The success story of a city farmer

Behind Shell petrol station on Jinja Road, and across the road near the railway line is a stretch of land. On it, there is a man digging. As other people pass by the wire fence that separates his garden from the pavement, others stop and call him.
He immediately drops the hoe and goes to sell them vegetables which are always available on his farm stall. Digging and attending to these customers is Charles Kwebingira’s typical day.

When he, with several workers, were laid off from the Uganda Railways Corporation, he did not walk away cursing. Instead, he approached the management and asked them to rent him part of the railway land for cultivation. It was easy, because while he still worked with the railway line he used a small part of the company’s land for farming.

“They charged me Shs1m for two years and I started working, but they did not charge me fees the third year because they realised I had helped them cut the expenses they used to pay salaries to people who were slashing the land,” he says. Kwebingira’s job before leaving the company was to slash the grass and shrubs along the railway line.

While there are other farmers on this land, Kwebingira is the one who does full-time farming and on a relatively large scale. His garden sits on two acres. Most of the food items on his farm gate are freshly harvested. They include egg plants, bitter tomatoes, sukuma wiki, greens like gobbe, doodo, tomatoes and other vegetables. “People like buying from me because I sell them fresh vegetables,” he says.

His customers range from passersby, who usually are returning home, to stall owners in his neighbourhood like Kibuli, Namuwongo and other places. He is lucky because he does not have to involve middlemen as all his customers find him here. He makes about Shs10,000 every day. And he is not bothered by Kampala City Council because he sells his products within the fence of his garden.

One thing that keeps a smile on his face is that, he is not limited by seasons. Vegetables are available at his stall every day of the week. It works this way; as one egg plant is germinating, another is flowering and the other one is ready for harvesting.
That happens because he plants in stages. “There are even times when they are so many that they get wasted,” he says. He adds that bitter egg plants which are enjoyed by many city dwellers, can last up to two years, while he picks them on a daily basis.

Not only does Kwebingira reap financially, he also returns home with food for his family. His home is in Kibuli, close to his garden so he doesn’t spend money on transport to and from his home, or when going downtown to the Container Village to buy farm inputs.

He is happy. “I get some money to use on a daily basis. I am paying school fees for my five children and I also bought a piece of land at Shs4m in Kabale which I hope to develop very soon.” He is currently developing another garden on the other side of the railway line.

Improved farming methods
Two years ago, like many farmers in Uganda, Kwebingira’s methods of farming were poor. His harvests and profits were largely dependent on the weather. But now he has gotten wiser.

He has just finished digging a small dam from where he will be fetching water to spray his crops. In recent months also, he started applying fertilisers to enrich the soils. “Ever since I started applying fertilisers, my profits have increased,” he says.
Much as almost everything appears blissful for this city farmer, there are a couple of challenges he faces. Because his garden is within the city centre attracts many thieves. A private security guard for a nearby bank has been helping him patrol his garden, but thieves still keep coming. “Whenever I got them and took them to police, policemen always asked me to feed them until the time they would be remanded to Luzira prison. And I had to pay Shs10,000 for their transportation to the prison. If I didn’t, police would release them and they would come back to my garden,” he says. But now the incidences of theft have reduced a bit.

More to that; “Because customers see that I grow the vegetables myself, they always want me to sell them many things cheaply. But I always tell them that I have to sell at the market price because farm inputs are very high.”

However, since most of these are his daily customers, he has to compromise. He sells five egg plants at Shs500, greens at Shs200, tomatoes range from Shs400, Shs500 and Shs2000 and about a bunch of about 20 bitter tomatoes at Shs200.
Kwebingira says he has been farming a long time, and he has become weak. He wants to acquire capital and start up a business. Nevertheless he does not regret venturing into farming, and urban farming at that.

Well, as food prices and other commodities rise, it would make sense for city dwellers with access to any size of land to start practicing urban agriculture. It doesn’t have to be to the size of Kwebingira’s garden.

Homeowners willing to put some effort into this, can be sure to keep the cost of their grocery bills down, as well as earn money by selling their surplus produce. The Ministry of Agriculture could also step up and encourage urban agriculture to boost food security.