Sunday, February 25
Pasture growing as a business
There is growing interest in growing pastures as a business. This session on Sunday will be handled by Dr Allan Iga, a cattle nutritionist and farmer.
Many cows cannot build sufficient body reserves (particularly energy and protein) due to lack of adequate feeds, according to Iga. As a direct consequence of feed inadequacy, dairy cows produce low milk yield, are often in poor body condition, experience severe weight and body condition score losses or/and fail to conceive.
It is, therefore, true that improvement of dairy cattle diets will improve reproductive performance, herd productivity and economic status of the household.
“The demand for high quality pasture seed for development of livestock feed resources is increasing rapidly in Uganda. This demand is fuelled by the expanding beef and dairy production occasioned by the increased demand from rising population and improved income particularly in the urban centres,” Iga says.
Hass avocado/Macadamia
This session will be handled by the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) and farmers.
Avocado is a tropical ever green fruit tree found in most home gardens in Uganda. It is organically produced given the optimal weather conditions and fertile soils in the country. It’s grown in all the regions of Uganda i.e. central, western, eastern and northern regions. Hass variety is the most preferred for the export market and its production is estimated at 1,500 acres countrywide with the biggest farms in Mayuge and Kyegegwa districts.
Macadamia is another new tree crop that is being promoted by the government. NAADS has been selected as one of the lead agencies working to promote the growing of macadamia. The training will give farmers the skills to adopt better practices and tell them about the opportunities available.
Dairy cattle breeding
It is every dairy cattle farmer`s desire to own a cow that gives at least 30 litres per day. However, very few farmers achieve this. During the expo, a session to train farmers how to ‘breed’ the champion milking cow has been arranged. It will be facilitated by Dr William Kabanda and Dr John Mujimba, both from URUS, an international group that deals in livesock genetics, Dr William Kabanda, the central region manager at URUS, explains that they want to use the training to tell farmers that it is possible to produce the champion milking cow.
“We shall show farmers how to breed and achieve this, using our vast experience in breeding,” Kabanda says.
URUS is also, in partnership with the National Genetics Resources Research Centre and Data bank (NAGRIC & DB), with a memorandum of understanding to improve AI and other livestock genetics related activities for better production.
Commercial insects growing (entomo-culture)
Martin Tenwya talks about growing insects with passion. He earns fairly from them. Tenwya is set to train farmers in commercial entomoculture (insect growing) during the 2024 Harvest Money Expo.
“These insects have got a big market locally and outside,” he says. Some of them can be consumed by both humans and animals.
“The biggest attribute is that they provide a protein alternative to livestock farmers. They also have amino acids that help people and animals nourish their bodies,” he says. Livestock farmers, animal and birds’ conservation centres including zoos are some of the biggest customers. However, the insects can also be consumed by humans.
“They have a lot of reptiles that survive on insects. These include chameleons, geckos etc,” he says. He will talk about black soldier flies, crickets, worms etc.
Evening Sessions These will include agriculture financing, youth opportunities in agriculture and post harvest
