Kilimo Kwanza

Tuesday 29 June, 2010

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SUPPORTING THE PROMOTERS OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION

Planting maize bannedResidents must harvest rainwaterUnused fertilizer confiscated

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA

AT A GLANCE


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The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Tuesday 29 June, 2010

2 EDITORIAL/PERSPECTIVE

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Primary teacher earnsmillions by rearing chickenFor the 10 years he hadworked as a primary schoolteacher, Mr MichaelKibuuka failed to make anymeaningful savings from hismonthly salary to enablehim build a house for him-self, take his children togood schools and also leada comfortable life.

Revolutionary DC bans maizegrowing – for a whilePeople have accepted thespirit of Kilimo Kwanzaquite well in Bahi district.Many of the people in thearea are livestock keepers.But they have been andmany are still are stuck tothe old ways of doing things,that is grazing the animals,roaming around looking forgrass.

Mtibwa set to makeTanzania sweeterToday Mtibwa is recognisedas one of the major sugarprojects in the country striv-ing to catch up with the in-ternational sugar standardsand even competing with thetop sugar producing coun-tries in Africa

Mkulo pleases and annoysACT at the same timeThe Agricultural Council ofTanzania has simultaneouslypraised and criticizedTheMinister for Finance, HonMustafa Mkulo, over his re-cently presented budget. Ina press release,ACT saidthat the minister has comeout with a pro agriculturegovernment budget in manyareas

The Bahi District Commissioner, MsBetty Mkwasa is an interesting per-sonality. When she was posted inthis famine-prone part of Dodoma,she moved to take some radical steps– some would say too radical – totransform the district of Bahi.Tightly embracing the new creed of

Kilimo Kwanza, Mkwasa wants to banish hunger andpoverty in the area under her jurisdiction, and shewants to do it rather quickly.

--If she were a politician seeking elective office, hermotives would be suspect. As a civil servant, she couldbe accused of being over-zealous. But it is sometimesbetter for an appointing authority to have to reign inan enthusiastic officer, than be stuck with a passiveone who always needs to be kick-started.

For a start, Mkwasa has banned the growing ofmaize, probably the most popular staple food of thecountry, in her district. She is ‘encouraging’ the peopleto plant more valuable crops instead. The ban will re-main in force until residents “show a convincingchange of attitude” from overdependence on that onecrop. Foot patrols are out to catch anybody plantingmaize and stop them. She is also pushing the people touse fertilisers, and confiscation of any subsidized fer-tilisers found in the house instead of the farm is nowgoing on.

The DC has gone ahead to promote irrigation, andhas requisitioned many irrigation experts from theministry to head for Dodoma and introduce drip irri-gation. This is the most suitable form of irrigation be-cause though very expensive, for the very dry areas ofDodoma, it ensures maximum use of the little wateravailable. The soil there is quite fertile but surface wa-ter is quite limited. Mkwasa has directed that everyhouse have gutters for collecting rainwater from theroof, which when so harvested can be used to drip-irri-gate crops. Some peasants may ask why use the waterto irrigate when there is none to drink? They need to

be told that before the forced harvesting, they did nothave the water anyway, so the one who has broughtthe water has a say in how it used.

She is also determined to put an end to pastoralgrazing that has contributed a lot to the near deserti-fication of the area by encouraging the pastoralists toengage in the more settled forms of ranching.

Some of the steps that Betty Mkwasa is takingmay be considered draconian by a people used to beinghandled softly. But the situation is such that the DChas little option but to be tough, if she is to make achange. Dodoma is a fertile region, much of it sittingon a basin of underground water, but where peoplestarve, sometimes to death because of rainfall failure.Farmers, of all people, to be dying of hunger is a para-dox. Cynics would say, “only in Africa” can such an un-acceptable scenario continue perpetually. It would ap-pear that the only certain benefit a Dodoma farmerwill is assured of getting from his fertile soil is to beburied in it when he dies. Can such a fate be allowedin the twenty-first century?

These may not be colonial times but people shouldnot be allowed to continue with a hopeless existence ifit can be helped. And they have no right to impose thehopelessness on their children. So the DC is right topush for rainwater harvesting, fertiliser use and cropdiversification. The government should back her upwith some social workers to make the acceptance ofher plans more smooth in order to mitigate the effectsof the iron hand that she appears to be applying inpushing for agricultural transformation.

