By Herbert Musoke
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 profi les of the farmers. Winners will walk away with sh150m and a fully-paid-for trip to the Netherlands.
“Failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.”
This quote tells it all about the Kibwikas, who incurred a great loss on their first attempt to venture into farming, but now own a farm and a beverage company.
It all started in 2015 as the family was looking for another alternative source of income, and Rachel Naigaga Kibwika decided to venture into Kuroiler chicken rearing in Zirobwe town, where they had 10 acres.
“After reaching an agreement to venture into this business, my husband and co-director, Prof. Paul Kibwika, funded the fencing of two acres with wire mesh, so that we could rear Kuroiler chicken on a semi-free range system. To our disappointment, in the morning we found that the poles and the wire mesh had been stolen,” she says.
This, however, did not stop them from engaging in farming as they bought 150 acres at Gambirana village in Kikyusa sub-county, Luwero district, on which their Emerge Integrated Farm Ltd sits.
Here, they grow passion fruits, mangoes and coffee, as well as keeping cattle, goats and poultry. They later established Rapak Foods and Beverages Ltd from fruit farming.
The birth of emerge farm
Prof. Paul Kibwika, a lecturer at Makerere University department of agriculture, says venturing into agriculture as a business was a family decision and they preferred to start at Zirobwe where they own land.
After realising that the place was not secure, they bought land at Gambirana, where they started with coffee and matooke plantation.
Because the area is a cattle corridor, they also bought three cross-breed cows and two local goats.
Kibwika says they went on adding new enterprises and now have 10,000 layer chicken, 1,000 broilers, over 48 cows, 150 cross breeds of Boer goats, over five acres of coffee, three acres of passion fruits, five acres of mangoes, four acres of a banana plantation where he plants macadamia and cashew nut trees, and over 20 acres of maize.
Livestock
Kibwika says from cows that were bought, they have grown to 48 improved cows from which they milk eight of them and get 60 litres daily.
They are kept under a semi-free range system, where they are left to go and graze but those milking are fed on silage to support their bodies for quality milk.
“We have continued improving their breeding by buying bulls from renowned farms that we use for two[1]three years to fertilise our cows. Our cows are now improved cross-breeds. Also, we have established paddocks in which we graze the animals and grow pastures in the mango orchard,” he adds.
The milk is sold to the community people but much is used to make yoghurt at Rapak Foods and Beverages Ltd.
With goats, Kibwika says they buy exotic buck that serves the nanny for only two years before it is sold off at between sh800,000 and sh1m.
The goats are kept in a free-range system with two caretakers overseeing them. The goats are mainly sold during Idd celebrations like the recent one where they sold 50 goats at between sh200,000 and sh300,000 each.
Water on the farm
Kibwika says as all cattle corridor regions are characterised by drought and scarcity of water, they dug three dams but in 2018 the drought that hit the area left all of them dry.
They were forced to buy water tank vehicles from Kampala that would be used for two-three days.
This was very expensive and they decided to dig the underground well that cost them over sh20m, but he says it was worth the investment as they now have a stable and reliable source of clean water.
The poultry business
Mrs Kibwika says after getting a reliable water source, it was possible for them to venture into poultry keeping, starting with Kuroiler chicken, which she says was very profi table.
“After this successful attempt, we decided to go for layer chicken in 2020. We now have 10,000 birds from which we pick over 150 trays of eggs,” she says.
They went on improving the rearing system that now has both the cage and deep litter systems, where many are in cages and the remaining ones are kept under deep litter.
“The cage system is the best as it minimises feed and water wastage, maximising profits.
Establishing rapak foods
Mrs Kibwika says the low prices for their passion fruits and mangoes made them think outside the box.
It was at this moment that they learnt about the free value-addition training at the Uganda Industrial Research Institute.
She thus applied for a three-month training, where she learned the A-Z of adding value to milk by making yoghurt, making juices and pulp from fruits like mangoes and passion fruits.
“On completion, we bought a pulper and pasteurizer. We installed the two machines in our home garage from where we are making yoghurt from our farm milk including one sweetened by fruits, juices and pulp from our mangoes and passion fruits,” she says.
She adds that the training emphasises food safety, where the processor must ensure that the food is safe for the consumers.
For this, when making juices and pulp from passion fruits, it is washed three times and on the third time disinfected so that all the bacteria and germs are killed.
Then the fruits are cut into half and the pulp scooped into a container, which is then poured into the pulper.
A sack of fruits of about 100kg that would go for about sh500,000 with a good market can produce about 75 litres of pulp.
First mistakes and lessons
Mrs Kibwika says although she went for training, putting what she learnt into practice was a different experience.
“We used to make juices but the formulations were wrong and our juice would go bad very quickly because at times it would be too much sugar and we did not disinfect, among other things, but we kept on moving until we got it right. To remind us of our journey, I made a basket from the bottle tops of the packed juice which we are using as a dust bin,” she says.
Family involvement
Mrs Kibwika says right from inception, the enterprise was set as a family business where all family members’ ideas were considered.
Enosi Magumba, one of the sons attached to Rapak Foods and Beverages, says he realised that working in a family business is far better than looking for a job elsewhere since when the business thrives, the family becomes better.
Derek Kibwika, the other son who owns the broiler chicken and is still at university, says he has realised that farming is a good-paying business if managed well.
“This enterprise has trained me in business management, quality control, marketing and record keeping, among others,” Derek says.
The family is supported by 15 permanent workers.
Challenge
Kibwika says not having electricity at the farm is one of the biggest challenges as they have to transport the fruits and milk to their farm at Mpererwe, where they installed the processing machines. This makes processing expensive, thus minimising the profits.
Plans
Kibwika says the farm is his retirement plan and will ensure that it grows bigger and better.
In the same way, they plan to build the Rapak Factory into a bigger foods and beverage industry by buying more machinery to engage in processing more products and creating more jobs for the community.
Fruit farming
Kibwika says since Luwero is known for growing mangoes, they planted them to rhyme with the business of the community and they are doing well.
On growing passion fruits, they have a family friend who interested them in venturing into the business.
“This friend encouraged to grow passion fruits and I picked interest. We started with one acre of UPF12 variety, which yielded very well. Passion fruit growing is one of the ventures that pay well if you care for them,” she says.
However, market was a challenge where a sack goes for sh300,000. It is from this challenge that they decided to process their fruits and earn more income from their fruits.
Community
Mrs Kibwika says at the time when they were struggling with water, she vowed to God that when her farm gets water, she would share with the community, having seen what the residents were going through to get water.
Therefore, after getting plenty of clean water, they set up a tap for the community from which all the residents get free clean water.
In addition, the farm is also the market for those who grow maize as they buy from them. This has given the community a sense of belonging to the farm, and if thieves come, it is the residents to arrest them.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: The Kibwikas keep over 150 cross breeds of Boer goats. Photo by Herbert Musoke
