By Tom Gwebayanga
For the ninth year running, Vision Group, together with the Embassy of the Netherlands, KLM Airlines, dfcu Bank and Koudijs Nutrition BV, is running the Best Farmers competition.
The 2024 competition runs from April to November, with the awards in December. Every week, Vision Group platforms will publish profiles of the farmers. Winners will walk away with sh150m and a fully paid-for trip to the Netherlands.
For three years, Dennis Kenneth Nyiiro, 59, has been working to change the mindset of locals in Kaliro, Kamuli and Luuka districts, who have been focused on sugarcane, believing it to be a lucrative crop.
What bothers Nyiiro, a retired business and accountancy professional, is how so many have been taken up by the sugarcane trend, especially as they struggle with fluctuating prices that force them to strike for higher rates from the millers.
“A crop that requires us to demand higher prices from buyers isn’t the right tool to fight poverty in Busoga,” he says.
This frustration led Nyiiro to start KIWARO Farm Igulamubiri seven years ago, with the mission of introducing a quicker-paying crop — velvet beans — which can yield sh10m to sh15m per acre in just three to four months. In comparison, sugarcane fetches sh8-9m per acre in 14 months.
He promotes the quick-maturing, money-making velvet beans (muchuna) at his KIWARO Farm in Namugongo sub-county, Kaliro district.
“KIWARO” stands for Kisira, Waako and Nyiiro, honouring his father and grandfather, both prominent farmers in Igulamubiri village.
Nyiiro aims to alleviate the difficulties associated with sugarcane farming and shift local farmers’ focus to the more profitable velvet beans.
For the past three years, he has advocated their cultivation, saying velvet beans mature faster and are more profitable.
He explains that velvet beans require less management and operational effort, with farm gate prices ranging from sh15,000 to sh20,000 per kilogramme, depending on demand.
Nyiiro is the leading velvet bean farmer in Kaliro district, cultivating three acres and counting.
He has generated income and encouraged other farmers to join him. His success has made him a role model, helping others escape the cycle of poverty.
Other enterprises on his farm include one acre of improved bananas, six of coffee, five of local beans and 108 pawpaw trees.
Nyiiro also has livestock comprising six heifers, 300 local birds and 20 crossbred goats.
Why velvet beans?
Nyiiro says these beans mature in just three to four months and can be intercropped with bananas, serving as green cover to suppress weeds and reduce costs.
They require no spraying and only need 2-3m logs for support, allowing the vines to grow longer and increase yields.
Additionally, velvet beans enrich the soil with nitrogen, enhancing fertility and acting as a biological weapon against the notorious striga weed or kayongo.
Livestock feed millers process the beans which, when mixed with maize bran, improve the health of animals and birds. Nyiiro notes that the beans also have medicinal properties when fried and ground into powder, potentially treating diabetes and high blood pressure.
An acre yields 1,400-1,500kg in three to four months, while sugarcane only yields 56-60 tonnes and generates sh9.5m over 14 months.
The banana plantation
This enterprise has increased Nyiiro’s earnings and alleviated matooke scarcity in Kaliro district.
Heavy bunches result from applied technologies, such as organic manure and biogas slurry.
The enterprise also produces improved suckers sold at sh2,000 to sh3,000. His goal is to eliminate Kaliro district’s reliance on matooke from Mbarara, Masaka and Mbale.
Nyiiro launched the “Take a Sucker, Velvet Beans Home” initiative, selling suckers at low prices to encourage more people to combat hunger and poverty.
The farm gate price for bananas ranges from sh15,000 to sh30,000, depending on the size.
Coffee, value addition Established six years ago, Nyiiro’s six-acre robusta coffee plantation is the farm’s second most lucrative income source. With annual harvests of 1,700-2,000kg, he does not sell processed berries (kase) directly. Instead, he processes them into kaawa (ground coffee).
Labelled “Kaliro Coffee, 100% organic”, the packets are priced sh5,000 and sh40,000 for 100g and 1kg, respectively.
The product is marketed in Kaliro, reaching supermarkets and hotels in Jinja, Mbale, Kampala and beyond.
Improved beans
Nyiiro operates a six-acre mother garden of improved bean varieties, including the National Agricultural Research Organisation beans, which he packs and sells to organisations.
Bags weighing two, five and 10kg are priced at sh7,000, sh15,000 and sh30,000, respectively.
Technologies, Innovations
At KIWARO Farm, Nyiiro has implemented a solar-powered irrigation system, secured through cost-sharing with the agriculture ministry and the World Bank.