Wallace MauggoEditor

Dying of hunger to beburied in fertile soil!

Artwork & Design: KN Mayunga: [email protected] To have your organisation promoted in Kilimo Kwanza, Call: 0787 571308, 0655 571308 0754 571308

The Minister for Water and IrrigationMark Mwandosya said that almost75 per cent of his ministry's budget

will be used for irrigation. He said while

parliament was debating the 2010/11 budg-et that his ministry has devised a seven-year strategic plan to improve irrigationfarming in the country.

Mwandosya said every irrigationscheme at district level will be given 800m/,adding that through irrigation, harvestswere likely to double.

Mwandosya pumps Sh800mper district for irrigation

Slow growth afflictedTz agriculture last year

The Agricultural Council of Tanzania(ACT) has simultaneously praisedand criticized The Minister for

Finance and Economy, Hon MustafaMkulo, over his recently presented budget.In a press release, ACT said that the hascome out with a pro agriculture governmentbudget in many areas.

“Budget allocation to agriculture hasincreased by 35.5%,” ACT said. “This in-crease has gone hand in hand with the re-moval of VAT on machines and equipmentsused in the production of crop and livestockproduce, and airfreight charges of horticul-tural crops, as well as granting VAT reliefon green houses and supply of goods andservices to organized farms and unions,such as irrigation and construction of cropstorage facilities. It is our hope that thebudget increment and VAT exemption willhave a direct positive impact on those whotoil on the land.”

ACT however noted that: “The FinanceMinister failed us by not living to the prom-

ise he made in the 2009/10 budget to loweragricultural produce cess which currentlystands at 5 percent. We quote: “Mr.Speaker, it is proposed to reduce the cap forcharging produce cess from 5 percent offarm gate price to 3 percent in order to re-duce the impact of global economic crisis tothe farmers. However, it is proposed tostart implementation of this measure in2010/11 fiscal year to provide time for localgovernments to look for alternative sourcesof revenue”. Un quote.”

According to ACT, it is a disappoint-ment to the farmers that the Minister hasdecided to circumvent his commitment byallowing the local government authoritiesto impose produce cess ranging from 3 to 5percent at they see it fit.

“This u-turn by the Minister will frus-trate our farmers and put the zeal evokedby Kilimo Kwanza in jeopardy,” said theACT statement and concluded by appeal-ing to Hon. Mkulo to consider fixing theproduce cess to 3 percent.”

Mkulo pleases and annoysACT at the same time

The Minister for Agriculture, FoodSecurity and Cooperatives StevenWasira said that the agricultural sec-

tor grew slightly by 3.2 per cent last yeardue to draught and the world economicmeltdown.

He said this in the National Assemblywhile when responding to issues raised byMPs when debating the 2010/2011 budgetspeech. He said last year was the worst inthe country’s economy, particularly theagricultural sector.

Wasira said most regions, especiallythose in the northern part of the country,were adversely hit by draught, resulting in

hunger. He said the government had to pro-vide 100,000 tonnes of relief food to resi-dents in the affected regions.

He said the world economic crisis alsoaffected the price of cash crops, wherebyfarmers had to sell their crops at very lowprices.

He underscored the importance of thegovernment to establish a loan system forfarmers to enable them invest in large plan-tations.

He said in this year’s budget his min-istry will spendmost of the funds to provideagricultural inputs to farmers through thevoucher system.

TTRRAACCTTOORRSS LLIIMMIITTEEDD **AAGGRRIITTAANN++P.O. Box 212, Mazimbu Road (Former Heavy Plant Yard), Morogoro, Tanzania.Tel: Mr mwapili: +255-784-421606, Mr Nsekela: +255-786-150213, Fax: +255-27-6246882Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]: www.pptl.biz/tractorsltd

TTRRAACCTTOORRSS LLIIMMIITTEEDD

Anti-Skid Iron Wheelsupplied with Every powertiller forploughing

Fitted withDouble-Fur-row PloughMould boardtype

Fitted withDisk Plough

Fitted withpaddy reaper

Fitted with irrigationpump And rain guncomes withhose pipe delivery and Suction pipe

fitted withtrailer 1 tonne

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The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA

COVER STORY


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4 COVER STORY

Some leaders may regardKilimo Kwanza as just an-other national programme.But others have embracedit with all their life. To thissecond category belongsBahi DistrictCommissioner Betty

Mkwasa, who is taking some radical meas-ures to ensure that rapid agriculturaltransformation takes place in her part ofDodoma region which has been devastatedby reckless overgrazing. She describes someof the initiatives to The Guardian’s AngelNavuri in this interview.

