Onekalit a former boda-boda in Gulu City on a routine management of his Cocoa garden.Photos by Arnest Tumwesige
By Arnest Tumwesige
Nwoya: After 10 years into commercial motorcycle (boda-boda) riding business on the streets of Gulu City, 45 year old Geoffrey Onekalit found a new calling in agriculture after his regular customer convinced him of its lucrativeness.
Despite earning fairly from the boda-boda, it is non comparable to farming that became a business for him after Capable International, a private enterprise that works with local farmers took their services to his community in 2020.
The composed Onekalit now employs 15 casual workers in his farm. The farm has a variety of enterprises ranging from apiary, perennial crops like coffee, cocoa, banana plantations as well as annual food crops like soya beans, maize rice and livestock.
Located in Celpeke village, Langele parish, Lii sub-county Nwoya district, Onekalit is a true description of a successful commercial farmer who moved from ploughing five acres to over 120 acres of land.
He is the chairperson of Nwoya Celpeke Maize and Soya bean growers Cooperative Ltd, a position bestowed upon him by his other 32 colleagues who pioneered the association.
Boasting of 52 members currently, Capable International had been supporting the cooperative with farming loans at 1.5% interest rate, agronomic practice guide, business mentorship, counselling and functional literacy skills on a weekly basis.
This was how Onekalit boosted his farm to start earning more than 30 million shillings as profit after spending 20 million shillings on labour, pesticides, livestock and tractor hire.
“When Capable International came, I was already farming but with small capital so they gave me a loan and I expanded gradually to the current level,” he explained.
Capable Internationl markets Onekalit
Since joining Capable in 2020 February, Onekalit has not remained the same. His popularity, ignited by farming, has earned him better opportunities in life.
For instance from the 2024 second season he signed a contract with SIM Law, a Kenyan seed multiplication company to start planting maize seeds for multiplication starting with 50 acres.
In the agreement, he will be selling each kilogram at 1900 shillings. “I would have not known (about the opportunity) if it was not Capable International,” the farmer who now plans to buy his own tractor at 160 million shillings next year revealed.
Venturing into Cocoa
Cocoa farming is an opportunity introduced to him by a cocoa farmer friend from Mayuge district in Central Uganda.
Despite mixed perception from the community on cocoa farming due to unfavorable climatic conditions, Onekalit has seven acres of the crop.
Some of the healthy looking cocoa crops are planted in the middle of bananas while others in an open space. But he acknowledges how it is hard to manage the crop due to its proneness to termites hence need for close monitoring.
Having grown to over three feet with some beginning to flower, he’s optimistic that some will start bearing pods by next year.
Embracing cattle fattening
With 22 heads of cattle to his name, Onekalit intends to buy more six calves from Nakasongola district at 600,000 shillings each.
His plan is to stock the Ankole breed as according to him, they are more pricey than the Zebu breed that he has currently. “I bought six calves from Nakasongola last year, but after feeding them for one year, I can now sell each at 1.6 million shillings. I want to change all the local breeds and fatten cows for selling,” he planned.
Visioning the members
Dominic Idro, the Co-founder of Capable International told GNNA that they enroll farmers and help them to vision positive changes in their households.
With constant follow-up by the organization’s field officers, the beneficiaries are constantly reminded on their household plans till they are implemented by end of two years.
Success stories and community impact
The cooperative is now self-reliant with capacity to borrow and pay over 30 million shillings from Centenary bank promptly.
As a way of giving back to their communities, cooperative members this month repaired a community road stretching 12kms from Celpeke to Onang. The road had become impassable due to deep potholes.
Of the founder members, 12 have constructed permanent houses for commercial and residential purposes. Among these are Obwa Janan, Adong Brenda, Ojok Godfrey, and Akello Jennifer.
Many members have also bought goats, pigs, cows with some initiating construction plans.
With farming as their core activity, each farmer is able to cultivate five acres of land. In each season, the members realize between 300-500 tons of harvest from Maize and Soya beans.
With the ready market available from Mukwano and Mt. Meru Oil producers located in Lira City, the farmers are also able to save over 30 million shillings in the bank annually.
45 year old Janan Obwa, the Cooperative Secretary attests to the fact that before Capable’s intervention, he lacked the capacity to open more than five acres of land.
But since 2020, he has progressed from five to twelve acres in the first season of the same year, twenty in the second season to now thirty acres.
Obwa who owns a produce store in Celpeke trading center has now started constructing a three roomed residential house at home.
The father of six is into produce business and he started with10 million shillings in December 2023. He now values his business at 15 million shillings.
“Our focus is changing from achieving personal goals to showing other people our value so that they can learn from us. So far, when I look at the members, they’re changing a lot. Most of them have bought motorcycles, oxen,” he observed.
Apparently, the group has started constructing a Cooperative produce store after buying a plot of land at 1.8 million shillings in the trading centre. Once it is completed by December this year, they will start dealing in produce as part of their sustainability strategy.
