By Abdulkarim Ssengendo
Ashimu Bukenya graduated with a degree in IT in 2015 from Bishop Stuart University. After his graduation he joined an institute where he was lecturing IT for close to four years and later went to Kyeeyo for one and a half years. After some time Bukenya realized he was messing up somewhere and was not going to attain his goals once he remained employed. He decided to attain another plan and on his decision was joining poultry farming. Using money he had accumulated, in August 2023, Bukenya, a resident of Masha sub county in Isingiro district started a poultry farming project specializing in layers of poultry. He started with 700 birds of Ken chick breed. He said in less than one year, his stock has accumulated to over 1200 birds.
“I realized being in employment is not a wise move, I used my savings I had accumulated constructed the structures, bought equipment like feeders, drinkers, purchased chicks and water tanks plus feeds and here the project is, fetching me a lot of money which I wasn’t getting when I was under the control of bosses,” Bukenya stated. He encouraged Ugandans not to fear investing their money in poultry saying the project is paying, giving the example of shs2,5000,000 he is earning per month compared to shs500000 he was getting when he was a lecturer in institutes. “If you they call me for any job now, I can’t accept it, the money I am earning from these birds doubles five times what I was earning as a salary when I was an employee,” Bukenya added.
To start the project, Bukenya was inspired by his father who was a poultry farmer keeping local breeds. “When I was still young my father had a poultry project but only had local ones, I grew up with a mission to accumulate a number much bigger than what my father had,” he stated. He encouraged people to start with any amount of money, emphasizing that with even shs1 million one can start a poultry farming project. “As long as you are committed you can start a poultry farming project, the structures and feeding are the most expensive parts to start, “he added.
Regarding hygiene, Bukenya said cleanliness is the most important part a poultry farmer must have. At his farm he doesn’t allow everyone to come and enter his structures, he takes care of bio-securities like using disinfectants on a regular basis and he prevents other birds from entering his structures. Regarding production, Bukenya produces 19 trays of eggs per day with each tray of 30 eggs. He said his egg production stands at 90% meaning over 600 birds are laying per day
Regarding the market he said the available market is more than what he produces, he serves his customers in shifts and they pick eggs from the farm. He intends to expand production in future to at least 20000 birds to be able to meet the increasing demand. Regarding benefits; Bukenya emphasized that poultry keeping is a project one should invest in their money. “The advantages in this project are enormous, so far in one and a half years this project has already given me much, including a land where I want to build a bigger space to grow my business, “He stated.
Regarding community benefits; Bukenya is surrounded by plant growers whom he always supplies manure from his farm and free of charge. He also employs workers picked from around and he also supplies eggs to communities around him. Regarding challenges he mentioned water as the bigger one, currently he pays people to transport water to his farm especially during dry season. He also has a lot of thieves who disturb his business. He advised people, especially the youth that million youth graduate every year and there are no jobs to accommodate them, that they should think of creating jobs for themselves using little available resources.
