Rakai brothers join hands to farm together, share the profits

At Lwemikoma village, Kirumba Sub-county, in Rakai District, live four hard working brothers determined to succeed as farmers against all odds.

When their father died he left them four acres of land. Contrary to common practice which is to share the land by dividing it up, they chose to use it together for farming.

“When we unite as a team we are stronger and we benefit more,” Zachary Ssegawa told Seeds of Gold.
“If we had chosen to share it up, we would each have small gardens and we would not have the much-needed capital for gainful farming.”
The brothers agreed to work together and share the profits.
Beside Ssegawa, there is John Lozio, Lawrence Muwanguzi and Peter Ssentongo.

The four also grow passion fruit on two acres at Bbulamazzi near Kalisizo Town.

One of their biggest achievements is the purchase of an irrigation system comprising of two water pumps, two long hoses, and tarpaulins.

Their land is close to Kyoja Swamp, which is their source of water during the dry season. One pump gets the water from the swamp through a hose into a pool (big hole fitted with tarpaulin) in their garden up the hill. The other pump drives the water through another hose to whichever side of the garden they want watered.

Where they fail to carry sufficient water with the hose, they carry it in plastic containers, drawing it from the pool in the garden.
“Long dry spells are quite common and they are a hindrance to successful farming,” Ssegawa explains. “Since we live near a swamp we thought it worthwhile to invest in irrigation.”

Bridge the gap

They grow cloned Robusta coffee, green pepper, passion fruit, pumpkins, avocado and bananas.
Coffee, a major cash crop, has two harvest seasons a year that are rather far between. To bridge the gap, they grow annual crops they sell for regular income.

“Irrigation costs money since we have to buy fuel for the water pump. It is why we grow annual crops from which to earn money to take care of such needs. We also offer irrigation services to other farmers.”

As a way of sharing the profits, they attend to each other needs in turns. Ssegawa was sponsored for a diploma in veterinary medicine. After him, Ssentongo was sponsored to do a certificate in agriculture.

Since they are unmarried, they also live in one house.
“We have a bank account for our savings and we discuss and agree how to spend it. We intend to use the skills the two of us have got in rearing poultry and pigs. When we have livestock, it will be the source of our own manure.”

They also hope to offer consultancy services and to make their farm a point of reference, where people come to seek knowledge at a small cost.

The brothers have also invested in visiting successful farmers in Uganda and attending agricultural shows, which they say have been a most valuable source of inspiration.

They recently sold three tonnes of pumpkins to traders from Kampala. Earlier, they sold several gunny bags of green pepper.
Ssentongo disclosed that they decided to give more attention to passion fruit.

“We have set up a separate garden at Bbulamazzi near Kalisizo Town, where we work on some days. Even here where passion fruit is intercropped with coffee or bananas, we earn a minimum of Shs600,000 from it every fortnight. ”

Despite the on-going drought in July, their coffee crop was flowering and quite green thanks to irrigation. However, he warned that irrigation also supports weed growth and the farmer must be prepared to be working hard to address that challenge.