Fred Bikaba, a UDS farmer

We thought we'd like to introduce you to a few of our beneficiaries. Over the next few weeks, we'll bring you stories of some of our farmers in Kamuli District. 

The first is Fred Bikaba.  Fred lives and works in Kitikuro, and is one of a group of 15 farmers trained by UDS in 2012.

Fred and family in their banana grove

Fred was initially given five suckers for his banana plot, but now he has over 300 banana plants. The bananas are well managed and they produce good fruit which attract a good price. Banana are highly valued in the local market, and customers often buy the fruit before they are ripe.

Fred has now  started growing other crops in order to build an income. These include African eggplants, onions, tomatoes and cabbages. His cabbage plot contains over 1000 plants,  and he plans to sell them at an average price of 500 Ugandan shillings (about 12 UK pence).

Fred tends his cabbage crop

This is how Fred described his change in fortunes to us: “I am grateful to UDS for all the knowledge and skills given to me. Before UDS’ intervention, I was practising traditional farming where I was planting mainly maize and rice as food and cash crops, and I would only get income every end of season (June and December). After gaining skills in better farming methods and production of short income crops my life has greatly improved, because currently I get money on a weekly basis. In addition to this, I learnt how to use my land profitably. For example I have a swamp and for long I was growing only rice which is seasonal. The knowledge I got from UDS opened my understanding that I can grow short term crops throughout the year regardless of whether it is a rainy or dry season and here I grow cabbages which I harvest every two and a half months."

Fred's life has been transformed by the skills given to him by UDS. To enable us to help more farmers like Fred, please donate to UDS by texting  UDSF14 £5 to 70070.