President Yoweri Museveni has urged Ugandans to emulate Kalangala model farmers, especially in commercial agriculture techniques.
Museveni made the call during a tour of two model farmers in Kalangala district as he concluded the wealth creation tour of the Greater Masaka region last week.
The President said the model farmers, Thabisa Akirapa and Deogratious Ssesanga, are living examples of success stories that should be emulated to fight poverty and improve household income.
Ssesanga and Akirapa, the President added, began small but are now among the rich people in Kalangala district.
“Thabisa was living in a grass-thatched house but now she is living in a nice glass house. She is taking good care of herself; she has four acres of oil palm trees and earns sh7m from each acre in one year making it sh28m annually.
“Another model farmer is Ssesanga Deogratious who has 12 acres of oil palm tree gardens and a dairy farm. Ssesanga earns between sh6- 7m from each acre of oil palm tree garden yearly, making it sh84m from 12 acres in one year,” Museveni said.
The President’s investment and wealth creation tour within the Greater Masaka region was organised under the theme of Securing your future through wealth creation and shared prosperity.
A widow’s life transformed
In his remarks, Museveni thanked the model farmers for listening to his advice and embracing government development programmes.
“He gave Akirapa an Elf motor vehicle to help her during the transportation of fertilisers to her oil palm tree garden and transporting her output (yields) to the market. He went ahead and promised to give out motor vehicles to other farmers at parish level to ease transportation of their fertilisers and out-puts (yields) to the marketplace for sale,” State House officials said in a statement.
Akirapa had earlier told the President that she needed a vehicle to transport fertilisers and also other outputs to the marketplace. During the Kalangala tour, the President first visited Akirapa, a resident of Busanga village, Mugoye sub-county in Kalangala district.
“The model farmer led the President on a tour of her oil palm plantation while narrating to him the genesis of her garden. Akirapa said she started with half an acre of oil palm trees, and she has since upgraded to four acres of land,” State House officials said.
The general manager of Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Trust, David Balironda Mukasa, said Akirapa had initially planted passion fruits, but when she was trained in the growing of oil palm trees, Akirapa switched to the oil palms. Akirapa said in her quest for a palm tree plantation, the Government gave her seedlings and fertilisers.
“She added that she is a widow who was living in a grass-thatched house but built herself a good house. She has been able to raise her children, feed, dress, and educate them. She has also looked after her grandchildren. Akirapa not only grows oil palm trees but also has her garden which feeds her family,” officials from the State House noted.
Ssengada’s story
The President also visited Deogratious Ssesanga, a resident of Kizira village, Mugoye sub-county.
During the tour, Ssesanga told Museveni that he began with four acres of palm oil trees in the year 2012, but he had since expanded his plantation to 12 acres.
From the 12 acres of palm oil trees, Ssesanga said, he earns sh84m per year.
“He added that he also has a dairy farm where he gets 25 litres of milk every day and that he uses the cow dung as a fertiliser in his oil palm plantation,” State House officials noted.
Ssesanga also gave Museveni a cow.
“As a sign of appreciation for the assistance from the President and the National Resistance Movement Government, Ssesanga rewarded Gen. Museveni with a cow. The President showed gratitude and promised to put the cow in a government farm and later on, give it to the people coming from a humble background,” State House officials said.
