Partnership Report

Uganda, Africa

UGA07 - Rukungiri income generation programme

View report dated: January 31, 2015
View report dated: September 9, 2017
View report dated: September 9, 2018
View report dated: June 28, 2023

Report Date: August 23, 2015

Report by BHW Uganda Partnership Facilitators

We met with Justus and Reuben in Jinja while they were attending the Foundations for Farming training course BHW ran there from 21-25 June 2015.

Recent Events

Accident

On April 3 Reuben had quite a serious motorcycle accident. He was going to visit one of the church members at a place called Kihihi when the boda boda which he was a passenger on had an accident. He has quite seriously injured his thumb and had chest and head problems after the accident. He has not been able to do his chainsaw business since 3 April and therefore unable to earn any income from that source. At this stage he does not trust anybody else to do the chainsaw work for him. It will be sometime before his thumb is fully recovered.

Cow Project

The cow project is doing very well. There are now 15 mature cows and 5 calves, two of which are bulls. After we visited last year with John Vlaming the older bulls were sold and the money was reinvested into purchasing new heifers.

Since the cows have given birth the milk production has increased. One major change which has happened is that instead of the milk being supplied to Marumba Christian School it is now sold on the open market.

We were able to sight the records for the milk production which have been kept since 2013. There is a full record of the production from each cow on a daily basis and the records then include both the sales and also the costs of production. In summary, having sighted the records, we are very confident that the cow project is doing well and that there is profit from the business. Some of the profit is in fact applied to pay the rent for the church and some is applied to the school. We presume that the small remaining profit (which is actually very small) is probably allocated between Reuben and Justus, which was part of the original intention for the project.

Ideas for the Future

Reuben and Justus would like to purchase a 500 litre milk cooler and locate it in one of the trading centres around Marumba. From the information which they have provided us there is significant demand for milk in the local communities and milk which has been properly stored can be sold at a good profit. It would also enable them to purchase milk from other suppliers and then on sell it at a profit. Because the milk cooler will require premises it is effectively a new business venture. The cooler would require a generator, its own premises, a secure electricity supply and a decision would have to be made as to where to site it. This would involve the rental of a premise, employment of someone to sell the milk and appropriate security arrangements.

We have asked Reuben and Justus to talk this possibility through with John Vlaming, BHW's Agricultural Director, and also asked them to provide us with a complete budget for the proposal. Our initial inclination is that this is potentially a very good business venture and one which would help to support the school and church in a positive way.

The other thing which we like about the proposal is that it represents a logical next step to the existing cow project and fits quite nicely with Justus’ passion for cows. Another positive outcome, which helps us to have confidence in this project, is that we have seen the input from Reuben’s chainsaw business and the fact that a considerable amount of that income has been committed to supporting the school and assisting it to purchase a new school premise. We do see both Reuben and Justus as being highly focused on improvement in their local communities.

Comments

Because we have not visited Rukungiri this year we are unable to provide updated photos of the project. We will be planning to spend an extended time down there next year.