Uganda: Reaping Wealth From Coloured Linen And Agricultural Products
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The Monitor (Kampala)
27 August 2008
Posted to the web 27 August 2008
Robert Muhereza
In the middle of Kabale town, Ms Anah Ntwirenabo operates a poultry farm, while Ms Pauline Kirasha runs a tie and dye cottage industry. They both make a profit of about Shs500, 000 monthly despite the high cost in poultry feeds and tie and dye raw materials.
Ms Ntwirenabo, now in her late 40s and a mother of six, told Daily Monitor on August 15 that the Kabale District National Agricultural Advisory Services department trained her, while Ms Kirasha attributes her success to skills attained from the Kabale Women Networking Organisation, headed by state minister for Local Government Hope Mwesigye.
Ms Ntwirenabo says she has a certificate in primary education but left teaching to join politics. She has been councillor for Bubare Sub-county but decided to quit politics and teaching for poultry farming.
"I am proud because farming has helped me educate my children up to university and other tertiary institution levels," Ms Ntwirenabo says. "If I had remained teaching I would not have managed to bring all this joy to my children."
Ms Ntwirenabo, also the chairperson of Higher Level Farmers' Organisation, said upon realising how profitable the project was, she left her house, converted it into a poultry barn and rented elsewhere. Besides supplying the local market, she also exports eggs to Rwanda and the DR Congo.
While other farmers lament that increased prices of inputs is crippling their businesses, Ms Ntwirenabo says it is an opportunity to reap bigger.
She says a kilogramme of mash rose has risen from Shs500 to Shs800. The price of a two-month layer chick has risen from Shs5,000 to Shs7,000. A tray of eggs has increased from Shs4,500 to Shs7,000.
Ms Ntwirenabo says farmers should use this opportunity to increase outputs and generate more money instead of crying about the increased prices of inputs.
She advised women staying in urban centres to use verandas and compounds for farming, explaining that one does not need a lot of space for projects like poultry.
Ms Kirasha, 47, a mother of seven says the tie and dye business has not only made her rich but helped her traverse the globe.
"Ms Mwesigye sponsored me and four other women from Kabale District in 2003 to go for tie and dye training in Kampala," Ms Kirasha says "We trained other women and made good art pieces so during one of the exhibitions in Kampala, South African women admired my work. They hired me to go and train their counterparts in South Africa."
Ms Kirasha, a retired banker, says she markets her products in every leadership seminar, adding that she has mobilised women in the tie and dye business to attend national trade fares and exhibitions, with the objective of marketing their products.
Ms Kirasha says a group of five women can make 50 pieces of a six metre cloth a day, each going for Shs50,000. She says such a group can make Shs2.5m everyday and in a month they could fetch up to Shs80m.
"Tie and dye is not seasonal like crops and there is ready market both locally and nationally. It's an annual activity, which can turn people into millionaires regardless of their education background," Ms Kirasha said.
She noted that prices of raw materials, usually imported from China and India had gone up, but she said it could be covered in the cost of the finished product.
Relevant Links
Ms Kirasha has now ventured in mushroom growing, jam making, apiculture and backyard gardening. She says that she plans to establish a website for marketing her products.
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