Masumba will not turn his back on maize

Farmer Rodgers Masumba is determined to plant more maize. PHOTO by ismael kezaala

What you need to know:

  • Despite losses as a result of a drop in prices, Rodgers Masumba is not about to quit growing maize.
  • He told Desire Mbabaali the bad season has instead energised him to plant more maize.

The joy of bumper maize harvests has turned into worry and uncertainty following the drastic fall in maize prices in the country.
That story is no different from one that Rodgers Masumba, a farmer in Mpigi, Mawokota tells.
Masumba is another of the many farmers whose livelihood depends on what the next season will have to offer them, only to be disappointed by the market prices.
“At the beginning of the season, many farmers rent land from where they can grow their crops since not many of us hold large pieces of land. So, because we are running away from subsistence farming, we rent more land from landlords who are willing,” Masumba explains.

How he started
This season, he rented 10 acres of land to grow maize at Shs100,000 per acre, paying his landlord a total of Shs1million.
“I bought maize seeds of Shs100,000 for planting in the 10 acres. I also hired a tractor to have the land cultivated. A tractor cultivates each acre at Shs180,000 which is a total of 1.8million to have all the 10 acres cultivated. To do all these, I borrowed Shs4 million from the bank with a hope and promise to repay after harvesting,” he says.
However, in the course of the season, he had to carry out garden maintenance practices such as weeding and spraying of pests.
“I bought pesticides at Shs500,000 and the cost of labour to spray the 10 acres was Shs150,000,” he calculates.
Fortunately for him, and many other farmers, the rains where sufficient during the season, enough for the bumper harvests they needed.

Bumper harvest
“I have harvested a lot of maize, some of it is still in the garden, but what is disappointing, however are the market prices,” Masumba decries.
“At the beginning of the harvest season, I sold a small portion of maize when the prices were still high, but right now, they just continue going down. Currently, they buy maize cheaply from us. 100 kilogrammes of maize is at Shs20,000 rendering a kilogramme of maize at Shs200. I therefore have to sell about 50 bags of 100 kilogrammes to get just Shs1 million. Meaning, I need 200 bags of 100 kilogrammes to pay the Shs4 million bank loan,” he thoughtfully estimates.
Just in front of his house, in the compound, loads of maize, still in cob form is lying under the sun on tarpaulins.
When asked why he has not packed the grains into bags, Masumba explains that he has no money left to do that.
“I even don’t have the cash to pay for the shelling machine to remove the grains from the cob,” he says, adding that every 100kgs are shelled at Shs4000.
“The farmer at the grass root level is the most affected by these maize prices and right now, we do not know what to do. I am in constant worry and anxiety now, especially about that bank loan. I was given four months to repay it, but I haven’t even got the money yet. At the current market price, I cannot get even half of the money I invested,” he worryingly notes.

No way out
Though having the maize stored until the prices go up again may be an option to some, it is not one Musumba thinks he can pull off.
“I would have said that I will store the maize but I have a loan to pay. But again, the option of having the loan extended means higher interest rates which means I will have to pay more money, which I don’t have,” he says.

A cry for help
Though government has disbursed money to increase the price of maize from Shs200 to Shs500, Masumba is skeptical the farmers will be able to benefit from this scheme. However, if all goes as government has anticipated, he is positive this price will bail out farmers.
“The Shs500 is better compared to the current Shs200 per kilogramme, which is too low compared to what we invested,” he says.
At Shs500, Masumba will be able to pocket Shs50,000 from 100 kilogramme bag of maize. He will then need 20 bags, rather than 50 bags of 100 kilogrammes to get Shs1 million and a total of 80 bags rather than 200bags of 100 kilogrammes of maize to get Shs4 million to pay off the bank loan.