Q: How is Kilimo Kwanza faring inBahi district?

A: People have accepted the spirit ofKilimo Kwanza quite well in Bahi district.Many of the people in the area are livestockkeepers. But they have been and many stillare stuck to the old of doing things, that isgrazing the animals, roaming around look-ing for grass. Their livestock grazing hasled to degradation and severe drought. Sowe are now moving to control and thenchange this. Dodoma region is an impover-ished area. Today, 85 percent of the peoplewho live in Dodoma and its districts arefarmers. However, most of these farmerstypically only grow crops on small holdings,from two to five acres.

This is because they just have handtools available for cultivating their land. It

has been observed many times that thesefarmers are very hard working people, how-ever, because of the circumstances they findthemselves in, they do not have the oppor-tunity to do anything other than practicetraditional subsistence agriculture.

In addition, for many years there havebeen severe food shortages within theDodoma region. Those people who sufferthe most during these times of food short-ages are the very marginalized women andchildren in the rural areas. While some ofthe people there are very hungry duringthese times of shortage, there are all too of-ten situations where people starve whenconditions become severe. All the while allthese starving people, are dying on abun-dant, unused fertile soil yet good, tropicalfarming methods would save the situation.

We are seeking funding to secure some

tractors so farmers can open up more land.We need them to share other peoples agri-cultural experiences and knowledge whichare available and to get serious and startusing some equipment that is already avail-able. First objective is to produce enoughfood. Tractors are urgently required to ini-tially open up more land and solve thefarmers’ immediate hunger problems, sothey can think of producing for the market.

Q: What practical steps have youalready taken to enhance the successof Kilimo Kwanza in Bahi District?

A: First of all l have started efforts tomake sure that the drip irrigation is prac-ticed by all farmers since Bahi and Dodomaas a whole is a dry area. The we are settingaside sites where the livestock could graze,be fed, instead of roaming all over the place.

Another immediate step I have taken iseducating people to get away the mentalitythat only maize could grow in the area andnot any other crop.

So right now we have abolished grow-ing of maize in Bahi.

People have been given no option but tostart cultivating other crops and we are en-couraging rice, wheat, cassava and sun-flower. The ban will remain in force untilthere is sufficient change of attitude amongthe people in favour of diversification. Myteams moving around to ensure no maize isplanted in the district.

At the same we have issued powertillers around so that farmers can open upmore land. But these are expensive and liketractors, we want to arrange funding somore of these are available and accessibleto the farmers on certain terms.

Q: Are the farmers making use ofthe subsidised fertilizer?

A: Yes they are but since the peoplehere are livestock keepers, they use the an-imal manure and they keep the subsidizedfertiliser in their homes. So I have given anorder that all farming should be done by ap-plying fertilizers and all fertilizer should bein the soil, not in houses. We are movingaround to ensure that. Whoever does notcomply shall be dealt with firmly. What weare doing is to move towards modern farm-ing by taking the farmers away from thetraditional farming they have been used topracticing.

Q: What about access of market tothe farmers?

A: Market to the farmers is not the

problem especially when it comes to rice.When they harvest rice, many businesspeople and big companies come and camp inBahi waiting for the farmers to avail what-ever they collect from their gardens. Somarket is not a problem at the moment.

And if production increases buyers may

offer lower prices, that is where value addi-tion comes in. But first let the productionincrease first to stop the hunger and thencommercialise the farming.

Q: Did you get any funds for KilimoKwanza?

A: At first we were given shs1.3bn for

the 14 projects that we wanted to have butsince the money is not enough we decided tohave four big projects so that the money canhave impact. So we have the projects inBahi, Mtataa, Mgongogo and Zejele. In thenext phase we were given shs787 million.All the money we used to buy hoes and oth-

er agriculture inputs that the farmers need.And since the hoes were not enough if giv-en for free, we distributed to those whowere wiling to pay half price. These are nowhiring out to others who did not buy.

