Teacher-turned farmer harvesting millions from cocoa

By Andrew Masinde

Fulgensi Bamwitirebye is a renowned cocoa farmer in Bundibugyo district. However, unknown to most people is the fact that he gave up his teaching career to venture into farming.

“It was a hard decision to make, but 32 years down the road, I do not regret having made that decision because I make more money from farming,” he says.

Bamwitirebye owns a big cocoa plantation and says he would not have reached such great heights had he remained a teacher. The former agriculture teacher was born in 1948 in Bundikagoro village in Busalu sub-county, Bundibugyo district. Bamwitirebye taught in various schools, where he rose through the ranks to become a head teacher, but resigned just after two years to engage in farming.

“I believe God had planned that I become a farmer much as I trained as a teacher,” Bamwitirebye says. The first-born in a family of five  children attributes his success to his father, who ensured that he got an education.

Bamwitirebye also drew inspiration  from his father, a medical attendant, who practised farming on small-scale. “My father grew crops like coffee, bananas, cassava and potatoes. It is from these crops that he got the money to pay our school fees because his job did not fetch enough money to cater for all the family needs,” he says.

How he started

Bamwitirebye (right) extracting cocoa seeds for drying

As children, Bamwitirebye sayas their father used to tell them that farming was one sure way to become wealthy since eating was not  optional. Even as a teacher, Bamwitirebye encourage students to take up farming. He even trained his fellow teachers how to start and manage farms. “The teachers I taught started practising farming, yet I, their teacher, was not.

Some of my former students were instead selling food to me, so, I decided to start a small farm at home in 1970. I used the farm for demonstration, as well food for my family,” Bamwitirebye says. That same year, Bamwitirebye decided to leave teaching and join a farmers’ cooperative movement in Bundibugyo. He says his aim was to engage in fulltime farming, as well as teaching farmers proper post-harvest handling.

“I was later appointed the education and publicity officer in the then Bwamba Rwenzori Grower’s Co-operative Union. Part of my work was to mobilise farmers to bring their crops to the central stores,” Bamwitirebye says.

In 1972, Bamwitirebye was among the first people who were given cocoa seedlings under a government initiative to popularise cocoa growing in Bundibugyo. “I got 100 cocoa seedlings, which yielded well. I decided to take on cocoa farming as my main venture and today it has paid off. 

I started with on one acre, but now my cocoa plantation lies on eight acres,” he says. Bamwitirebye says from the sale of cocoa alone he earns, between sh3m and sh5m every harvest season, which is sometimes three times in a year.

Caring for cocoa

Bamwitirebye plants the seedlings under a shed. He then digs holes, where he plants the seedlings, leaving about two to three metres between the rows. The seedlings remain in the shed for two months.

Bamwitirebye plants between 1,000 and 1,600 seedlings per hectare and he plants the cocoa trees at the beginning of the rainy season. “Cocoa is a delicate plant that has to be planted in frost-free places because it cannot stand cold weather and may dry at temperatures below 500F.

“Cocoa trees need a shade. So I plant them under mature trees and intercrop them with bananas and coffee trees, which act as wind break as well,” Bamwitirebye explains. After harvesting, the beans are fermented and dried by spreading them in the sun on mats or placing them on raised bamboo frames for easy inspection. The beans take about seven days to dry if the process is not disrupted by rain.

Bamwitirebye packs the dried beans in sacks fitted with two inner layers of polyethylene bags that prevent entrance of moisture, oxygen and pests. He then stores the beans in a dry and cool place until they are sold off.

Other projects, benefits

The permanent house Bamwitirebye built using proceeds from farming

Bamwitirebye also grows potatoes, cassava, bananas and beans. Using money from the sale of his agriculture produce, Bamwitirebye has educated all his children to university level.

“I have also managed to build a magnificent permanent house at my old age. It is a great achievement and sincerely I attribute my success to OLAM Uganda Bundibugyo branch that encouraged me to grow more cocoa because I was assured of ready market,” Bamwitirebye says.

He has constructed rental houses in Bundibugyo town and plans to invest more in real estates. “I want to have a good life when I can no longer practise farming,” Bamwitirebye says. Bamwitirebye advises people not to sell their land, saying it is the best asset one can have.

“People should use land properly because in the instant that one loses a job, they will still have something to fall back to,” he says.