Miss Uganda: Is the focus on agriculture paying off?
Miss Uganda contestants listen to a facilitator during their boot camp in Namulonge. PHOTO BY GIULIO MOLFESE
Christian Letio, who was a contestant in the 2014 Miss Uganda pageant, invested just Shs100,000 to start growing carrots. With the knowledge that she acquired during trainings offered through Miss Uganda Foundation, when they decided on integrating agriculture-related themes in the beauty contest.
Last year, the contest was the first held under that arrangement. The training was held was at Bukalasa Agricultural College under the theme, “Promoting agriculture entrepreneurship among the youth.”
Inspired
“After the pageant, I went back home [Gulu] and thought of an agricultural project that I would take on. I wanted to rear goats but I did not have the capital. So, I opted for vegetables, which I started on a piece of land that my guardian gave me when I told him my plan,” Letio says.
So far, she has had one harvest. “I managed to harvest about 100kgs of carrots. A kilogramme of carrots in Gulu town goes for Shs5,000 so I made some good money for the start,” she delightfully adds.
Letio hopes to expand her venture into a mixed farm from the money saved from her carrots plus her professional accounting job.
Flavia Ibyara, a past contestant from eastern Uganda, started a project, Eastern Uganda Untapped, which has a few mini-projects under it. One of them is Bbit Cuts, a company she started with a friend, Abraham Barungi.
“We help farmers market their rabbit meat through social media and door-to-door. We also sensitise the locals on benefits of rabbit meat and using rabbit waste as manure to better their yields,” Ibyara explains.
Continue with the theme
Currently, Ibyara and Barungi are doing product development at Uganda Industrial Research Institute. “Our first product is rabbit sausage,” she reveals.
Miss Uganda, Leah Kalanguka, is venturing into large-scale mushroom farming. She plans on moving her backyard mushroom business to a bigger piece of land in Mukono later this year.
This year, and for the next three years, the Miss Uganda Foundation intends to maintain its agriculture-related themes.
The 2015 Miss Uganda contestants had their boot camp at National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Namulonge.
Time factor
They were taken through the basics of agriculture, and the zeal and urge to learn exhibited by these girls was worth noting. It is seen by the way almost all of them had questions for their facilitators.
This is a sign that these young girls will, at the end of the day, leave with some knowledge. The bigger question, however, is whether the time [one week] is enough to spur them into agricultural entrepreneurship.
Janat Nalugya, the project coordinator, Miss Uganda Foundation, intimates that they make sure that the girls get as much knowledge as possible.
“We do not measure time. We measure value. The quality of information is enough for the girls to go out and advocate for the youth to take on agriculture. It changes their perception about agriculture. When their perception is changed, they will be able to change other youths too,” she explains.
Commendable
On the time spent at the boot camp, Nassib Mugwanya, one of the facilitators, argues: “We wish we could have them for even a year, but because of their schedule, we believe this introductory bit is to arouse their interest for enterprise. This exposure gives them the basics. And, by the look of things, they are thrilled. You can tell by their questions.”
Generally, the contestants were taught the importance of modernising agriculture. “I taught them we could modernise our agriculture by, say, choosing to use a tractor of 80 horsepower, instead of 200 people using hoes,” opines Kiggundu, another facilitator, at the bootcamp.
Miss Uganda Foundation, therefore, is playing a role in making the youth embrace agriculture. Being able to inspire three past contestants (even when they lost the contest), and probably many others, into agricultural entrepreneurship is commendable.
