Iganga - President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has advised leaders and residents of the Busoga sub-region to adopt the right farming models in order to overcome household poverty and fully benefit from Uganda’s growing agricultural economy.
Meeting National Resistance Movement (NRM) leaders from Busoga in Iganga, President Museveni, also NRM Presidential Candidate, cautioned that small-scale cultivation of certain crops cannot deliver meaningful income to farmers.
He noted that growing sugarcane, maize, soya beans or tobacco on a small scale keeps households trapped in poverty because such enterprises require large acreage to be profitable.
The President explained that families with limited land should instead focus on intensive farming, which maximizes returns from small plots of land.
He reiterated the NRM’s long-standing recommendation that households with four acres of land or less can escape poverty if they use their land strategically.
Under this model, Museveni said, one acre should be planted with coffee, another with fruits, while a third acre should be dedicated to pasture for zero-grazing dairy cows.
The remaining acre should be used for food crops. He added that farmers can further increase income by using their backyards for poultry and piggery, and establishing fish ponds near wetlands.
“You will get a lot of money and you will get out of poverty,” the President said, noting that some Ugandans who embraced this advice have already transformed their lives.
To illustrate his point, Museveni cited the example of Fred Byamukama also state minister for tourism, from Bunyoro, who practices integrated farming on just four acres.
According to the President, Byamukama grows coffee, pineapples and bananas, keeps dairy cows, pigs and runs a large poultry enterprise.
From egg production alone, Wiamukama reportedly earns about Shs108 million per month, with a net income of approximately Shs55 million after costs, translating to nearly Shs700 million annually.
The President said Byamukama’s success followed guidance he received after being introduced to the President, including visits to model farms at Kisozi and Kawumu.
Museveni also shared examples of farmers earning as much as Shs36 million per acre from mango production using improved seedlings that were introduced under NRM programmes in the 1990s.
He further cited his own experience at his Rwakitura farm, where integrated farming, including fish farming, generates high returns even on small pieces of land.
However, President Museveni emphasized that some crops are suitable for extensive farming, which requires large-scale production to be profitable.
He explained that enterprises such as sugarcane, maize, tobacco, tea and large-scale cattle keeping fall under extensive farming and should be undertaken by farmers with enough land to benefit from economies of scale.
He said the NRM government has consistently supported both intensive and extensive agriculture through programmes such as Entandikwa, NAADS and Operation Wealth Creation, which have contributed to increased national output of coffee, beef and maize.
The President also linked his agricultural message to the Parish Development Model (PDM), noting that it was introduced to ensure that more households directly access government support and join the money economy.
He acknowledged challenges in implementation but said the programme is already yielding results in several parts of the country.
Museveni concluded by urging Busoga leaders to mobilize communities to adopt the right farming approaches based on land size, stressing that Uganda’s growing wealth must translate into improved livelihoods at household level.