Q: What other plans do you have

for Kilimo Kwanza?A:We will be starting a project of water

harvesting since water is a problem to ourregion as a whole so that the project willhelp the farmers do well with drip irriga-tion. But another thing is to help the farm-ers keep their livestock in sites where theycan graze without any interference as thatis part of Kilimo Kwanza in terms of milk,meat, and fertilizer. And also we shall keepeducating the farmers on modern farming.

Currently, the water that we are usingfor irrigation comes from River Bubu whosesource is in Babati. But we are also takingrain water very seriously. We have talkedto all the farmers and they are putting gut-ters on their roof edges for harvesting rainwater. Now, when the water has been socollected, it has to be used very economical-ly, hence our opting for drip irrigation. Theexperts who are helping us introduce dripirrigation are from the Ministry ofAgriculture and Food Security whom willcall them extension officers. And like lastmonth, the we received a list of 16 officerswho have been assigned to Bahi to helpspread the use of drip irrigation. I am hap-py to report that already, eight of themhave reported to work.

Q: Any preparation for the eighthof August?

A: We are prepared for the Nanenanecelebrations and we expect to show what weare doing in Kilimo Kwanza despite the factthat ours is a dry area. We are practicingdrip irrigation. We are ready to show ourproducts to the others so as to create moremarket for the farmers.

Our farmers are now choosing differentfaster maturing sorghum varieties, becausethe rainy season is now so short that theirtraditional varieties cannot mature in time.Sesame and sunflower have been intro-duced following market demand and gov-ernment advice because they are moredrought-tolerant. Cassava production hasincreased, because it is a drought-tolerantfood crop. Farmers are changing the bal-ance of crops grown due to climate, but alsodue to government advice and market sig-nals.

Revolutionary DC bans maizegrowing – for a while

An expert prepares theground for drip irrigation

Betty Mkwasa stresses a pointduring a recent visit to Dar esSalaam.PHOTO: SABATO KASIKA

Some leaders may re-gard Kilimo Kwanzaas just another na-tional programme.But others have em-braced it with alltheir life. To this sec-ond category belongsBahi DistrictCommissioner BettyMkwasa, who is tak-ing some radicalmeasures to ensurethat rapid agricul-tural transformationtakes place in herpart of Dodoma re-gion which has beendevastated by reck-less overgrazing. Shedescribes some of theinitiatives to TheGuardian’s ANGELNAVURI in this in-terview.

Rainwater harvesting at a simple villagehome (left) and vegetables growingunder drip irrigation (below)

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZATuesday 29 June, 2010

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6 BUDGET REVIEW BUDGET REVIEW

Urges the govern-ment help them tohave 5000 hectorsmore Since its priva-tization a decadeago, Mtibwa SugarEstates Limited thathas multiplied sugarproduction by 55times and createdjob for more than6000 people in thecountry. TheGuardian’s ANGELNAVURI visited theirestate last week tofind out how theyhave achieved thisfeat and learn aboutthe challenges nowfacing the company.She spoke to theGeneral ManagerGregory Swart whooutlined the past,present and future oftheir operations.

Q: Please give us a brief history ofMtibwa Sugar Estates Limited.

Answer: It has all been in line with thepolicy of the government of the UniteRepublic of Tanzania Economic ReformsProgramme that includes the move to pri-vatize state owned enterprises. MtibwaEstates Limited was the second sugar com-pany in the country that was made avail-able to private investors in 1998. At thattime, Mtibwa sugar estate was taken overby Super Group of Companies in August1998. Since at the time the factory, sugarcane fields, machinery and equipment werein deteriorating conditions, rehabilitation,which included repairs, reconstruction,management restructuring and expansionof sugar cane fields cultivation and expan-sion were the major the project focus aftertaking over the company.

Earlier, with Super Group ofCompanies whose headquarters are in Dares Salaam, the government started manag-ing the company through the AgriculturalConsultancy Services Limited ofMulticonsult Limited, les JamalacsBulding, Port Louis, Mauritius who havemany years of experience in the sugar in-dustry, then gradually the managementwas shifted to local nationals.

