Monica Higenyi reaps big from bumper harvests

 Introduction

Monica Higenyi is a model famer in Butaleja district, she started farming by growing vegetables and vending. She also used to make and sell herbal medicine. Mr Were, the DAO says,“ This is when  I noticed her and gave her 10 bags of cassava  cuttings to plant. Then we came back and bought the cuttings from her. I noticed she was very hardworking  farmer and was eager to grow and learn”.

Monica and her husband Patrick Higenyi  enrolled in the ACDP  late in 2019. While Monica enrolled for maize, her husband enrolled for cassava.  To enroll in the e-Voucher program, they each paid a membership of  UGX 148, 500 and were trained on good agronomic practices.

Benefits 

According to Monica, they were taught  how to plant a maize variety called ‘Bazoka’. Maize is usually sold at a low price but because of the variety I planted the produce is of high quality and I was able to sell at a high price.  I used to plant maize before but the profits were not high”. This has earned us a lot of money”. “ACDP gave me pesticides, fertilizers and sacks to put in the maize when it is harvested”, says Monica                             

 " I used to get six bags of maize from an acre but now I get close to 14 bags from an acre     especially when the weather is favorable.  I can even get more than 14 bags when it rains

Higenyi Monica  packs her maize for sale

                    

Monica told us that, the new variety of cassava NAROCASS1 had helped them with food. When people are not hungry they do not steal cassava from the gardens. “We used to plant the “nigeria variety” and would get about 3 bags per acre but now we get more than that. I sold my stems and was able to get more money to put back in the farm”, says Monica. We sell the cassava tubers and people who sell cassava chips also buy cassava from us. As a result of  the high yields, the price of cassava has fallen from 1200 Ugx  to 600 Ugx per kilogram of flour. From all these sales, we are able to pay fees, and meet all our household needs.

Local seed producers

According to the DAO Mr. Were Steven, Monica and her husband Patrick are now local seed producers. The family was supported with the ‘NAROCASS1’ cassava variety from the district and have been able to multiply  and  supply cassava cuttings to the district, OWC and to other farmers in the district.

Monica in their cassava garden

 

The knowledge we were taught from the DAO is really helping us to improve our farms. We used to plant the ‘nigeria’ variety but it was not yielding as well as the NAROCASS1, We no longer sleep hungry and we are happy with the change in our lives, says Monica.

Scaling out

At the district, recruitment was ongoing for hardworking and interested farmers, who when given technologies would not misuse the opportunity.  According to Mr.Were ,  the district had recruited  farmers who had taken up farming as a business and wanted to grow in farming. We have farmers like Monica, who can be emulated in the district.

Initially food prices were very high and we used to buy cassava flour between 800Ugx and 1,200Ugx per  kgs but now because of ACDP, cassava prices have gone down to 600 Ugx per kg and many farmers are now food secure.

We are engaging with  the farmers  to form a group that can be a local seed producer and help us in multiplying planting materials, especially for NAROCASS1 and other varieties, says Mr Were.

Challenges

Since farmers started using  the improved technologies, there has been  bumper harvests and  prices have gone down. For example for cassava the prices have gone down to 600Ugx and this demotivates the farmers.

However, ACDP is resolving this challenge through the marching grants. Farmers engaged in cassava production receive marching grants to procure  modern cassava processing machines so that they can add value to their cassava. We believe with value addition, this will  address the issue of price dips.

Free inputs given by OWC are the same materials given under subsidy by ACDP. While OWC gives two bags of stem cuttings for cassava, ACDP gives eight bags. In Butaleja, we select farmers who are vulnerable and have failed to co-fund, these are the ones who are eligible for OWC free inputs.