By Rachel Kabejja  

Rebecca Mugumya, who has a full-time job and also runs a poultry farm, feels fulfilled about having a business to complement her career writes, Rachel Kabejja

 

One Tuesday evening, I camped at Barclays Bank to wait for my source. We were meant to drive together to her farm where she rears chicken. As we walked to the car, she was carrying training materials to be used for some training at Barclays bank (where she works) in a few days. What would make such a young woman excelling in her career at the bank, with her busy schedules get her hands dirty on a poultry farm? How does she balance being a mother, wife, career woman and farmer? And what of her social life? I kept wondering about all these.

 

As we talked along the way, her reason was clear, she wanted to break the norms of women doing one job. “There are so many things we can do as women. Career is there yes, but waiting for the monthly salary is something I wanted to counter attack.” As she speaks, her words depict somebody who is passionate about what she does and likes to excel at it.

 “I wake up at 5a.m. If my daughter wakes up early, I spend the morning with her before proceeding to work. That means that I will have to visit the farm in the evening. If she does not wake up early, I just proceed to the farm and witness the first feeding of the birds at 6a.m. before driving to work,” Rebecca who works at Barclays in Kampala, Uganda and runs a poultry farm in the City’s outskirts, says.  
As we approached the gate to her farm, I wondered what to expect. My eyes were welcomed by two structures in a form of a classroom block. Inside the chicken coop, the birds were clucking while the workers were busy cleaning the drinking cans.

How she started


 

Mugumya initially wanted to keep pigs but after visiting a friend’s poultry farm and seeing how things were being managed, she decided to venture into poultry. Today she has 7,500 birds on a 10 acre piece of land. On this same piece of land are food crops like bananas, sweet potatoes, maize, and a vegetable and fruit garden for tomatoes, carrots and watermelon.

 

Although she does not specify how much she started with, Mugumya says, “I begun with 2,500 birds and now I have 7,500. I do this to improve my earnings and break the norm of women keeping themselves to one job,” she says. With a few savings and a bank loan which she is currently servicing, she started her farm.

Challenges 


 

Just like any other business; her farm faces some challenges. “We don’t have controls on farm feeds and mixers, people just wake up and start mixing feeds without adding the necessary ration of ingredients. There are no demonstration farms for young farmers who want to start poultry farming. If there was one, people would make fewer mistakes in running their farms and projects,” she says adding that also, the fluctuating prices of chicken feeds and some dealers who don’t know how to handle vaccines is still a problem.

 

“Most Chicken vaccines are extremely delicate and dangerous that they have to be refrigerated. Unfortunately some suppliers do not know this and how to take care of such vaccines,” Mugumya notes

Is it profitable?


 

Asked whether the business is profitable, she says, “Currently the first bunch of 2,500 birds, I collect between 60-75 trays of eggs on a daily basis. And if a tray goes for Ushs 4,700 or Shs4800 (Tshs 2,820), then I think it’s profitable.” That adds up to UShs3,525,000 (Tshs 2,115,000)  income on a daily basis

Managing books of accounts


 

“Because this is an investment, there are books of accounts and I do make sure that every coin is ploughed back into the project. Till I think that the investment is done and is enough, I will open a separate account for the business. 
Mugumya’s quick tips on running a poultry farm are;

 

It is like chicken’s life depends on water. Birds drink a lot of water and therefore there must be a source of clean water around.
To avoid any losses, hygiene is a must by ensuring that the drinking cans are cleaned everyday and that floor is not wet.

 

Be open to learning from other farmers. Reading a lot and carrying out research about poultry is important. Likewise visit other farms and learn new things.
Keeping in touch and motivating staff at the farm is very crucial. Always employ people who are loyal and committed to work and have trust in them.


Practice patience.

 

Even the sky doesn’t seem like a limit for this young woman a graduate of Mass Communication at Makerere University. She looks at achieving more in her career by going for a Master’s Degree. She also wants to have more children.

 

She also wants to see her farm grow to 20,000 birds by end of next year and probably turn it into a demonstration farm for other people who want to venture into the business. Becky advises women to not to rely on their careers but also exploit other opportunities around them. “If women exploit these opportunities, we are bound to make our live and families have a better living,” she says.

Reprinted from the Monitor, Uganda