A rural farmer here in Kamuli, in eastern Uganda. My own life has been a mess. But looking at people’s circumstances in my region as a whole, I have decided not to sit back.
I am also founder of the Uganda Community Farm (UCF), a nonprofit social enterprise that aims to put the rural poor in the remotest areas of eastern Uganda on a self-sustainable path from poverty.
Hi Roddy, thanks very much too for this message. Here are my answers to these questions:
1). Currently, our farmers are within a radius of about 40km from the UCF, and because the volume of their sorghum is still a bit small, it’s the UCF team itself that gathers all these farmers’ sorghum using a motorbike, and brings it to the UCF, from where we take it to Kampala.
We also have a dump truck at the UCF, and whenever the load we are going to carry is a bit big, we use this truck instead. Right now, all these costs (fuel, transport etc) are covered by the UCF, using the money that we raise through small online donations. We don’t charge our farmers for transport. Also, until now, we been paying our farmers the full price per kg that our buyers pay—without deducting any of it, because our farmers’ volume of produce (and income levels) are still small.
However, once we install our intended grain facility, the number of farmers taking part in our project is going to increase. Also, the volume of sorghum that individual farmers produce will increase, because the presence of this facility will be an assurance to local farmers of the presence of a ready market. Meaning, the income levels of individual farmers will change too.
So, once this facility is installed, we plan to use one of these two approaches (or both) in gathering our farmers’ sorghum: a) ask each farmer to bring their sorghum to our facility, or b) deduct Ugx100 ($0.03) per kg from the price that our buyers in Kampala pay for sorghum, which is very negligible, because, this year for example, Uganda Breweries has bought our farmers sorghum at Ugx 1,300/kg. Deducting Ugx 100/kg would still leave a farmer with Ugx 1200/kg.
That way, 1000 tons (or 1 million kg) would give our facility an income of Ugx100,000,000 ($27,778) each season, which could be used to cover expenses for gathering our farmers’ sorghum and ferrying it to Kampala; pay staff salaries, electricity, equipment repair etc.
Transporting 1,000 tons to Kampala, using an ordinary FUSO truck of 15tons, would require 67 trips to Kampala, and a single trip costs Ugx 600,000, meaning, Ugx 40,200,000 (US$11,166) for the 1,000 tons. From the total income of $27,778, this would leave us with $16,611 each season, for staff salaries, electricity, equipment repair etc.
2) How long does the harvesting season last, and how many hours a day could the plant operate? I’m wondering what yearly capacity the 15 ton/hour capacity corresponds to.
The harvesting season lasts about 1.5 months (or 45 days). If the volume of our farmers’ sorghum is still small, the facility will only have one 8-hour shift a day, meaning 120tons cleaned per day, or 5,400tons in 45 days (i.e., once planting season), and therefore 10,800tons/year.
If the volume of our farmers’ sorghum becomes big, we will have two 8-hour shifts a day, meaning 240tons/day, or 10,800tons in 45 days, and therefore 21,600 tons/year.
Also note:
Besides sorghum, this facility will also clean/grade crops like maize, beans, rice, millet, peas etc, meaning, even in those times of the year when we are having no sorghum, this facility will still have another crop it’s working on, enabling local farmers to diversify their incomes.
Dear Roddy, thanks so much for this message. Although it has taken me long to write you back, I am really very thankful for your kind contribution to the UCF, and for the encouraging words you left on this post. I have also mentioned you in my new post that was published yesterday.
As for why we chose to have Alvan Blanch to install our intended grain facility, rather than say an Indian or Chinese firm, the reason is because most agro-processing plants that I know here in Uganda were installed by European companies. Those which have been installed by Indian and Chinese firms are those that mostly belong to Asian investors operating in Uganda/Africa.
But those owned by Ugandans/Africans, often use European firms. These include:
1) GrainPulse in Mukono (near Kampala). Their facility was installed by Alvan Blanch.
2). AgroWays, which has several plants in various parts of Uganda, some of their grain facilities and silos were installed by Cimbria, a Danish firm, and some by Alvan Blanch.
3). Acila Enterprises in Soroti (Uganda), their grain cleaning, drying and storage facility was installed by Alvan Blanch.
4) Totco Grain & Seeds, in Lira (northern Uganda), their grain facility was installed by Cimbria.
