George Mugenyi, Uganda
From childhood up to age of height, I had never seen any other life apart from the Nomadic pastoral way. I remember trailing my father en route with cattle, to look for greater pastures from Ankole region to Bugandas fresh pasture land in 1992.
George Mugenyi, Uganda
From childhood up to age of height, I had never seen any other life apart from the Nomadic pastoral way. I remember trailing my father en route with cattle, to look for greater pastures from Ankole region to Bugandas fresh pasture land in 1992.
Unfortunately in 2001, our Dad, the late Daniel Kashanda, died of diabetes he had battled for 10 years. Since then the family got locked in land division wrangles. In the family of eleven children, height being girls, our eldest brother had an ill mind of selling off the family land to his interest. A thing my mother and I resisted while the rest of the siblings flew away for life. Six years after (in 2007), my mother also passed away.
Its an untold story how I recovered the current Godstat Farm in Nakasongola district. In 2010 when I graduated, there were only four malnourished cattle to begin with. I leased out the land for re-development. Within one year the four cattle became ten cows which then set ground for the parent stock for Godstat Farm: a mixed beef and dairy farm located in the heart of the country. We now run two major projects to empower young farmers in Uganda: The cattle recycling project and the Goat multiplication program.
The Ugandan old-age subsistences farms can no longer support food absorption of the populations growth - whereas it is evident that there is no deliberate effort to keep a certain population in farming activities.
A number of young people do not own land; I cant imagine what I would be able to achieve if I hadnt had access to my late fathers land. My passion, my experience to help agribusiness would be cutoff. Our role at Godstat Farm is to empower people with less capital to farm.
GFX - Godstat Farm eXchange is an agribusiness enterprise that empowers youths and other people an to ranch/farm. It notably enables them to profitably invest their little savings and participate in agribusiness development for Uganda. GFX runs a commercial feedlot with over 60 cows and 40 goats. It enables to breed and fatten both dairy and beef animals and give support to young people who don't have access to arable land. We keep their animals while they multiply as owners and learn livestock management skills to start their own farms.
The farm has been running since 2010. However our social impact project: Goat multiplication started last year. This is our first year of operation since last August 2013 and we are proud to be accommodating over 40 goats now under 5 young farmers.
This project has the potential to replicate itself for communal land use in the country and the whole of Africas arable soils.
Its our humble plea that whoever reads this story should be able understand, comprehend and advise the best resources to garner for this program in Africa
Check the video of Godstat Farm, featuring This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..