Backyard Farming:
Oct 04, 2010
<b>He bought two boda bodas from vegetable sales</b><br>Mzee Perezi Mulongo, 72, is a living testimony that growing vegetables can be a profitable undertaking. The elderly farmer, a resident of Agururu B3 village in Tororo municipality, went to a shop in Mbale and paid sh5.6m for two Bajaj Boxer mo
By Titus Serunjogi
He bought two boda bodas from vegetable sales
Mzee Perezi Mulongo, 72, is a living testimony that growing vegetables can be a profitable undertaking. The elderly farmer, a resident of Agururu B3 village in Tororo municipality, went to a shop in Mbale and paid sh5.6m for two Bajaj Boxer motorcycles. He gave one to his son, who helps him in the garden and he rides the other.
“Every year, I make about sh8m from growing cabbages, nakati, ebbuga, sukuma wiki, ejjobyo, doodo and entula,†he says.
With money from vegetables, he has educated his children paid their medical bills and save some money to look after his two wives.
According to the Africa 2000 Network, an international non-governmental organisation that promotes sustainable agriculture, Eastern Uganda has sandy soil which is highly susceptible to leaching. The region receives low rainfall and land is over exploited, resulting in declining agricultural productivity.
Mulongo has found a secret to making even the poor soils of Agururu B bring out healthy-looking vegetables.
“She is the secret to my success,†he says walking over to pat a Friesian cow that lies in the paddock. He uses the dung to fertilise his one-acre garden.
He practices mixed farming, growing the vegetables in several small plots that are interplanted with beans, matooke, groundnuts and sugarcanes.
He prepares a nursery bed from a mixture of composed dung and silt and mulches the beds with grass and waters them for two days.
When the soil is sufficiently crumbly, he plants seeds, which with adequate moisture, take about four days to sprout.
The mulch is removed as soon as the seeds sprout and instead a low shed is erected over the sprouting vegetables. Later, he transplants the plants to the garden. Cabbages, for example, are spaced at 60cm, while entula are spaced at 90cm.
One of the regular activities in Mulongo’s family is making pesticides for the vegetables. He mixes neem tree leaves with leaves of the red pepper bush, brews them in warm water and sprays onto his vegetables. His vegetables have never been attacked by pests or diseases.
Born in 1936, Mulongo has been a subsistence farmer for most of his life. But it was only after he was trained by the Africa 2000 Network that he started to taste the sweet fruits of farming. Africa 2000 Network, a Rockefeller Foundation funded NGO, taught Mulongo and several other farmers from Agururu B about the ethics of sustainable agriculture.
The NGO discouraged them from using chemical fertilisers and pesticides which were not only expensive but also deplete the soil. Instead, they were taught how to use organic inputs for sustainable agriculture.
In 2002, Send-a-cow, an NGO, donated Friesians to selected farmers including Mulongo.
With the support from Tororo municipality member of Parliament, Sanjay Tana, Mulongo procured seeds from farmers in Mbale, Mukono and Masaka districts and started vegetable farming in 2006.
He says vegetable farming is a worth while venture. A 10-gramme sachet of cabbage seeds yields 1000 heads of the vegetable, each of which sells for over sh500 each in the local municipal market.
Mulongo has also found a better method of dealing with the unpredictable seasons. “I have expanded my gardens to reach the swamp downhill. Vegetables can grow here even during the dry season.â€
Mulongo says he still has potential to grow more vegetables from his gardens, but the market in Tororo municipality is limited.
Even then, two motorcycles are proof of his success.
He bought two boda bodas from vegetable sales
Mzee Perezi Mulongo, 72, is a living testimony that growing vegetables can be a profitable undertaking. The elderly farmer, a resident of Agururu B3 village in Tororo municipality, went to a shop in Mbale and paid sh5.6m for two Bajaj Boxer motorcycles. He gave one to his son, who helps him in the garden and he rides the other.
“Every year, I make about sh8m from growing cabbages, nakati, ebbuga, sukuma wiki, ejjobyo, doodo and entula,†he says.
With money from vegetables, he has educated his children paid their medical bills and save some money to look after his two wives.
According to the Africa 2000 Network, an international non-governmental organisation that promotes sustainable agriculture, Eastern Uganda has sandy soil which is highly susceptible to leaching. The region receives low rainfall and land is over exploited, resulting in declining agricultural productivity.
Mulongo has found a secret to making even the poor soils of Agururu B bring out healthy-looking vegetables.
“She is the secret to my success,†he says walking over to pat a Friesian cow that lies in the paddock. He uses the dung to fertilise his one-acre garden.
He practices mixed farming, growing the vegetables in several small plots that are interplanted with beans, matooke, groundnuts and sugarcanes.
He prepares a nursery bed from a mixture of composed dung and silt and mulches the beds with grass and waters them for two days.
When the soil is sufficiently crumbly, he plants seeds, which with adequate moisture, take about four days to sprout.
The mulch is removed as soon as the seeds sprout and instead a low shed is erected over the sprouting vegetables. Later, he transplants the plants to the garden. Cabbages, for example, are spaced at 60cm, while entula are spaced at 90cm.
One of the regular activities in Mulongo’s family is making pesticides for the vegetables. He mixes neem tree leaves with leaves of the red pepper bush, brews them in warm water and sprays onto his vegetables. His vegetables have never been attacked by pests or diseases.
Born in 1936, Mulongo has been a subsistence farmer for most of his life. But it was only after he was trained by the Africa 2000 Network that he started to taste the sweet fruits of farming. Africa 2000 Network, a Rockefeller Foundation funded NGO, taught Mulongo and several other farmers from Agururu B about the ethics of sustainable agriculture.
The NGO discouraged them from using chemical fertilisers and pesticides which were not only expensive but also deplete the soil. Instead, they were taught how to use organic inputs for sustainable agriculture.
In 2002, Send-a-cow, an NGO, donated Friesians to selected farmers including Mulongo.
With the support from Tororo municipality member of Parliament, Sanjay Tana, Mulongo procured seeds from farmers in Mbale, Mukono and Masaka districts and started vegetable farming in 2006.
He says vegetable farming is a worth while venture. A 10-gramme sachet of cabbage seeds yields 1000 heads of the vegetable, each of which sells for over sh500 each in the local municipal market.
Mulongo has also found a better method of dealing with the unpredictable seasons. “I have expanded my gardens to reach the swamp downhill. Vegetables can grow here even during the dry season.â€
Mulongo says he still has potential to grow more vegetables from his gardens, but the market in Tororo municipality is limited.
Even then, two motorcycles are proof of his success.