He contributed sh3.5m (25%), while the Government covered the remaining 75%. Supported by a deep well and a 10,000lts overhead tank, this system has boosted the velvet beans yield, and improved beans and bananas.
“We now irrigate at our convenience,” Nyiiro says, noting it also waters the livestock section, addressing past drought challenges.
Innovations include recycling cow dung into compost while fermented chicken droppings produce protein-rich larvae for livestock feed.
Cow dung is also used to generate biogas and slurry, serving as organic manure for cereals, vegetables and bananas.
Nyiiro avoids artificial fertilisers, opting for organic alternatives (cow dung, chicken droppings and leaves) to enrich his crops.
He uses natural ingredients like red pepper, ashes and animal urine to create pesticides. Family involvement Nyiiro’s wife, Annet, and son, Ayub Kakaire, 30, manage the farm alongside other duties.
Annet Nyiiro, a retired teacher overseeing the poultry project, is pleased that local women have embraced cottage industry practices.
“We have successfully trained the community on food security, child nutrition and income generation, focusing on women,” she says.
Recordkeeping
KIWARO Farm maintains both livestock and agricultural records, including the volume of produce such as maize, bananas and velvet beans, as well as heifer and calf cards, purchases of pesticides, veterinary drugs, and more.
Nyiiro also obtains farming technologies from the Vision Group’s annual Harvest Money Expo and from the group’s publications, including Enkumbi Terimba and Harvest Money pullouts in Bukedde and New Vision newspapers.
Social impact
KIWARO Farm inspires individuals and both emerging and established farmers to adopt its practices.
The farm attracts local leaders who, impressed by its progress, mobilise the community to visit, learn and implement these strategies.
Additionally, strategic farmers have embraced velvet beans and are achieving financial success. The farm also employs eight people, half of whom are casual workers.
Challenges
The impacts of climate change are felt in harsh droughts, torrential rains and floods.
There are also instances of theft by unemployed youth, who sometimes steal coffee and matooke.
Electrical cables and transformers have also been vandalised on occasion, leading to power outages.
Plans
Nyiiro plans to purchase machines for processing velvet beans into powder.
He aims to expand the heifer and goat enterprises to 15 and 50 animals, respectively.
For enhanced security, Nyiiro plans to install surveillance systems and set up 40 beehives.
“Once the poultry project reaches 2,500 birds, we will buy a hatchery and sell the chicks to farmers,” he says.
Other farm enterprises
Pawpaw: Many farmers overlook pawpaw cultivation, unaware of its profitability. To counter this perception, Nyiiro established a plantation with 108 trees, creating a market that spans from villages to urban centres.
“We transport them to Jinja and Kampala,” he says, with urban prices ranging from sh2,000 to sh4,500.
Annually, he harvests three to four Dyna truckloads. Like velvet beans, pawpaws require minimal management, need no spraying and can be intercropped with legumes and cereals.
Before planting, 2x2ft holes are treated with organic manure, and trees produce two to three harvests per year over a two to three year lifespan.
This venture has also helped reduce vitamin deficiency among local children, who eagerly await the fruit’s ripening season.
Livestock
Supported by two acres of fodder crops, Nyiiro began his livestock enterprise in 2020 with two local cows and five crossbred goats.
Currently, he has eight animals, while the poultry section features 300 Sasso chickens.
Feeds are sourced from certified agro-farm shops, primarily JEKA Poultry Farm in Kamuli, owned by Vision Group Best Farmers Competition winner in 2015, Johnson Basangwa.
Nyiiro prefers natural mating over artificial insemination (AI) for breeding heifers, citing AI as costly and unreliable.
Who is Nyiiro?
Born on December 5, 1964, to Capt. Brian John Kisira and Ruth Ntende (both deceased), Nyiiro grew up in a farming environment.
His grandfather, Prince Waako, was a farmer engaged in both livestock and agriculture — traits that Nyiiro inherited, shaping him into the lead farmer he is today.
Nyiiro attended Shimoni and Kitante primary schools and completed his Primary Leaving Examinations at Mwiri Primary School in 1977.
He studied at Namasagali College (1978-1981) and Kiira College Butiki (1993- 1994), followed by a degree in business administration, majoring in accountancy, at Makerere University.
Nyiiro furthered his education with industrial training in Canada and then returned to Makerere University Business School (MUBS) for a master’s degree in business administration/ accounting.
After working in various institutions, he retired seven years ago, establishing KIWARO Farm in Igulamubiri, Kaliro district. He is married and has children.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Nyiiro (right) showcasing velvet bean plants at KIWARO Farm, Kamuli district, which he uses to shift farmers’ attention from cane.