Hi Nick, I had no access to the internet the whole of yesterday, and it’s why I am only writing you back now. This is a good question that I think many people would be very curious to know. So, I am instead putting my answer in a separate post. I am going to share it with you once it’s ready. Thanks so much.
Thanks too Joseph, for appreciating this. Anthony.
Thanks so much titotal.
Hi Rupert, thanks so much for this.
The reason we want to incorporate animal agriculture in our operations, is simply to find a way of covering our overheads in a self-sufficient way. Because short of this, it would be very hard for us to meet our operating costs especially with our new goal of expanding our sorghum work.
But, as a person, I am really very conscious about animals rights, and I am very conscious about organic/permaculture farming systems, and it is why, on our page “12% for 100% ADMIN self-sufficiency”… I even pointed out that: “unlike those chicken that are kept under factory farming systems (like battery cage), free-range chicken are very cheap to feed, and to take care of.”
On that page, you can see that my goal is to try and make our 12-acres as natural as possible, including the growing of crops like red pepper for use in making organic pesticides.
If we manage to raise the needed $99,680 for transforming our 12 acres, I would love to invite you to visit the UCF, when we have initiated our intended chicken forest too, just to share ideas. In fact, we really need people’s ideas, and we need friends from anywhere in the world who can visit us anytime, on this journey.
Hi Sean, thanks so much for this really insightful message, and the things you have pointed out.
I just want to note two things:
1). Although I am now asking EA to help the UCF raise support, my original EA critique (which I made two years ago) was aimed at getting EA to change the way they work with the extreme poor and their local grassroots orgs in the global south as a whole, not just my own organization (the UCF).
2). As regards my own work at the UCF, a few people from The Life You Can Save, one of the EA charity evaluators, physically visited us in Namisita (Kamuli) in 2023, and even toured some sorghum fields of the local farmers that the UCF works with.
I believe their motivation to visit us was my EA critique, because their proposal to visit didn’t come from me. It came from them. Here are a few photos from that visit (I am the one putting on a black cap in those photos):
https://www.ugandafarm.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSC07941.jpg
https://www.ugandafarm.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSC07951.jpg
https://www.ugandafarm.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSC07943.jpg
https://www.ugandafarm.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSC07945.jpg
Thanks so much Remmelt for sharing this, and for your kind support to the UCF’s work.
Thank you Nick.
You said: “I don’t think you’d find any serious statistician who would consider busoga to be “poorer” or to have a higher poverty rate than places like karamoja”.
Here is what you need to know:
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) is Uganda government’s official statistics agency. They are staffed with the best statisticians Uganda can find, and in publishing their reports, they do so in collaboration with local teams from agencies like Makerere University, the World Bank, UNDP, and all the global antipoverty agencies operating locally in Uganda.
Here is UBOS speaking live on NTV (one of Uganda’s major TV channels) two years ago, pointing out clearly that “Busoga region has the highest levels of poverty.”
In that report, Karamoja and Bukedi are also mentioned towards the end of the video, but the report EXPLICITLY mentions that Busoga leads with 14.5%, followed by Bukedi, and Acholi.
There is totally no “confusion” between the actual numbers of people living in poverty in Busoga and Karamoja, versus the poverty rates (in %) of the two regions. The people publishing these reports can differentiate between the two.
As regards Uganda’s lcoal media outlets being unable to interpret figures, what I can say is: The New Vision (Uganda government’s official newspaper), and The Monitor, are Uganda’s two biggest media outlets. Every single news story they have published in the last few years has EXPLICITLY said Busoga is currently the poorest region in Uganda, and their reports come from press conferences with the concerned people (e.g. UBOS), as seen in the above video.
You also said “it’s important though to be super careful how we frame our statistics so we don’t exaggerate, which can help built trust in our argument in general.” All I can say is: if anyone is exaggerating the poverty in Busoga (vs that in Karamoja), it isn’t me.
You also asked if I have ever been to Karamoja. Here, I think you are trying to suggest that we put aside the officially reported figures and instead judge the two regions with our eyes/opinions.
In that case, I believe the reason you are saying Karamoja is far poorer than Busoga (when judged from our eyes, rather than with official stats) is because:
a) Busoga has a somewhat greener environment, while Karamoja is mostly semi-arid.
b) local people’s culture, i.e., the fact that people in Karamoja, whether they are a bit better off or not, mostly sleep in sketchy huts because of their nomadic pastoralism (while people in Busoga have slightly better housing);
c) the fact that people in Karamoja, whether they are a bit better off or not, mostly wear wrappers rather than full clothes, while people in Busoga wear full clothes even if they are very poor.
d) the fact that Busoga hosts Uganda’s most popular tourist city, Jinja, which city only acts as the door to Busoga’s crippling poverty—the moment you dare to venture into Busoga’s remote countryside, like my village of Namisita, where most households can’t even afford soap and salt.