The new management first focused onthe rehabilitation and expansion of thecompany and transfer of technology andmanagement skills to the local workforcewithout forgetting improved care of the en-vironment.

Today Mtibwa is recognised as one ofthe major sugar projects in the countrystriving to catch up with the internationalsugar standards and even competing withthe top sugar producing countries in Africa.

Mtibwa’s business plan for the future isto have more than double its cane sugarproduction ability at international QualityStandards.

The Original capacity of the factory was32,000 tons of sugar per year. This was nev-er achieved; the highest production everachieved was 8,000 tons in 1984. Since thenproduction declined until it produced only970 tons of sugar in that final season beforeits privatization.

Q: How is company modernizing itsoperations?

A: The rehabilitation and expansion ac-

tivities require the use of various types ofmodern machinery and equipment such asagricultural tractors bulldozers, light andheavy duty vehicles, motorcycles, cane load-ers, cane trailers, compactors, heavy dutyland preparation machinery, ploughs, har-rows etc... Expanded sugar cane fields dic-tacted more harvesting capacity, appropri-ate cane trailers and cane loaders had to beacquired to cater for speedy and efficientharvesting of mature cane.

We needed heavy tractors with the ca-pacity of pulling 50 tons of sugar cane theuse of Information and CommunicationTechnology to increase efficiency, use ofcomputerized weigh bridge system thatcaptures the data as the cane-loaded trail-ers enter the factory. The same is weighedagain empty as it leaves, enabling the sys-tem to determine accurately the sugar canetonnage for subsequent calculation.

Very serious investment was also un-dertaken for ensuring efficient offloading ofcane and feeding it into the feed table tocope with the new plant’s crashing and pro-cessing capacity.

Q: How does the irrigation systemhere work?

A:With the new water intake after con-struction in 1999 we have three strong wa-ter gates for river water control and associ-ated guards. The water flows through themain canal to the pump houses where it isdistributed for irrigation in cane fields. Wealso have Italian made mobile irrigationsystems which makes it possible to plantyoung cane during any season thus beingable to continue sugar cane cycles. The mo-bile units can be placed anywhere withinthe cane field with long hose pipes ending ina powerful water gun then used to jet watertaken from one of the reservoirs over thetargeted area.

Q: What is the sugarcane develop-ment plan for Mtibwa?

A: The development of the new sugar-cane fields was one of the major tasks dur-ing the first two years. This involved landpreparation which included the cleaning ofnew fields, ploughing, harrowing, ridgingand planting of cane but at the same timeobserving commitment to the application ofscientific agricultural techniques such asuse of fertilizers plus the fertile soils atMtibwa which enabled the growing of very

health sugar cane with world class sugarcontent.

Q: How has the factory fared afterprivatization?

A: Extensive rehabilitation and invest-ment in new equipment were immediatelycarried out to restore the factory to a nor-mal working condition. The factory expan-sion was completed in 2004/05. That sawthe factory cane crushing capacity increasefrom 105 to 160 tons per hour. This trans-lates into an increase of annual sugar pro-duction capacity from 30,000 tons to 60,000tons. In five years we will see the factorycapacity increase to 250 tons per hour. Thiswill carry the annual sugar production toover 100,000 tons.

Q: How do you esure that the envi-ronment is protected?

A: The company has planted tress overthe entire estate and the factory surround-ings are continuously well attended.

Q: You have given us the installedcapacity but what is the actual sugarproduction realized?

A: 20,885 tons in 1997/98; 31,828 tonsin 2000/2001, 41,008 tons in 2001/02. Theall-time sugar production record of 49,169tons was achieved in 2005/2006 season. Forthe current season we expect to make54,000 tons. Compare that with the 970tons at take over!

Q: What is the revenue earned bythe out growers ?

A: TSh 0.88 billion in 1997/98; TSh 1.8billion in 1999/2000; TSh 3.8 billion in2003/04; TSh 5.16 billion in 2005/06; TSh6.84 billion in 2009/10 and over TSh 7.5bn/-expected this season from about 214,000tons cane.

Q: What is the sugar estate expan-sion plans?

