Melon, pumpkin are Kibuuka''s gold

Jun 03, 2015

Joseph Kibuuka has found the secret to earning big with water melon and pumpkins. Kibuuka decided to venture into this project after his father passed away and left him a 35-acre piece of land.

By Umar Nsubuga and Claire Nanyunja

Joseph Kibuuka has found the secret to earning big with water melon and pumpkins. Kibuuka decided to venture into this project after his father passed away and left him a 35-acre piece of land.

"My father was a farmer but he did not grow pumpkins and water melon", Kibuuka says. He started this farming project on a small scale with water melons.

"I did not imagine that it would earn me big", he says. Kibuuka was a businessman in Kabimbiri town where he owned a wholesale shop. After his father passed away, he had to go back to his home village in Sinde to concentrate on farming.

The farm

On his 35-acre land Kibuuka has six acres of water melon, 15 for pumpkin and other crops like egg plants, maize, cassava and pineapples take up the remaining land.

"It took me four years to get to this level", says Kibuuka, now a famous farmer in Sinde village, Bugerere Kayunga district.

As the norm in Kayunga, Kibuuka also grows pineapples but he says they earn him like melons and pumpkins.

"Everyone who has grown melons and pumpkins has been a millionaire that is why I turned to this project", Kibuuka says.

From the six acres of melons, Kibuuka gets about 2,500 fruits per season. He sells each fruit at between Sh1,000 and Sh2,000 pumpkins go for between Sh800 and Sh1,500.

Challenges

He adds that insecticides are very expensive and he also faces the challenge of unpredictable weather.

Kibuuka is troubled by the thieves who lurk around the neigbourhood and steal his fruits.

He also hires 12 workers some of them are not honest enough.

Achievements

Kibuuka supplies his products to Nakasero market. He says farming is a lucrative venture all people should embrace.

"I did not go far in education but I can employ someone to advise me and I pay him or her", he says.

Kibuuka advises people to leave politics; even youth who sell their land to buy boda bodas should stop and embrace farming.

"If you venture into agriculture you cannot sleep on an empty stomach', he says adding that he does not remember when he last bought food since he gets all the food from his farm.