Success Stories from Farmers
A mechanic earning big from piggery
Herbert Wasswa left his home in Nansana in Kampala for Fort Portal town in Kabarole district in search of work as a mechanic. When Wasswa got a wife Nkoba Kevin, they decided to settle in Bakebwa village, Rwengaju Sub County in the same district.
With more responsibilities of raising a family, Wasswa and his wife opted for piggery farming to supplement his earnings from the mechanic job. The two are some of the beneficiaries of the Rwengaju model village, an initiative by H.E the President funded through NAADS.
Under the Rwengaju model village initiative, households were supported with agricultural inputs including planting materials, livestock materials (heifers, pigs and poultry) and value addition equipment (milk cooler) with the aim of improving their incomes.
Wasswa and Nkoba
We received 5 pigs (4 female and one male) under the initiative in February 2019. All the 4 female pigs gave birth and we currently have over 40 pigs at our farm. We sold some piglets and used the money to take care of our family needs mainly paying school fees.
Piggery has now become a business in which we earn money, and it has helped us to keep busy and not remain redundant when mechanical jobs are not available. We have also trained our children on how to manage the piggery business which keeps them busy when they are not at school.
When the pigs gave birth, we passed on 5 piglets to our neigbour Amanyire Camplyn as it is the policy in the Rwengaju Model Village initiative and under the NAADS programme.
The challenge
Our challenge is lack of extension services. Extension workers rarely visit us yet we need advice on how to manage our piggery project and how we earn more from this project.
Age is just a number to Clovis Agaba the chairperson of Kyabakewa village in Rwengaju sub county in Kabarole district. At 61, Agaba serves as an example to the people he leads by engaging in profitable farming.
Agaba took advantage of the Rwengaju model village initiative by H.E the President funded through NAADS to start up a piggery project to supplement his income. He is a member of a piggery committee established to promote piggery farming in Rwengaju sub county.
Clovis Agaba
I received 5 pigs (I male and 4 female) in 2019 under the Rwengaju model village initiative and from the five i got more than 50 pigs though we have sold some of them and invested the money. From the money I got from selling the pigs, I gave some to my wife Jane Agaba to start a small retail shop.
The retail shop supplements our income as a family and the money we get from the small shop takes care of our needs in the home like sugar, salt, power and other.
We are currently planning to acquire a heifer and the money from the piggery project has helped us to construct a shelter for the heifer.
Challenge
Our biggest challenge is the high cost of feeds and treatment when the pigs are in bad health.