MP uses farming to practice what he “preaches”
Lugolobi inspecting his maize plantation. Photo by Fred Muzaale.
What you need to know:
Politicians always talk about agriculture and how it can improve livelihoods. Here is one who showed Fred Muzaale that he does not only talk but also walks the talk.
I am Amos Lugoloobi, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ntenjeru North, which is in Kayunga District and I am serving my first term as the area MP.
I was born in a peasant family in Namulanda village, Kayunga Sub-county, Kayunga District. As a child I worked in the garden with my parents and also helped them graze goats, sheep and cattle. From this experience, I always had an interest in practising agriculture later in life.
However, while at Uganda Investment Authority, where I worked before I became an MP, I could not fully focus on or engage in farming. This was because the nature of work allowed me little time to do this.
But as an MP, I have got the time to always be in the constituency interacting with my people. During these interactions, I discovered that I should also engage in commercial farming not only to diversify my income but also use the farm to help farmers in the area.
In this way, they would learn from me modern farming methods to boost their crop yields and thus earn higher incomes.
So, in 2012, a year after being elected, I bought 600 acres of land in Misanga village, Galilaaya Sub-county.
Setting up
On the farm, I constructed a barn or shed for the goats at a cost of Shs2m. I also bought barbed wire worth Shs 9m to fence off the land for the cattle kraal.
After that I bought 80 indigenous goats with a history of giving birth to triplets or duplets. Each cost Shs60,000. To this, I added 20 Boer goats, which I bought at Shs600,000 each, from a farmer in Wakiso who had imported them from South Africa.
I mixed the goats with a target of crossing the local breeds with the Boers. After five months, the goats delivered kids, some of them were triplets while others were duplets. The goat herd increased. Currently, there are about 320 goats. I sell a crossed goat at about Shs500,000. I sometimes offer goats to my constituents for cross breeding purposes.
I also bought 60 head of cattle, most of them indigenous breeds and some cross breeds. There are now 150 heads of cattle. However, I have not invested much into the business of selling milk because the cows are not for dairy purposes.
For the crops, I planted 15 acres of land with maize of the MM3 variety; I use a grader to clear the land. I bought the seeds from the agricultural research institute at Namulonge at Shs 6,500 per kilogramme.
This is an early maturing variety, it is ready after 80 days, and it is also high yielding. From the 15 acres of maize, I earned about Shs10m. After deducting the expenses, the profit was about Shs 7m. This season, I have planted 40 acres of maize from which I hope to get about Shs 30m.
For labour, I pay people from the area to plant and weed the garden and I also employ a farm manager and a herdsman who looks after the animals.
Learning from me
I am currently clearing 15 acres of land, where I want to plant water melon. I use cow dung and goat dung as manure in the gardens so I do not spend money on buying fertilisers.
Some of my constituents have started coming to my farm to learn from what I do and I hope this will help them increase their yields.
I do not charge for learning on my farm because as a leader, I want them to combat poverty and increase food security in their households.
Having a farm has taught my constituents that we as leaders should practice what we “preach” to them. Furthermore, as an MP, I feel I should not rely on the monthly salary but seek ways of diversifying means of income. This is a lesson that the constituents should also learn.
In addition, whenever I organise sports competitions I get a goat or cow from my farm and offer them as prizes to best teams.
Future plans
But as you know, every kind of work has challenges. My biggest challenge include the monkeys and wild pigs, which eat my maize in garden. This has forced me to employ people who patrol the plantations with guard dogs.
The other is lack of an irrigation system in my farm to enable me grow crops the whole year. Since River Nile is near my farm, it would be easy for me to grow crops even during dry periods using irrigation. During long dry seasons, I incur losses as my crops wither.
But in future I hope to install an irrigation system on the farm. I also plan to buy dairy cattle so that I can begin selling milk to increase my income from the farm.
