Doctor Twaha Kakooza the proprietor of Shatwa Mixed Farm in Bubajjwe village, Kayunga district sold his two dairy cows to start an orange farm.
Standing in his four-and-a-half acre farm, which he started in 2011, Dr. Kakooza said he is happy with the decision he made.
He said his decision initially met great resistance from his wife, who valued the prestige attached to owning cattle.
“My interest in oranges began in 2010, when I visited my friend in Mbale, who was growing oranges. I wanted to practice what I had learnt from him, but I also wanted something with high market value. I decided on oranges and mangoes that had a better market,” he said.
Kakooza said that due to lack of enough orange farmers in his area, most of the oranges consumed were purchased from other places like Iganga and Kamuli.
He added that the availability of the market coupled with suitability of the area in terms of fertile soils motivated him to grow fruits.
The proximity to urban centres like Kampala, Bbaale, Mukono and other neighbouring districts was also an added advantage as these could provide a ready market to the fruits.
Starting out
“I started with half an acre of land. I cleared the land by removing the trees,” he said.
He set up lines to deal with water runoff and prevent soil erosion.
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He spaced the orange trees with 15 by 15 feet. Proper spacing, while planting fruits is important because if it is not followed, the trees do not grow properly.
“I planted the oranges in pits of two by two feet and used farm yard manure,” he noted.
He bought fruit seedlings from the Kawanda agricultural research institute because he had been told by fruit farmers that they had the best fruit seedling varieties.
Each orange seedling cost sh200 and a mango sh400.
“All the seedlings were grafted to make them high yielding, pest and disease resistant and fast maturing. But the price has since shot up; an orange seedling is between sh2,500 to Sh3,000,” he said.
His harvests
When the weather conditions are favourable, he earns between sh10m and Sh15m annually.
Dr. Kakooza adds that growing oranges seems tedious, but it pays; all one needs to do is to ensure that he or she attends to his plantation every day, have traps for white flies, and carries out bi-weekly spraying to curb pests and diseases.
Expand income
“Every drop of rain that lands on my rooftop is not wasted; it is collected in an underground tank. During the time of scarcity, it’s the water we use for domestic work and on the farm. There is a mechanised pump, which helps pumps water from the dams that I made,” he explains.
He said his future plan is to have a borehole drilled to back up the underground tank so that he starts drip irrigation.
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