I really don’t know what you are basing on to underestimate the conditions local people here are living in. And I know you are a New Zealander (or so) who has been in northern Uganda for a few years. But Nick, leave local circumstances to those of us who have a firsthand grasp of them.
Thanks so much for your encouragement.
Hi Nick, thanks so much for this. Until 2013, northern Uganda was the poorest region in Uganda, and until 2016, Karamoja, a sub-region of northern Uganda, was the poorest not just in northern Uganda, but in Uganda overall. A few details:
1) From 2013 to date, the poorest region in Uganda has been eastern Uganda. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) says in this 2019 report that “the poorest region in the country had always been the northern region until 2013, but it is now the eastern region”.
A 2023 report by the World Bank also put the poverty rate in eastern Uganda and northern Uganda at 42% and 40% respectively.
2). However, even after eastern Uganda became the poorest in Uganda (in 2013), Karamoja (in northern Uganda) remained the poorest sub-region in Uganda overall, but only until ~2016.
When Karamoja was still regarded the poorest sub-region in Uganda, its poverty rate was 74% (as a share of regional poverty, not nationally), and it still is 74% even today.
3). But the National Household Survey (by UBOS) both in 2016/2017 and 2021/2022 said Busoga has now overtaken Karamoja—and is currently the poorest region in Uganda—with a poverty rate of 14% (as a share of national poverty), and 74.8% within Busoga itself.
4) Here is a 2019 publicationby The Monitor referencing the UBOS 2016/2017 National Household Survey and placing Busoga’s poverty rate at 74.8%.
5) The New Vision in 2022 also said Busoga is currently “the poorest region in the country”.
6). The Monitor in 2021 said “the sub-region (Busoga) still contributes the largest percentage of poor people in the country”.
7). In 2023, The Monitor, referencing UBOS’ 2021/2022 National Household Survey, also wrote: “Busoga is the sub-region with most people living in a complete poverty cycle followed by Bukedea and Karamoja. This is according to findings released in 2021/2022 by Mr Vincent Fred Senono, the Principal Statistician and head of analysis at the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics“.
8). Incidentally, in UBOS’s 2019/2020 National Household Survey, Karamoja DIDN’T even feature in the first three regions with the highest percentage of poor people nationally. The first was Busoga (14%) followed by Bukedi (10.4%) and Acholi (10.3%) See details on page 101 of UBOS’s 2019 National Household Survey here (PDF).
Thanks so much John. I am going to see how best I can modify the original post to include this message. I am also really thankful to know that you are happy to see people like me on the EA forum, and that you wish I would get the needed funding to make my vision a reality. Thanks so much for the encouragement. I joined this forum this month of April, and I would be very happy, too, to make friends here that would help me bring about some change in our region.
Thank so much Chris. The heading, though, clearly said “Help me make some small stride on extreme poverty where I live”
Let me just say this: if you visited the project office of the UCF (in Kamuli), and see for yourself that even the people working at the UCF are also living in the exact same conditions of abject poverty that all other people in our region (whom we are aiming to move from poverty) are living in, you’d see why it isn’t wrong at all to seek support for the work we are doing on extreme poverty.
We are simply trying to build a self-sustainable path from poverty, but even myself as UCF founder, I was still going hungry (without any food) until only recently. In Namisita where the UCF is based, every local household in the immediate neighborhood, and every household across our region, lives in chronic poverty. I am not sure if it would have made sense for me to write this post and ask the world to support other people elsewhere instead?
Thanks so much John. There is a longer post on our website that explains in more detail why we intend to expand our sorghum project to cover every village in Kamuli & Buyende; local people’s current circumstances; how the intended grain cleaning, drying and storage facility will transform local people’s livelihoods—and the market linkages we will be able to create once this facility is installed—from all local breweries in East Africa, to relief agencies like GOAL, UNHCR, the Red Cross, and the UN’s World Food Program (who is currently the biggest buyer of grains in Africa).
Please see that page on the UCF’s website here.
Thanks so much for sharing this. I will keep an eye at CE, and their upcoming application cycle.