By Umar Nsubuga
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 competitions run 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
When you listen to how passionately Milly Ssebagala speaks about mushrooms and quails, it will tempt one to start these projects.
A visit to her farm in Sebbobbo Busunju village in Mityana district, is incomplete without a taste of quail egg. The mother of five used to operate a secondhand clothes stall in Owino market, Kampala, until 18 years ago when she quit and ventured into farming.
“I realised that one does not need to be an agriculturalist to excel in agriculture. Judging by the farmers I visited, I realised that what one needs is passion and commitment,” Ssebagala says.
“When you reach Ssebagala’s home, hers is one of the model farms in the area,” Harriet Kibule, a resident, says.
How she started
In 2006, Ssebagala sold her market stall. She explains that she was not making any profit and was constantly taking credit while servicing a loan from a microfinance institution at a rate of sh250,000 per month.
“I compared myself to the people who were engaged in agriculture and realised they were better off,” Ssebagala says.
Her husband had bought a 50x100ft plot in Nansana, Kyebando in Wakiso district.
Ssebagala then went to a micro finance organisation and borrowed sh400,000 and also trained in mushroom farming, after which she started the enterprise.
Her first source of manure was her neighbour, who gave her cotton husks.
As Ssebagala’s enterprise expanded, she acquired cotton husks and spawn (seeds) for mushroom production from Jinja district.
“I began growing mushrooms in a small corridor connecting the front and rear of our house as I prepared to convert my poultry house into an incubator and cropping room,” she explains.
Ssebagala sought market for her produce in hotels and several buyers.
Poultry project
In her backyard, she built a poultry unit and spent sh500,000 to buy 500 broilers to kick start the project.
Fortunately, the birds did well and using profits from the project, Ssebagala is expanding to hit her target of 1,000 birds before the end of this year.
Conservation practices The farm is practising environmental conservation by tree planting.
“The more the trees, the more we improve environmental conservation,” Ssebagala says.
She dug trenches across the farm boundaries and planted musizi and mutuba trees in the banana plantations to conserve the environment.
Farm security
I have not faced many challenges of theft. The best security of a farm is your neighbours and workers, Ssebagala says.
She adds that the bio-security has helped her to keep out endemic diseases. In addition to farming, her home centre trains farmers on mushroom growing, quail rearing, value addition and marketing.
“I have trained hundreds of farmers so far. I target farmers with half-an-acre or more land,” she says.
The trainees use the various enterprises at the centre for demonstrations, for example, vegetable growing.
Harriet Namakula, a resident, says the community has benefited from Ssebagala because of her modern methods of farming at her farm.
“The people I employ from the community are beginning to appreciate things, such as vegetable growing,” she says.
One of Ssebagala’s greatest desires is to make a difference in the lives of as many farmers.
Achievements
Ssebagala says she has used proceeds from her farm to build a house for the family and pay her children’s university tuition fees.
She has also used proceeds from the farm to construct the water tanks and bought an exotic cow which is on zero-grazing.
Ssebagala says this cow will bring more income when she sells milk from it.
“My greatest achievement is that I have trained many farmers. I am proud that over 500 farmers, most especially women, have benefited,” she notes.
Involving family
Ssebagala says her daughter loves farming.
“I prefer working with my family members,” she says.
Challenges
Ssebagala says her greatest challenge is the lack of power, disease outbreaks, absence of value addition facilities and water shortages, especially during the dry season.
She hopes to acquire machines to label her products and a reliable water source.
Ssebagala explains that she has been able to survive in farming because she considers it a job.
“I respect my job, which is why I make sure I do not lose it. You can only keep it by doing things right and this requires keeping records of all the farm activities,” Ssebagala explains.
She also says giving back to the farm is important so that you do not become the proverbial farmer, who milks the cow without feeding it, she repairs everything which is damaged.
‘‘I also pay my children when they do farm activities and remind them that this is my job.’’
Plans
Ssebagala’s plan is to rear 10,000 quails and export her mushroom products.
She is also planning to expand the structures for both quails and mushrooms, start a training centres and buy more land.
Mushroom growing
Ssebagala decided to venture into the mushroom business and also train outgrowers.
As trainees increased, she started charging sh5,000 per person and shl0,000 for a small group.
She earns income from mushroom spawning and making substrates.
Ssebagala adds value to mushrooms, making wine, porridge, curry powder and drying them.
Her average returns are sh500,000 per month.
She says mushroom species grown in the tropics need small space and relatively modest capital input.
“There are over 39 species of mushrooms in the tropics,” she adds.
Mushrooms are cultivated in a substrate, which is the medium through which the cultivated mycelium (spawn) grows, according to Ssebagala.
Substrates, include cotton husks, hay, maize cobs, straws, millet, sorghum, rye, coffee pulp, spent tea leaves, wheat, dry bananas, sugarcane bagasse, sawdust and tree logs.
Certain species need fermented substrates and if a fresh one is used, Ssebagala says, the heat generated by microbial activity resulting from the decomposition of easily degradable matter will kill the mycelium.
Fermentation gets rid of easily accessible components, making the substrate stable, treated with heat and spawned.
Hygiene is important in the spawning and cropping rooms of a mushroom farmhouse, if its not done you lose the clients.
When the mushroom begins to form through the nail holes, ‘the largest first fruiting called “flush” will emerge, this stage is important and it needs good handling.
When the stalks sprout, Ssebagala says, plenty of light should be allowed into the cropping room for it to form caps known as “mushroom fruit bodies” which require temperatures of 250c-280c, sufficient ventilation, light, moisture and relative humidity.
On average, each lump produces about 2.5kg of oyster mushrooms, depending on environmental conditions.
Poor strains used to prepare spawns, unsuitable substrates, wrong temperature, lack of moisture or relative humidity and pests and diseases affect mushroom yields.
Expended metal or wire-mesh/gauze and a black cloth or plastic sheets should be put on the windows to keep the room dark and vermin out.
Gains from rearing quail
She is called maama bugubi (Mrs Quail) and she likes it.
If you go to Sebbobbo-Busunju village in Mityana district and ask for Milly Ssebagala, forgive the residents if they say: “We do not know her”, but the moment you ask for Omulimi wa bugubi (Quail farmer), even small children will take you to her farm.
Ssebagala, whose ‘quail kingdom’ is located in Sebbobbo village is not only known for rearing quails, but lives with them and calls them her siblings.
“With quail you do not need a lot of money to start. You can spend less on housing structures, medicines and food. If you are determined, quick returns await,” she explains.
These birds take less time to mature and within six weeks they start laying eggs. They also eat little, on average 20-30 grammes per day.
According to Ssebagala, when it comes to space, they require less. You can put up small structures of wood and mesh, which can be fitted in limited space.
What others say
Moses Kibuuka, Neighbour and farmer
Ssebagala is a role model. I was trained by her to grow vegetables. I admire the way she does her work. Whenever we visit her farm, there is a new crop.
Esther Mwesigwa, daughter and manager
I manage the farm through activities, such as book keeping.
