Pineapples saved me from maize losses

Saul Makumbi checks his pineapples. The farmer found passion for the fruits after giving up on farming maize. Photo Fred Muzaale .

What you need to know:

Saul Makumbi’s pineapples are of smooth cayenne variety, which he sourced from a single planting material of a fellow farmer and has propagated all her current plants from it, writes Fred Muzaale.

The late morning sun is searing as Seeds of Gold visits Saul Makumbi’s pineapple farm in Kyampisi village, Kayunga Sub-county in Kayunga District.
A sweet smell of pineapple hits my nostrils as I approach Makumbi’s farm deep in Kayunga District.
We find the 35-year-old on the farm harvesting a section of the fruits as he walks around checking on others.

Makumbi earns Shs600,000 weekly from pineapples on his three-acre farm. He decided to cultivate pineapple 10 years ago after abandoning coffee and maize farming.
Makumbi says he quit maize due to poor payments that did not match his investment into the crop. Pineapples have, therefore, been a source of his livelihood since then.

“I used to plant maize but the production was low. Even the money from maize was not sufficient. I decided to change and that is how I ventured into pineapple farming. From pineapples I have been generating income week in, week out all year round,” said Makumbi.
“Pineapple farming is a lucrative business that requires little capital investment but gives high returns with minimal management as they can do well even in the period of long dry spells,” he adds.
Maize farming proved expensive for the farmer as he always spent roughly Shs500,000 on an acre to purchase seeds, fertilisers, ploughing land and purchasing of chemicals to control weeds.

Pineapples, however, require minimal fertiliser and are rarely affected by pests and diseases when compared to maize.Pineapples grow well at altitudes ranging from 100m to 1,800m above sea level with rainfall ranges from 600 to about 1500mm annually.
The crop does well in soils with high murram content as they allow for aeration than those with high clay content.

Pineapple farming
He started the venture in 2008, planting more than 500 seedlings in an eighth of an acre after purchasing the suckers from a neighbour.
Each sucker cost him Shs300. He applied 10 wheelbarrows of farm yard manure and planted using the double row system which makes it easier to manage and also gives higher yields.
It took roughly nine months for the fruits to mature and yield the first fruits which he sold at between Shs2,000 and Shs5,000 depending on the size of the fruits.

Expands farm
Makumbi says he used the proceeds to cultivate and widen the size of the land under pineapples.
As pineapples grow they develop suckers which Makumbi transplanted to the rest of his three acre farm with the help of his children.
“Before planting, sorting should be done to separate slips, suckers and trash, only healthy suckers should be used for planting and the defective ones removed to ensure uniformity,” Makumbi explains.

Weeding
The farmer says it is important to weed the plants regularly to ensure maximum production, calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) can also be added at the rate of one bag per acre once in a year to promote growth and development of important plant tissues.
One bag of CAN costs Shs55,800 to Shs70,000 in various agro vet outlets in major towns of Uganda.

Market
Makumbi now harvests more than 200 fruits in a week which he sells at various markets within Kayunga, Nagalama town and Gayaza trading centres.
He also sells to middlemen from Kampala who buy in bulk. Each fruit is sold at between Shs1,500 and Shs5,000 depending on the size.
But if the fruit is cut and sold in pieces the returns are high fetching more than Shs8,000. This endeavour earns him more than Shs700,000 in a good week.
“Travellers constitute 80 per cent of my market. I have hired salesmen who station along major stopovers on the highway,” says Makumbi.

Achievements
In this, he has been able to educate his children comfortably besides earning income to sustain his family’s livelihood.
Makumbi has also used some of the proceeds from his pineapples to build a house.

Labour
He employs seven workers who do the weeding, spraying of herbicides and applying fertilisers and also harvesting. He pays them Shs70,000 a month each.

Challenges
The biggest challenge he faces is the fluctuation in prices for pineapples, especially since outbreak of a civil war in South Sudan, which has been his main market.
Sometimes he also incurs losses as some traders he supplies delay to make payments.

Advice
He advises farmers to feed the fruits with little water because if well-planted and mulched, the fruit recycles its own water.
“For the pineapple to root, it takes about one to three months but to test the progress you can tug the crown to see if the fruit is taking hold in the soil,” he says.