BRITISH CIVIL ENGINEER EARNS SH30M FROM FARMING
THEY squeal at the mere sight of him. And, as he unbolts the sty’s wooden door shutter, they surround him as soon as he sets foot in their sty.
By Joel Ogwang
THEY squeal at the mere sight of him. And, as he unbolts the sty’s wooden door shutter, they surround him as soon as he sets foot in their sty.
“These piglets are so friendly to me,†says Brian Frawley, as he draws a trough to feed them. “I find it hard to sell them off at times.â€
At 68, Frawley’s vigour and tenacity passes for a 20-year-old. Being a retired civil engineer in the London underground power supply, is no excuse to relax, cuddle himself and watch others toil atop a master’s chair.
“I have always wanted to be a model farmer,†he says. His frequent visits in the early 1980s made him decide to retire and enjoy his ‘remaining years in Uganda’.
Fate was decided further by the fact that his wife, Margaret, is Ugandan.
Thus, in 2004, Frawley invested part of his retirement package from the UK into a farming project.
On an 85-acre land, he started the Kasenge project located in Nama sub-county, Mukono.
He planted 20,000 pineapple suckers on eight acres and reared 65 piglets with seven sows. The suckers have since multiplied and Frawley currently boasts of 100,000 plants.
On a 20-acre land, he grew maize, sweet potatoes, beans and bananas that are managed by Margaret.
“I sell pineapples to local markets at sh800 each,†he says. “Some buyers also come aboard trucks from Kampala.â€
He sells mature pigs from between sh40, 000 to sh80,000, depending on the size and weight. “I sell over 200 pigs a year.â€
Over the years, Frawley has amassed more income, jumping from the initial sh10m to sh30m annually. “It was a difficult beginning,†he says. “But, finally, we are starting to reap the profits.â€
He has since built a permanent house from his proceeds, a modern pig sty and also bought a saloon car and pick-up truck to transport his products to the market.
Setbacks
Such is his growing stature as a market oriented producer that locals in Kasenge christened him ‘Mzee Mzungu’
It has not always been smooth sailing for Frawley. His biggest disappointment came in 2007. He grew aloe vera on two acres, but the returns were disappointing.
While the plant matured, there were no buyers. “Don’t remind me about that. It was a disaster,†he says.
Frawley cut down all the 10,000 plants. “I should have invested the money in pigs at an earlier stage.â€
Project potential
If there is a project viable in his eyes, it is piggery. Upon this, Frawley intends to build a modern and bigger sty.
“I want to get sh40m to buy a three-phase power line for the project,†he says. “We use a single-phase for lighting the project and our domestic use.â€
Things will be different, he projects. Whilst his farming scheme will live-on, it will no longer be the dominant activity.
Already, he has disposed off 11 acreas at a cost of about sh20m each to Global paper printers. The Chinese firm is erecting a toilet paper and books factory.
“Farming, even in the UK and the USA, has not been profitable of late,†says Frawley. “Farmers are even killing themselves because they can’t afford to repay loans.â€
Biggest motivation
Farmers in and around Mukono trek to Kasenge to get skills off Frawley’s modest farm. This, it is worthy noting, has been his biggest motivation.
“We have not reaped a lot of monies from farming,†says Frawley. “But at least we have trained many farmers who come here.
Major hitches to farming
For starters, the road network in Uganda is poor. Most places are unreachable. “People, especially farmers, can’t market their products easily,†Frawley says.
He adds that the infrastructure implies that farmers can’t market their products in time while they go stale or rot owing to the fact that they are raw and unprocessed.
Thus, the government has to invest in micro-finance as well as processing and cottage industries.
Over 90% of farmers in Uganda rely on rain-fed agriculture. The current global climatic change has not spared Uganda, making prediction of rainy seasons a daunting task.
This has forced experts to lobby for irrigation schemes to be started. “Our farming is a nightmare,†says Kisamba Mugerwa, the National Planning Authority (NPA) chief.
“Farmers get a quarter of output per unit area. We have to improve on this.â€
Other hindrances to agriculture include limited microfinance services, poor storage facilities, poor infrastructure, poor rural electrification and poor quality seeds.
Uganda has implemented many anti-poverty schemes like PMA, PEAP, NAADS and, of late, bona bagaggawale (Prosperity-For-All), all aimed at commercialising agriculture.
Mechanised agriculture - the way to go
“Farmers have to get access to tractors to commercialise and mechanise agriculture,†Frawley says. “This is where Europe beats other continents.â€
In a bid to increase food security and commercialise agriculture, the government has undertaken importation of tractors through the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC).
It uses UGIRAN, a joint venture between the Uganda Government and Iran tractor manufacturing company, ITMC, to assemble, service and sell the tractors to farmers.
ITMC, the sole tractor manufacturer in Iran, sells over 30,000 tractors worldwide annually.
NEC has, from July 2008 to date, sold-out 100 tractors of Massey Fergusson model to local and regional farmers.
