Buseesa Demonstration Farm has hosted a team of 70 leaders from the Karamoja Region. The team that was led and sponsored by the Microfinance Support Centre had a one-day tour and learn trip at Buseesa Demonstration Farm.
They were welcomed by Mr. Lubega Richard, the Director of Buseesa Demonstration Farm who took them through projects at the Farm. Richard was supported by different farm technical staff.
Lubega said that the farm sits on four acres of land and on it, he has goats, poultry, piggery, fish, dairy cattle, rabbit, apiary, hass ovacado, coffee and banana projects.
Our farm is a 4-acre model farm set up for the social-economic transformation of Uganda. The projects on the farm complement each other. That is to say, the droppings from cattle, poultry, goats, and piggery are used as manure in the banana, coffee, and hass avocado gardens. We also use droppings from poultry as feeds for our fish. We also generate energy for cooking from our bio-gas system which uses dung from cows and goats. We save a lot of money that would be spent on charcoal and at the same conserving the environment. Said Richard
Richard brought to the attention of visitors that he makes a sum of 290,000,000 per year from his 4 acre model and he employs over 40 workers adding that he has created employment for many youth in Uganda.
Mr. Lena Godfrey who is one of the team leaders said that they came with a lot of expectations and most of them have been addressed by Buseesa Demonstration Farm.
We have come to find out what is viable at Buseesa Demonstration Farm, the practices, how you can produce a lot in a small space, and yet for us we have too much space there, and then later on we go and replicate. We are happy we are seeing a lot of development initiatives. We are very excited and we hope we are going to replicate what we have learned here. When you don’t have the right knowledge and skills you just go and drink the money from emyooga, PDM, and other government programs. But when you have the knowledge, you can easily make something good out of the money from government and other sources. Says Lena Godfrey
Jenifer who represented the Moroto District Chief Administrative Officer said that the visit is so good for the people of Karamoja because they have learned a lot of things that are not actually in Karamoja. The people of Karamoja have learned a lot of things. We have learned how rabbits and, goats are kept, how to utilize cow dung to do diversification, and how to keep poultry among others. Jenifer applauded the Microfinance Support Centre for sponsoring the team to come and learn.
Some of the visitors were given cuttings for sugar napier (one of the silage grasses fed on by cattle) to plant for their cows.
The team that visited the farm included but is not limited to Religious leaders, Women Leaders, and Political and technical staff from Karamoja Region.
