LBA: Life in Uganda

Over 78% of Manafwa District residents are involved in farming – both subsistence farming (growing goods for home consumption) and commercial farming. Some farmers are only involved in one or the other type of farming, whilst some are involved in both.

Subsistence Farmers
Subsistence farmers form the majority of the farmers in the District, and include all types of people: men and women; children, youth, middle-aged and the elderly; abled and disabled. In Manafwa a huge variety of crops are grown, including: cassava, maize, matooke, potatoes, beans, groundnuts, vegetables (such as cabbages, greens, tomatoes, onions, carrots, aubergines, and peppers) and fruits (such as avocadoes, sweet bananas, jack fruit, pineapples, watermelons, and mangoes).

Farmers often start work at 6am before the sun is too hot, and continue working through the day, until early evening. Women often go to their gardens with young children who are too young for school, carrying them on their backs as they work. Children who are old enough to go to school may go to the gardens at 6am with their mothers and work for an hour before going late to school.

These farmers only have rudimentary tools available to them, such as hoes, pangas and knives and therefore use a lot of energy to plough the hard land, which is often rocky and hilly. Farmers often need to create terraces before they begin preparing the land to prevent soil erosion, which is very common in the greater Mbale region.

Subsistence farmers do not plan to make any business or profit from their farming – the food is planted for home consumption in order to feed the family without having to spend a lot of money on food. It can also be used for bartering, for example trading beans for paraffin with a shopkeeper. Some subsistence farmers also pay their children’s school fees or medical bills in kind with food products from their garden.

Subsistence farmers often live in relative poverty, which is worsened by the unpredictable seasons and poor quality soils and tools.

Commercial Farmers
Commercial farmers cultivate crops, such as maize, beans, onions, matooke, and tomatoes for sale. Commercial farmers are often relatively well off in comparison to other farmers, often owning a reasonable amount of land. Other commercial farmers may rent land from others at approximately 40,000/= (approximately £26) per year.

Some commercial farmers are able to use an oxen and plough to cultivate their land – either through personal ownership or being able to afford to hire an oxen and plough. The oxen and plough allow them to get higher yields from their land and therefore make a greater profit.

An example of how a commercial farmer makes his profit is Mulobi James. Mulobi owns one hectare of land and plants maize and beans on this land, at a cost of 200,000/= (£80). From this he is able to harvest 5 sacks of maize, which he sells at 50,000/= per sack (£20) and two sacks of beans which he sells at 80,000/= (£32) per sack, thus giving him a profit of approximately 210,000/= (£84) every six months. Profits are however dependent on the weather, such as heavy rains and droughts, pests and price fluctuations.

Many farmers are both subsistence and commercial farmers – growing crops for home consumption and selling excess crop, or growing a variety of crops with some for home consumption and some for sale. They can grow all kind of crops such as cotton, coffee, bananas, and maize. For example, a family may produce 100kgs of beans, keeping 40kgs for home consumption and selling the other 60kgs to cater for household expenses such as school fees, paraffin, medication, clothes and other items which cannot be produced at home. These farmers may also barter with their crops, exchanging crops for school fees or other services and goods.

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