Frawley says Uganda has enormous potential - with good weather, large population and reliable rains which, if exploited optimally, can turn around the fortunes of many a farmer.
THEY squeal at the mere sight of him. And, as he unbolts the sty’s wooden door shutter, they surround him as soon as he sets foot in their sty.
“These piglets are so friendly to me,†says Brian Frawley, as he draws a trough to feed them. “I find it hard to sell them off at times.â€
At 68, Frawley’s vigour and tenacity passes for a 20-year-old. Being a retired civil engineer in the London underground power supply, is no excuse to relax, cuddle himself and watch others toil atop a master’s chair.
“I have always wanted to be a model farmer,†he says. His frequent visits in the early 1980s made him decide to retire and enjoy his ‘remaining years in Uganda’.
Fate was decided further by the fact that his wife, Margaret, is Ugandan.
Thus, in 2004, Frawley invested part of his retirement package from the UK into a farming project.
On an 85-acre land, he started the Kasenge project located in Nama sub-county, Mukono.
He planted 20,000 pineapple suckers on eight acres and reared 65 piglets with seven sows. The suckers have since multiplied and Frawley currently boasts of 100,000 plants.
On a 20-acre land, he grew maize, sweet potatoes, beans and bananas that are managed by Margaret.
“I sell pineapples to local markets at sh800 each,†he says. “Some buyers also come aboard trucks from Kampala.â€
He sells mature pigs from between sh40, 000 to sh80,000, depending on the size and weight. “I sell over 200 pigs a year.â€
Over the years, Frawley has amassed more income, jumping from the initial sh10m to sh30m annually. “It was a difficult beginning,†he says. “But, finally, we are starting to reap the profits.â€
He has since built a permanent house from his proceeds, a modern pig sty and also bought a saloon car and pick-up truck to transport his products to the market.
Setbacks
Such is his growing stature as a market oriented producer that locals in Kasenge christened him ‘Mzee Mzungu’
It has not always been smooth sailing for Frawley. His biggest disappointment came in 2007. He grew aloe vera on two acres, but the returns were disappointing.
While the plant matured, there were no buyers. “Don’t remind me about that. It was a disaster,†he says.
Frawley cut down all the 10,000 plants. “I should have invested the money in pigs at an earlier stage.â€
Project potential
If there is a project viable in his eyes, it is piggery. Upon this, Frawley intends to build a modern and bigger sty.
“I want to get sh40m to buy a three-phase power line for the project,†he says. “We use a single-phase for lighting the project and our domestic use.â€
Things will be different, he projects. Whilst his farming scheme will live-on, it will no longer be the dominant activity.
Already, he has disposed off 11 acreas at a cost of about sh20m each to Global paper printers. The Chinese firm is erecting a toilet paper and books factory.
“Farming, even in the UK and the USA, has not been profitable of late,†says Frawley. “Farmers are even killing themselves because they can’t afford to repay loans.â€
Biggest motivation
Farmers in and around Mukono trek to Kasenge to get skills off Frawley’s modest farm. This, it is worthy noting, has been his biggest motivation.
“We have not reaped a lot of monies from farming,†says Frawley. “But at least we have trained many farmers who come here.
Major hitches to farming
For starters, the road network in Uganda is poor. Most places are unreachable. “People, especially farmers, can’t market their products easily,†Frawley says.
He adds that the infrastructure implies that farmers can’t market their products in time while they go stale or rot owing to the fact that they are raw and unprocessed.
Thus, the government has to invest in micro-finance as well as processing and cottage industries.
Over 90% of farmers in Uganda rely on rain-fed agriculture. The current global climatic change has not spared Uganda, making prediction of rainy seasons a daunting task.
This has forced experts to lobby for irrigation schemes to be started. “Our farming is a nightmare,†says Kisamba Mugerwa, the National Planning Authority (NPA) chief.
“Farmers get a quarter of output per unit area. We have to improve on this.â€
Other hindrances to agriculture include limited microfinance services, poor storage facilities, poor infrastructure, poor rural electrification and poor quality seeds.
Uganda has implemented many anti-poverty schemes like PMA, PEAP, NAADS and, of late, bona bagaggawale (Prosperity-For-All), all aimed at commercialising agriculture.
Mechanised agriculture - the way to go
“Farmers have to get access to tractors to commercialise and mechanise agriculture,†Frawley says. “This is where Europe beats other continents.â€
In a bid to increase food security and commercialise agriculture, the government has undertaken importation of tractors through the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC).
It uses UGIRAN, a joint venture between the Uganda Government and Iran tractor manufacturing company, ITMC, to assemble, service and sell the tractors to farmers.
ITMC, the sole tractor manufacturer in Iran, sells over 30,000 tractors worldwide annually.
NEC has, from July 2008 to date, sold-out 100 tractors of Massey Fergusson model to local and regional farmers.
Frawley says Uganda has enormous potential - with good weather, large population and reliable rains which, if exploited optimally, can turn around the fortunes of many a farmer.