A: First is the vertical expansion offields at Mtibwa estate in order to increaseexisting yields from 55 ton to 80 tons perhectare.

Then development of 3,000 hectares ofsugarcane fields at Dakawa. There is alsothe utilisation of imported cane varieties toachieve optimal cane and sugar quality andinstallation of irrigation systems in order to

achieve 100 percent in-field irrigation.Investment in more agricultural machineryand equipment is required under to theproposed rehabilitation and expansion pro-gram.

Q: What are the key challenges fac-ing the company?

A:We need more land for cultivating soas we can attain to the goal of supplyingsugar countrywide. Currently we have5,000 hectares. We need 5000 more. Thereis a lot of land that its not being well uti-lized but getting it it’s not easy. If we hadthe other land it would help us increase theproduction for countrywide supply save thecountry from importing sugar which costinga lot of money.

Another problem is the price of fuel; theprices of diesel hiking every day and it af-fects the cost of production causing the ille-gal importation of sugar into the country.The government should find a way of con-trolling it.

Q: What do you do with the husksof the sugarcane?

A: We make use of them to produceelectricity and fertilizer and as in future wewill be contributing to the national electric-ity grid.

Q: How many people do you em-ploy?

A:We have employed 6000 people but ifwe are given more land we would employ8000 to 9000 people.

Q: Do you need any more assis-tance from government?

A:We need them to handle the issue oftaxation as a whole for agriculture equip-ments being imported, illegal sugar impor-tation into the country should be controlled,and sugar should be VAT zero rated likeany other food stuffs and assistance onmore land for cultivation since it is becom-ing difficult to acquire.

Q: What advice do you have for thegovernment on the implementation ofKilimo Kwanza?

A: The government should handle theissue of land ownership to the people sothat it will be possible for them to getloansto increase their productivity and im-prove the standard of life.

Mtibwa set to make Tanzania sweeter

Heavy DutyAgriculturalMachinery atWork

WELL EQUIPPEDMOBILE WORK-SHOP

9-0 MW TURBO-ALTERNATOR SET FORPOWER GENERATION

NEW MOBILE IRRIGATIONUNITS

In-house funded develop-ment of 1,600 Ha atDakawa

As a teacher, Mr MichaelKibuuka was earningShs200,000 per month.But when he venturedinto poultry farming, hegot abnormal profits andis now contemplatingleaving his teaching pro-

fession to concentrate on chicken rearing,writes Fred Muzaale

For the 10 years he had worked as aprimary school teacher, Mr MichaelKibuuka failed to make any meaningfulsavings from his monthly salary to enablehim build a house for himself, take his chil-dren to good schools and also lead a com-fortable life.

Kibuuka, a resident of Luwunga villagein Kiboga District is a classroom teacher atSt. Kizito Nkandwa Primary School wherehe has taught for a decade. In 2008 he de-cided to find a way of supplementing hismeagre salary of Shs200,000 a month, andhe ventured into poultry rearing.

Apart from a one-acre piece of landwhich he bought using his savings,Kibuuka had no capital to start the venturehe hoped would deliver him out of poverty.

“I wanted to venture into poultry farm-ing but I had only Shs100,000 as capital soI decided to join the Naads programmewhich accepted to give me 500 layers but oncondition that I construct a chicken house,”the 35-year-old says. He says with his wifeAnnet Namugga, who is also a teacher byprofession, they constructed a mud andwattle chicken house and were given thechicks and five bags of layers mash to feedthe birds.But due to the amount of workand close supervision that goes with poul-try rearing, Kibuuka’s wife, Ms Namuggaresigned her teaching job to concentrate onlooking after the birds.

Within five months, the birds startedlaying eggs. “Every day, I was getting atleast 16 trays of eggs which I sold betweenShs4,800 and 5,000 per tray, depending onthe demand on the market. “For the eightmonths the chicken were laying eggs, Iearned a profit of about Shs8m and usedsome of that money to buy another 1,050layers in January this year so that I expandmy enterprise,” a joyful Kibuuka says. Hesays that he also sold the off-layers atShs6,000 each. Kibuuka adds that he usedsome of the money to renovate and refur-bish his house and to construct a locallyconstructed two-storied chicken house.

