How one resident is skilling a village
Community members get training on pasture conservation at Mr George Ahimbisibwe’s home in Kagongi sub-county in Mbarara last week. PHOTO | RAJAB MUKOMBOZI
What you need to know:
- The 30-year-old resident of Mbarara District established a training centre to skill his community members to make a living amid challenges.
After graduating in 2022 with a Diploma in Animal Production and Management, Mr George Ahimbisibwe was unhappy about earning meagre wages. Mr Ahimbisibwe, who graduated from at Rwentanga Farm Institute in Mbarara, resides in Bwengure, Kagongi Sub-county in Mbarara District. After graduation, he started working as a farm manager and was earning between Shs400,000 to Shs500,000 on average a month.
After months on the farm, Mr Ahimbisibwe pondered whether or not to stay or return to his ancestral home, which, unfortunately, was grappling with poverty.
“In the farms I was working, I was offering much more than I expected. But also in my community, where I lived, the young people and women remained unproductive because of a lack of skills and a mindset change. I chose to go back home/in my community and give a helping hand to transform them but also earn a decent income,” he said. On returning home, he set up a training centre on land, less than one acre, which his parents gave him.
The centre was used to teach the community about horticulture with enterprises like cabbage, green pepper, egg plants, tomatoes, pasture management and conservation and banana micro propagation.
“When I finished my studies, I knew there was a challenge of unemployment, so I went back home and asked my parents for land. I mobilised other youth in my village and we started projects including pasture growing, I knew I would be useful to the community, but also earn,” said Mr Ahimbisibwe. In a month, Mr Ahimbibwe said he earns more than Shs2 million from the vegetable gardens and is using his experience to change the mindset of his community members on being productive.
“On a quarter an acre where I am earning more than Shs2 million, I use what others call waste to plant vegetables, which includes empty cement bags, broken pots, jerrycans, and basins to plant the vegetables. These occupy less space but are productive,” Mr Ahimbisibwe said.
He added that even when you do not have land and you can earn through farming. “You can plant on a ladder using potting bags; you cannot fail to have a daily income besides feeding your family. Most of the youth and women in my community are earning a living because of the skills they gain at the training centre here,” Mr Ahimbisibwe said.
He added that he chose the projects that can bring money in the short term, say months, because of a ‘get rich quick mentality’ among several youth.
“The youth want projects that give them quick income, if you engage them in projects that take a long time, they will abandon them. But projects like urban farming, including vegetable growing, gives them quick money,” he explained. Since last September, Mr Ahimbisibwe said he has skilled more than 200 youth and women in his village. Ms Deogratious Namara, a graduate of a Bachelors of Business Administration, said he earns between Shs500,000 and Shs800,000 on average a month from his vegetable gardens.
“What is limiting me is just land. But I hope I will buy mine in the coming years. I know that to go into farming one needs to have a big chunk of land, but on a small land, using resources others call scrap, like empty tins, I am earning,” Mr Namara said. Ms Rebecca Nuwahereza, another beneficiary of the training skills centre at Mr Ahimbisibwe’s home, said he could not believe that gardens can be set up on verandahs.
“I cannot stay in town looking for jobs, I will apply for the jobs when I am here working. Two of my friends went to stay in Mbarara City looking for jobs, but when they visited me recently and saw what I was doing, they chose to go back home and start projects like mine,” Ms Nuwahereza said. Mr Robert Mwesigye, a resident, said the community has benefited a lot because the unemployed youth now have projects at their homes, but also challenges of poor feeding have been addressed. “It is not unusual to see businesspeople looking for vegetables and pasture in our villages.
We thought to earn from farming, you have to engage in bigger projects like animal rearing, coffee growing, but Mr Ahimbisibwe has taught us that you can use a small piece of land and earn a lot,” he said. Mr Francis Karugaba, the Mayor of Rubindi-Ruhumba Town Council, said: “Some of us did not realise that such enterprises as pasture growing and preservation and urban farming can transform communities, especially with people who have small pieces of land. I have been contacted by livestock farmers from Kiruhura, Kazo, looking for pasture, hay, and silage. We need to support these youth, especially in accessing markets.”
Despite a breakthrough towards social-economic transformation, Mr Ahimbisibwe said they face climate change effects and a lack of tools to use, among other challenges. “The area we live in is always affected by prolonged droughts. Irrigation will be an option, but we cannot address this. Also, we need tools to use, like on pasture preservation, because we currently use rudimentary tools,” he said.
Reaping already.
Most of the youth and women in my community are earning a living because of the skills they gain at the training centre– Mr George Ahimbisibwe, a trainer
Statistics
The 2024 National Housing and Population Census report shows that the unemployment rate in Uganda stands at 12.3 percent among persons aged over 15 years with females accounting for 14.2 percent.
