Masaka teacher turns to pig farming
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| Ms Elizabeth Nakabuye in her piggery |
Forty-year old, Elizabeth Nakabuye was a teacher by profession before turning
to farming but it was not a love for farming that made Nakabuye turn her back
on the teaching profession. A single mother of four, Nakabuye was struggling to
make ends meet with poor pay and a deteriorating health situation. She suffers
from diabetes.
“Money from teaching was meagre and I had so many demands. My health
was deteriorating and I needed time to rest yet I had to earn. I decided to
slow down on my work and decided to start farming. One time, I visited a friend
in Nkozi who encouraged me to start keeping pigs. Ten years ago, having come
to the conclusion that farming provided the best option to her problems, Nakabuye
started off with two female pigs. Today she boasts of a piggery unit of 50 pigs
and has expanded her back yard shelter to a quarter acre to cater for the expanding
“I was excited when I earned a lot of money from my first two pigs. So
I decided to specialize in just pigs. However, it was not until four years ago
that I started earning high incomes from this enterprise, Nakabuye says. “Because
I had the interest and was already engaged in farming, I was identified by the
NAADS team in Masaka as a model farmer. They decided that while I needed more
money, it was the technical advice on good practices that I needed most. This
has made all the difference.” She says. Amongst other things, NAADS took
Nakabuye on various exchange programs for training.
“The important thing was expansion of my project. I was using a small
area here where I could constantly check on the pigs and ensure their cleanliness,”
she says. “But sometimes it would become too crowded. The pigs had problems
with the swine fever and also the cost of the feeds was rising. NAADS intervened
and gave me feeds and also offered to build me a shelter as long as I had the
land.” But the support from NAADS also came with conditions. As a model
farmer, Ms. Nakabuye is required to share information and technical knowledge
with other members of the community and also allow NAADS to use her farm as
a learning centre.
“Initially we shared as a group but now, many community members come
to learn from here and many have started the same projects in their homes.”
she said. From the sale of her piglets, Nakabuye raised money to buy land for
the expanded shelter and a water catchment tank. She also ventured into other
farming enterprises; a banana plantation, as well as a vegetable garden. These
gardens are also purely organic utilizing only waste from the
piggery as manure.
“I am happy. I have five mother pigs now that produce three times a year.
They produce over 10 piglets each. From the five pigs alone, I make over five
million shillings every year,” she states. She envisions that this income
shall triple soon, as most of the 50 piglets she has retained are to be kept
purely for breeding. Each piglet goes for 35,000 UGX and a mature pig 150,000
UGX.
“I don’t regret leaving my teaching profession. I earn much more
money and my health has greatly improved. I have managed to educate my children
and my business is growing. When I start selling my bananas, my income will
be even greater,” she reflects in a moment of introspection. “I
have come to appreciate the government NAADS program for one thing, equiping
the farmers with the technical knowledge she said”. Many farmers fail
because they don’t have enough knowledge on the enterprises they pursue.”
