Nansubuga traded chalk for the hoe

After only twenty years in civil service, Jane Nansubuga, then 43 years old, took retirement in 2019.

Besides earning a living from her teaching job, Nansubuga also gained a lot of recognition and awards because of the perfection she exhibited while at work.

Because of being a good and an outstanding teacher, Nansubuga was among the 20 teachers selected for the “The Teachers Making a Difference” award in 2019.  The award recognises teachers who positively impact the lives of their students and their communities.

Being an outstanding teacher saw her being recommended for a teacher exchange programme in Norway where she taught African Art for two years.

It is not surprising that the Fine Art teacher excelled during her eight-year career.

Out of   the classroom

The resident of Banda Village in Kisoga Town Council, Mukono District, Nansubuga however, opted to retire while teaching at Mengo Senior School, in Kampala, where she had been for 17 years.

Nansubuga says, becoming a teacher was a calling from God and when her father John Kizito tried to persuade her to become a lawyer, she stuck to her guns yet she had made good grades that could have enabled her to join law school.

Prior to her placement at Mengo SS, Nansubuga had taught at Kasawo SS in Mukono District, which was her first appointment, for only three years.

“In 2019, I felt I had done my part and I could no longer give excellent services to my students like before. I am a perfectionist and I don’t want to be a mediocre,” Nansubuga a mother of four says, adding: “My mantra is I either do it or don’t do it. So, I quit to engage in commercial farming.”

The pressing needs

Besides, teaching becoming boring Nansubuga says at the time her four children had joined high school and others university, so she needed more money to pay for their education. As a classroom teacher, Nansubuga could not afford to raise more than Shs4m per term.

Despite many head teachers who know her good work going to her home and promising her juicy offers, she has refused to return to class.

Her eldest child is pursuing civil engineering and others are in high school. It was at this point that Nansubuga during the first Covid-19 induced lockdown tried her hand at commercial farming.

For her, farming comes second after teaching.

She attained education through the income her father earned from farming.

“As a child, my father used to allocate my siblings and I, plots to weed in the coffee shamba and also do other work during holidays. This inspired me to become a farmer,” the now 46-year-old Nansubuga says.

In 2019, using savings from her teaching job, Nansubuga bought six acres of land in Banda, Mukono District. She bought the abandoned rocky and hilly land at Shs30m per acre on which she practices organic commercial farming.

She set up a family home, where she lives with her children.

Enterprises

Nansubuga has a piggery unit of 60 animals, one-and-half acre of mangoes, a quarter acre of guava plantation, half acre of passion fruits, and banana plantations plus two dairy cows.

She sells a bunch of gonja at a minimum of Shs40,000 and when mango season is on, Nansubuga says, she earns more than Shs1m in a week.

“I don’t market my produce but, buyers come to my farm. The local market around is big enough,” she says.

She also sells gonja suckers at Shs5,000 each and trains people in modern agronomy practices.

Every month, Nansubuga says, she earns about Shs4m much higher than what she used to earn as a teacher (Shs800,000).

She is quick to explain one of the ways she uses her land.

“Because the soil is rocky, I dig big holes where I put a lot of manure from  my animals...” she explains and leaves the subject.

To sumpplement her income, Nansubuga, sometimes makes gonja crisps, packs passion fruits and guavas, which she sells to supermarkets under the trademark, Sprout Farms.

No regrets

Nansubuga says she does not miss anything about her previous job. The only similarity is that she is as busy as she was while teaching.

Currently, Nansubuga is constructing an office from where she will meet her clients.

Free time

The retired teacher says she has no free time as she spends most of her time in the garden. However, on Sunday she goes to church for prayers.

Challenges

Unreliable rains are her biggest challenge as during long droughts she incurs a lot of losses but she says she plans to set up an irrigation system to water her crops during droughts.

 Also, pests attack her mangoes and guava which necessitates her to buy repellents to stop them.