From 200,000 pineapple suckers from NAADS, Luwero farmer owns 100 acres
Jimmy Wamala dropped out of school over 20 years ago due to lack of school fees, his future became uncertain. He, however, says the experience forced him to think outside the proverbial box and started doing small income-generating projects to earn a living. Eventually, Wamala decided to venture into farming. Today he is a successful pineapples farmer.
The resident of Luweero district and a primary seven dropout has turned pineapples farming into a gold mine earning handsomely from his agricultural practices.
The 38-year-old owns 40-acre pineapples farm adjacent to several coffee gardens in the area.
Wamala says it has not been an easy journey, but a result of hard work and perseverance.
He notes that he settled for pineapples growing because of encouragement from, Luweero district technical personnel.
“When NAADS organised a training for farmers in Luweero, I was encouraged by the district officials to attend and the fact that the weather conditions and soils in Luweero are suitable for the crop. I gladly embraced the trainings to learn new ideas regarding the pinneaple cultivation,” he recalls.
They were also equipped with skills ranging from early land preparation, planting in proper lines, post-harvest handling, pest and disease control among others.
Later after the training, NAADS secretariat through Operation Wealth Creation, supported him with 200,000 pineapple suckers in 2014.
From the exposure field visits of farmers who had embraced pineapples farming before him, he was motivated to hire huge chunks of land to plant all the pineapple suckers.
He has since progressed from hiring 30 acres to 100 acres. By the time of our visit, we found him when he had extended to Kakooge in Nakasongola where he owns about 50 acres all under pineapple cultivation.
His target is to earn handsomely from his sweat. “From my farming practices I make sure I earn sh7m every month from pineapples sales but my target is sh25m in the next three years,” says the gumboots wearing farmer.
He has also mobilized and formed an association-Luweero pineapples farmers and traders association, a farmer’s group which consists of 40 farmers to offer production support services to pineapple farmers.
Wonder full so how can determine if my land is able to satisfaction that
Cool keep on ambracing more lives .That way we shall kick the poverty level in Uganda villages Keep it up!!!!👍👍
Thanks. This is a great venture. Are there new opportunities for beginners like me? Kindly I would like to venture into tomatoes farming within Luweero district. Advice me please.
Good work and quite encouraging.
Hello Mr Patel,I have 100 acres of pineapples, ready for harvest in 1 month,where can I find you?