“These layers have started laying eggsand everyday, I collect about 30 trays ofeggs. Unlike other businesses where youhave to struggle looking for market, poultryrearing is good in that you don’t have tolook for customers, they are the ones whocome looking for the eggs,” Kibuuka says.

From the 1,000 layers, he hopes to earnabout Shs17m within a period of eightmonths only. “No teacher or even some highranking civil servants can earn that muchmoney in only eight months but for me I getit,” the youthful Kibuuka brags.

His fortune was further enhanced earlythis year in February when PresidentMuseveni visited his project and got im-pressed with his work. Last month, thePresident donated to him a feed mixer andfeed mill to enable him do his work easilyand at a low cost.

“Since I now have a feed mill and mix-er, I just buy the ingredients like snailshells, cotton cake maize brand and silverfish, mukene, and make the feeds myself.

This has greatly lowered my working capi-tal because I now spend less on feeds whichis a major input in chicken rearing,”Kibuuka explains.

“Its better to mix these feeds myself be-cause I mix the right amount of each ingre-dients which allows my chicken grow fast

and lay many eggs.” On his one acre-pieceof land, Mr Kibuuka has planted a bananaplantation and inter-cropped it with cof-fee.

He uses the chicken droppings and cof-fee husks as fertiliser in his garden whichhas enabled him to get a good harvest.

Kibuuka says he is seriously contem-plating resigning from his teaching job sothat he concentrates on his project. “I ambeing cheated by being given Shs200,000 amonth at my teaching job.

So I might resign and concentrate onmy project,” he says. Currently, Kibuuka’s

problem is lack of a nearby source of waterwhere he can get water for his chicken todrink. “I use 30 jerry cans of water every-day which costs about Shs5,000 everyday. Iwant to dig a borehole or shadoof so that Isolve this problem,” he says.

His other problem is lack of a vehicle to

transport his farm inputs especially thefeeds ingredients from wherever he buysthem from. With the ever increasing de-mand for eggs, Kibuuka’s plan is to expandhis project to 10,000 layers next year.

Daily Monitor - Uganda

If anybody is to know anything about un-derground water, it has to be Australia. Thecontinent- nation has owes its wealth anddevelopment to underground water basedAgriculture. When the climate phenome-non emerged, the commissioned a researchon how it would affect underground water.

Although elevated levels of carbon diox-ide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere couldseriously impact air, weather and vegeta-

tion, some scientist say something positivecould happen underground at the sametime. Researchers at the AgriculturalResearch Services (ARS) said that if atmos-pheric CO2 levels double within this centu-ry, as many climate models predict, someareas could experience large increases inthe rate of groundwater recharge, theprocess by which water filters through thesoil and enters aquifers. The conclusion

reached by ARS team leader Tim Green,was published by Science Daily.

Green worked with Australia'sCommonwealth Scientific and IndustrialResearch Organisation (CSIRO) to investi-gate how climate change impacts ground-water and the vadose zone, the region be-tween soil surface and water table.

The rate at which water filters throughthe vadose zone is controlled by interac-

tions between soil, water and plant sys-tems. Green and his colleagues found thatthis rate was increased by the changes inprecipitation and temperature that elevat-ed CO2 levels are expected to bring about.

The scientists developed a method forsimulating the effects of elevated CO2 lev-els on plants, groundwater and the vadosezone. Then they applied it to two locationsin Australia—one subtropical, one

Mediterranean—where eucalyptus, pineand native perennial Australian grassesgrow. They found that the Mediterraneanlocation responded more to temperaturechanges, whereas the subtropical climatewas more influenced by the frequency andvolume of precipitation. In both locations,changes caused to soil, precipitation andplant transpiration by simulated climateswith twice the existing CO2 led to signifi-

cant changes to the rate of groundwaterrecharge. Water recharged from 34 percentslower to 119 percent faster in theMediterranean climate, and from 74 to 500percent faster for the subtropical climate.

While the opportunity for decreasedrecharge rates exists, the general trend istowards increase. Future research will in-vestigate whether those changes wouldbenefit or harm those ecosystems.


8 WHAT OTHERS DO

Primary teacher earns millionsby rearing chicken

One good thing to come out of climate change?

From primary teacher tofarmer Earning millionsfrom poultry farming

Kilimo Kwanza

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