I earn over Sh3m from my farm

Jun 25, 2013

Vincent Sonko, 46, is a prominent farmer at Bumaali village, Nabuganyi Parish, Busaana sub-county in Kayunga District.

By Gladys Kalibbala 

Vincent Sonko, 46, is a prominent farmer at Bumaali village, Nabuganyi Parish, Busaana sub-county in Kayunga District. He has a banana plantation mixed with pineapples, mango trees and cattle on an area approximately 100 acres where he earns over sh 3m monthly.


Although he uses over 30 workers on his farm, he keeps only five on permanent terms and picks others from the village as casual workers.

How he started:

While in S2 at Busaana SS in 1996, he dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. His father gave him a piece of land nearby where he constructed his one roomed house and started tending to coffee trees which were in the land.
 
By 1997 the urge to expand his farming increased and using sh 30,000 from the coffee sales, he rented 3 acres of land in the neighbourhood. He planted maize and beans where he harvested 30 bags of maize and 6 for the beans.
 
As he planned to get more land in 1998, the landlord who was suffering from bigenge (leprosy) approached him and sold it to him at sh 150,000 in order to get money for treatment.

Year after year he kept on adding on pieces bought from the landlord until he acquired 9 acres. From sales of maize and others, he managed to buy 42acres of  in 2001 while in 2008, he bought another 48acres of land.

Venturing into bananas:

In 2001 after buying the 42 acres, Sonko planted pineapples on 29 acres. After a year, he introduced a banana plantation in the pineapple garden.
 
“I had to wait for a year so that the banana’s shade doesn’t affect the pineapple which is harvested at one and half years,” he explains.

He adds that by a year, the pineapples would have received enough light to help them grow well and they benefitted a lot from the ‘nakavundira’ he used in covering the banana stems since he doesn’t use artificial fertilizers.
 
He advises farmers not to plant only one species as they differ a lot from longevity as well as enduring different weathers.

 “I planted five types, where a particular one yields big batches but deeply affected by sunshine while others can withstand the sunny conditions although produces smaller batches,” he explains.
 
Among the five types he has on the farm are Nfuuka, Musakala, Kayovu, Nakitembe and Ntikka (produces a heavy batch). He however adds that planting the banana stem in a proper way is very vital as it determines the type of yield you can harvest.
 
Instead of covering his plantation with grass like others do he maintains the water reservations from the pineapple are enough to keep it all the way.

“Grass brings about kasa and kayovu which are both deadly to matooke and the nakavundiira I use is better than the artificial fertilizers,” he explains.
 
The banana plantation is doing well and he says he would have been able to harvest 100 batches of matooke daily but only between 30 - 40 are bought daily. A bunch of matooke goes between shs 15,000 – 20,000 from his garden where many are customers from nearby markets and he supplies food to Namagabi UMEA School.
 
The pineapples have market within Kayunga district, Nakasero market, Juba, Kenya and a company in Germany which prefers small sizes of pineapples.

Introduces mangoes:

A few years ago, Sonko added on his farm about 20 mango trees from Namulonge Research Station which he explains have produced twice in a year and yields good fruits where each goes for shs 500.
 
The trees are just a few metres from the ground which he says has enabled him to harvest the mangos without any struggle.

“The first harvest gave me over 300 pieces of juicy mangos and I have cleared the ground for some more planting soon,” he explained.

Around 2002 after settling in farming, he bought a cow at shs 300,000 and currently boasts of between 20 – 30 of them. His are mixed breed (maleeto) which he explains can survive in the field as he doesn’t keep them in paddocks. Among them, six give him 20ltrs of milk a day which he sells at shs 800 and explains it’s not even enough for the many customers he has in the area.

Challenges:


Sonko explains that it becomes tricky in the dry season when all the grass has dried up.

“To counteract this state I have ‘bisagazi’ planted on 3 acres which I only use in this situation. When it gets ready before the dry season strikes I cut, dry it and keep it safe for the animals,” he explains.
 
He is also trying to save from the over 3m he gets monthly in order to be able to buy a Fuso which can transport his goods to different parts of the country.

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