Boda boda man finds gold in pigs, tomato growing

I am Geoffrey Ssemujju, 30, a resident of Kaazi village in Kayunga Sub-county, Kayunga District. I dropped out of school in Senior Five due to school fees problems. I do tomato growing as well as pig rearing. I do both enterprises on one acre. However, I started the piggery unit to support the tomato enterprise because I use the pig droppings and urine as manure and pesticide respectively in the tomato garden.
However, before I started these enterprises in 2013, I was a boda boda rider in Kampala. As a boda boda rider, I was earning about Shs10,000 a day. However, I was renting a house, where I was residing with my family plus buying food and other things, and my income was small.

For this reason, I decided to go back to Kayunga to do farming. Even though I had no personal land, I hired from a friend at Shs600,000 a year. Since I had heard that tomatoes were marketable, I decided to give the crop a try. But, I found problems when it came to buying pesticides and fertlisers.
These were not only expensive but I discovered that some of them were fake, thus ineffective. Since my home is just a stone throw away from Centenary Community College, an institution that teaches, among other things agriculture, I went to the college and asked the lecturers and students what things I should do in order to boost my agricultural productivity.

It was at this point that I was told using organic or natural fertilisers like farmyard, compost manure and animal excreta/waste can boost my tomato growing project.
But of all the animal waste available, I was told that pig waste contained higher nutrients for the soil, therefore, I was advised to do piggery alongside tomato growing.
Also, pigs have a ready market, produce many piglets at a go and grow faster compared to other animals such as cattle and goats.
I boldly took the advice. For a start, I bought four Large White breed piglets from the College Farm at Shs50,000 each.
This breed produces on average around 11-15 piglets. The Large White breed also has an excellent feed conversion ratio and the pigs are capable of achieving high daily live weight gain.

How I constructed the building for pigs
I constructed the simple structure using timber, poles and iron sheets. I constructed it in such a way that the compartments, where the pigs live are not very near the ground. The compartments are three and half feet above the ground. I did this because if they are close to the soil, the pigs can get into contact with the dirt from where they can get infected with parasites.
Secondly, there is enough space below the stalls. It is easy for me to clean underneath. The iron-roof on the structure is five and a half feet high, which allows good ventilation since pigs don’t want hot conditions.

How I use urine and waste
When the pigs excrete, I collect the urine, waste and the plant remains. To tap all the urine I dug channels underneath the building housing the pigs. So, all the urine amasses in a shallow basin-like hole from where get it and pour it into a big cemented dip. I keep the urine in this container for two months. This helps to remove excess acids and to allow it to cool. Too much acid can harm the crops. I later soak wood ash into water to get a liquid which I mix in the urine.

How I use the urine and manure in the tomato garden
For the excreta and plant remains, I collect and pile them. I use a hoe and rake to change it after every one month. After three months the manure is ready for use in the garden.
Two months before the rain season begins I start preparing my tomato planting activities. I do this during the dry season because it helps me to get a good market for my produce (tomatoes) since few farmers can afford to grow crops during this period when there are no rains. I start by potting my tomato seeds. In the pots, I firmly place the manure and then put a seed inside the soil.

After one month, the seedlings are ready for transplanting into the main garden which I prepare well. I grow Assila tomato variety because it is high-yielding, is not highly susceptible to drought and disease. It also has a longer shelf-life, so traders like it.
When planting the seedlings in the main garden, I remove the polythene bags and then plant the seedlings. Before planting the seedlings in the holes, I put manure first, which I cover with a thin layer of soil. This is so because if I plant the seedling directly in the manure, the compost can scald the plant.

I later plant the seedling and cover it with soil. Because I plant the tomato seedling in holes with manure, they can grow well even during long dry spells.
This kind of creativity enables me to get good market for my tomatoes because while other farmers begin planting on the onset of rains, for me, I would be weeding and spraying.
Like now, I am selling a box of tomatoes at Shs200,000 because there is scarcity of tomatoes on the market.
When the tomato is attacked by tomato blight or wilt (Muwotoka or okubabuka) I get the urine-ash concoction, which I apply on the roots by removing a thin layer of soil. In most cases, these plants sprout again.
This has helped me to get high yields unlike previously when my tomatoes used to dry up and I had poor yields.

Harvest and market
Currently, I harvest 10 boxes of tomatoes from the half acre tomato garden. The present price for each box is Shs200,000. I expect it to go up to Shs250,000 a box by the beginning of next month due to increased scarcity as well as the high demand.
My customers include traders from Kampala, Juba and Jinja. However, traders from Juba pay a higher price though they don’t buy poor grade tomatoes like others. However all of them pay me cash in most cases. I hope to earn about Shs8m from this half acre of tomatoes. I have so far got Shs1.5m in just two harvests.
Piggery enterprise
This enterprise now has 15 pigs. All of them are Large White breed. I feed them on sweet potato vines and maize bran.

Market
I sell a big male pig (boar) of nine months between Shs600,000 and Shs800,000. I also sell a two month old piglets at Shs70,000 while those that are four months old at Shs100,000. One sow can produce over 10 piglets at a go.
The customers who buy the pigs mainly come from Kampala. The buy them from my home so I don’t incur transport costs.

Training other farmers
On my farm I train other farmers who want to learn how to grow and rear pigs. I also train them on how to use organic manure in their gardens. Most of them come from other districts. I charge them Shs20,000 per person. I always do the training on Sundays because it is during this day that I don’t work in the garden.

Future plans
In future I intend to venture into business using proceeds from my two enterprises. This will diversify my earning.
I also plan to increase on the tomato garden acreage because I now have got the experience. This will also increase my earnings.

Challenges
My biggest challenge now is lack of a water source since pig rearing and tomato growing require a lot of water. I now use between 10-15 water jerrycans of 20 litres every day, for both enterprises. I buy each jerry can at Shs200. This requires me to hire a porter who fetches it from a borehole which is a bit far from my home.
However, I intend to dig a water source, which will not only reduce the amount of money I spend on buying water but also provide water in the proximity.
Also, the high cost of inputs such as seeds reduce my profits. For example, a tin of Assila seed variety is at Shs700,000.

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