he is keeping 20 goats, sheep and pigs.
Hoima district chairman, George William Bagonza, says plans are underway to multiply the number of small ruminants in the district. Bunyoro’s local chicken are rated among the best in laying eggs and nursing their offsprings to maturity. David Byaruhanga, a NAADS extension worker and farmer from Bugambe Sub-County in Hoima District, says Bunyoro chicken can be turned into a real gold mine.
“We have started new technologies of rearing Bunyoro indigenous chicken that will help bring out the untapped potential,†Byaruhanga explains. His new technology involves keeping chicken in enclosures as they lay eggs. The chicken are synchronised to lay more eggs than they normally do, thus hatch more chicks than usual. Byaruhanga is hopeful that with this improved local chicken technology, Banyoro will benefit more from their famed chicken.
Fish from Lake Albert is not processed; it is sold to the local market. However, according to Bagonza, several fish processing companies have expressed interest in setting up a fish processing factory on the shores of Lake Albert. Lake Albert is the second largest lake in Uganda, and the second largest producer of fish after Lake Victoria.
However, most of this fish is consumed locally and cheaply without any added value, just because there are no fish processing factories there.
“Some Koreans have expressed interest in setting up a fish processing factory here,†says Bagonza. Once this is done, fishermen will earn a little more. Compared to Lake Victoria that has over 17 fish processing factories, Lake Albert has none!
“Our target now is to mobilise investors to come here and start factories that will help process these foods and add value,†Baguma says. His counterpart in Masindi, John Birija, has similar dreams. The three obstacles that are delaying Bunyoro from becoming a national food basket are lack of mechanisation, lack of value adding factories and poor infrastructure.
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Bunyoro is one of the areas in Uganda that are gifted with fertile soils. Where as Ankole can only grow bananas and keep cattle, Bunyoro can grow cereals including maize, sorghum, groundnuts, millet and rice, and keep all kinds of animals. Potatoes, Cassava and other food crops can all sustainably be grown in Bunyoro. It can also grow tobacco and sugar canes. There is also fish from Lake Albert. Cereals are mainly grown in the fertile areas of Bugahya in Hoima, Buyanja, Buliisa and areas that formerly formed part of Budongo forest in Masindi.
“I grow more than 15 acres of maize every year,†says Achilles Ahebwa, of Byeriima in Buyanja County, Masindi District. However, many other farmers in the area cannot grow maize. Ahebwa is lucky that about one year ago, he received a set of ox-ploughs from Bunyoro-Kitara Diocese that enabled him increase acreage. There are about 50 farmers in the area with big acreage of uncultivated land.
“If every farmer in our area gets at least a pair of ox-ploughs, we shall have an increase in maize produced per a year,†Ahabwe says. Even with the lack of mechanisation or better farm tools, maize farmers in Buyanja produce an average of 50 bags (5,000kg) each. But poor infrastructure and lack of maize processing factories means much of the maize is sold in the villages at as low as sh100 per kilogramme. Much of the maize is bought by traders from Kampala’s suburbs such as Kisenyi.
“I wish we could get our own flour-making factories. Factories that will pay us more than we are being paid at the moment,†Joram Bagadya of Buliisa says. If maize farmers in Bunyoro can get just a small percentage of the kind of mechanisation in say Kapchorwa, farmers here would be better off.
“Goats and other animals can also be kept in Bunyoro,†says Reverend Jonathan Kajura of Hoima Diocese, who is in charge of a small ruminants project to help multiply the number of domestic animals kept in Bunyoro. At the moment, the project has about 70 goats. “We are going to expand it and turn it into a breeding centre for goats,†he says.
Throughout the hills and plains of Bunyoro, goats and sheep graze gracefully by the roadside. However, no single person owns more than 100 or more. Mobilisation for large scale animal keeping has been low.
“Goats and pigs can be kept here in large numbers, but we don’t have them. We only have a few,†Victor Samuel, a fisherman on the shores of Lake Albert, says. Deep in his Rift Valley homestead, he is keeping 20 goats, sheep and pigs.
Hoima district chairman, George William Bagonza, says plans are underway to multiply the number of small ruminants in the district. Bunyoro’s local chicken are rated among the best in laying eggs and nursing their offsprings to maturity. David Byaruhanga, a NAADS extension worker and farmer from Bugambe Sub-County in Hoima District, says Bunyoro chicken can be turned into a real gold mine.
“We have started new technologies of rearing Bunyoro indigenous chicken that will help bring out the untapped potential,†Byaruhanga explains. His new technology involves keeping chicken in enclosures as they lay eggs. The chicken are synchronised to lay more eggs than they normally do, thus hatch more chicks than usual. Byaruhanga is hopeful that with this improved local chicken technology, Banyoro will benefit more from their famed chicken.
Fish from Lake Albert is not processed; it is sold to the local market. However, according to Bagonza, several fish processing companies have expressed interest in setting up a fish processing factory on the shores of Lake Albert. Lake Albert is the second largest lake in Uganda, and the second largest producer of fish after Lake Victoria.
However, most of this fish is consumed locally and cheaply without any added value, just because there are no fish processing factories there.
“Some Koreans have expressed interest in setting up a fish processing factory here,†says Bagonza. Once this is done, fishermen will earn a little more. Compared to Lake Victoria that has over 17 fish processing factories, Lake Albert has none!
“Our target now is to mobilise investors to come here and start factories that will help process these foods and add value,†Baguma says. His counterpart in Masindi, John Birija, has similar dreams. The three obstacles that are delaying Bunyoro from becoming a national food basket are lack of mechanisation, lack of value adding factories and poor infrastructure.
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