Lowe’s Demo Farm: The face of Arua City’s Oluko falls

BY ANDREW COHEN AMVESI    

ARUA.

Located 11.6km East of Arua city, the undulating hills surrounding the magnificent Oluko water falls provide a breathtaking ambience to partygoers.

About 400 meters on the slope leading to the water falls, revelers in vehicles and motorcycles are always attracted to permanent and temporary buildings on the right side of the road.

But little do they know that the buildings are housing the heart of Lowe’s Stores Demo Farm which is sitting on a five-acre piece of land in Oyufi Cell, Oluko Ward, Ayivu East Division in Arua City.

Lowe’s Stores Demo Farm is a mixed farm venturing in piggery, goat rearing business, poultry, legumes, passion fruit growing, vegetables and the production of indigenous microorganisms (IMO).

The farm’s production is in commercial quantities targeting hotels, tourists, local governments, industries and retail outlets both within the country and outside Uganda especially in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.

How Lowe’s farm started

Violet Nyakuru, one of the proprietors of Lowe’s demo farm said they started the farm on a small scale by first setting up the structures.

“This farm is now two years old. I need to say that we looked at very many other things that can earn money but how we zeroed on farming is because the farm is where people get food and you can’t go wrong. It is where you have the products and the market is ready because the population is ever increasing,” Nyakuru explained.

“Arua being at the border of two different countries, the market is there and that is why we started the farm. Right now, we have already started earning from the farm. We are also doing value addition as well; we have got a product that is IMO which is already earning us money. It is a solution that is made to be used in farms, it can be used for cleaning and it is a smelly free solution – since we have pigs, we use it for cleaning their place, we also use it for their drinking water because it is something that can give them appetite and that is where we are getting the money from,” Nyakuru added.

She said they at first planted tomatoes but not in the Green House. The money earned from the tomatoes last season was later used to put up a Greenhouse at the farm which is going to be used for growing tomatoes throughout the year without losing the already existing customers.

“Currently, we are not earning a lot but from the tomatoes and IMO, I should say moderately we are getting about shs5m in a month. But we are anticipating that it could even go beyond shs50m a month if everything goes per our plans because we have the crops, we have pigs, we have the goats, we have the IMO and out of the tomatoes, we have the plan to put a value addition plant where we shall produce tomato paste, chilly paste and tomato source. I think from that we shall be able to earn beyond shs50m per month,” Nyakuru promised.

Targeted market

Nyakuru says currently, the crops that they harvest from the farm and the IMO have not gone beyond the border.

The products are being sold to the local farmers and consumers within Arua city and West Nile region at large.

“But we are anticipating that the more we market, our products will go beyond the borders. I’m talking about DR Congo and South Sudan. So, the market will be beyond us but I promise that we will make our products reach our consumers and they will be satisfied,” Nakuru stated.

The employment opportunities at the farm

Lowe’s Demo farm offers opportunities for the local residents surrounding the farm and beyond.

According to Nyakuru, when it comes to preparing the garden for planting crops, they usually get more than ten locals on board to do casual work.

But she noted that on permanent bases, they have already employed a total of four staff members specialized in different fields.

“So, as we grow, we are thinking that the people we are going to employ will be beyond the number that we have currently,” Nyakuru remarked.

Challenges

Nyakuru observed that setting up such a farm is financially stressing much as the farm is shining at the moment.

“It is really financially challenging because we are doing all this without anybody’s support. We are doing all this as a family and where we have reached, we have already invested more than shs100m in this farm which is not an easy thing if you are not strong hearted,” Nyakuru said.

“The second challenge is that we have not yet fenced the farm. There are things that we have in the farm that are very sensitive, especially the pigs. People are not supposed to access the place anyhow because of maybe diseases and some other things, but right now we have not fenced the place and that is another challenge to us but all that is in plan,” Nyakuru stressed.

Sustainability plan

Nyakuru says they have involved every family member; the children get involved when they come home for holidays.

“Of course, they have to learn what exactly we are doing here and that is our plan of sustaining this farm. It works well! When you train the children very well plus other family members, they will pick up the task when you are not there,” she said.

Appeal to the public

Nyakuru says the community in West Nile is blessed with land and other resources which they can use to put up farm structures which are cheap.

She says when you are starting a farm of such a kind, you don’t have to start with too many things at once.

“For us we started with about 10 goats and right now they are 23, the pigs were also 10 but right now they are 18. So, as you start, you can start with something small. Of course, what people have to also know is that if you are beginning, you really need to think of beginning with something that is going to start earning some quick money like tomatoes and other vegetables as you wait for the goats and pigs to grow and multiply to avoid stress and eventually giving up on what you are doing,” Nyakuru advised.

Nyakuru said: “like when we started this venture, we had IMO and tomatoes that were earning us some quick money. Tomato is a vegetable that only takes two and a half months and within two and a half months, it is ready for sale. So, you have to make sure there is something that you are doing that can earn you money quickly to support the other projects that are taking longer particularly, the pigs take a bit longer period of time to grow and start multiplying.”

The future prospects of the farm

Nyakuru says they have already demarcated land for setting up fish ponds because the farm is gifted with a natural source of water which will feed the ponds throughout the year in the near future.

Nyakuru believes that after establishing a modern poultry house, at least two fish ponds will be constructed on the farm.

She said they have also established commercial woodlots on the farm as a long-term money generating enterprise.

Besides, they intend to construct a multi-purpose hall on the farm to train people especially guests from districts, school trainees and dropouts at a small and affordable fee.

With all these in plan, Nyakuru is so optimistic that in five years’ time, they will be able to make shs100m every month from all the enterprises set on the farm.