By Kellen Owente
On the 15th of this month, the old man with a hat, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni made 82 years. As I reflected on his long journey of liberation and the many things he still hopes to see, I found myself returning to one message I have heard him express with my own ears. If I had one wish, it would be to see every Ugandan get out of poverty.
In fact recently he shared his birthday reflections on his X handle to his Bazzukulu. He said in his remaining years he wants Africans to focus on three historical missions not yet attained if we want to avoid future calamity. First is prosperity through integrating the common market. Second is strategic security through political integration like the East African Federation. And third is using undugu of the four linguistic groups of the 1.5 billion Africans which are Niger Congo, Nilo Saharan, Afro Asiatic and Khoisan.
All these three missions are critical for Africa. But my mind kept returning to what I have heard him say repeatedly and seen him demonstrate through Wanainchi. The need to get our people out of poverty through wealth creation.
I have had a chance to sit in some meetings where Mzee meets visitors. Whether ministers, cultural leaders, religious leaders, Members of Parliament or local leaders, his message is the same. Go back to your people and preach wealth creation using the four acre model.
You may say you have heard it over and over. These days he even calls himself a film producer because he moves around showing real Ugandans who started with one or two acres and are now thriving.
It took me time to understand this model. I kept asking if you have one acre what do you grow and what do you leave out. Later I understood it is not about size. It is about being strategic with what you have.
It sank deeper when he recently met leaders from Bunyoro. He told them yes cocoa is good and also sugarcane is good in Busoga but it cannot work for those with small land.
He introduced this model in the 1997 NRM manifesto. If you have four acres and below, do not call yourself poor. You can sustain your family on that land.
So what can you do? He outlines seven enterprises. One acre for coffee as long term cash. Second acre for fruits like mangoes, oranges, pineapples or pawpaw depending on climate. Third acre for dairy and pasture through zero grazing for milk and manure. Fourth acre for food crops to feed your family.
Around the homestead add poultry for eggs. It does not need a full acre. For non Muslims add piggery on a small portion. For those near water add fish farming.
You do not need four acres. You can start with one or two. You do not need ten acres to join the money economy.
Take Richard Nyakaana of Rwengaju in Fort Portal. After meeting the President in 2008 he was inspired. He had one and a half acres. He mobilized friends into a savings group and borrowed three million shillings to start with 200 birds. He later added zero grazing. By 2022 he had about 7,000 birds, six cows and fifteen employees. Today he earns over 130 million shillings annually in profit. He is one of the examples Mzee uses to show intensive farming works.
This is where we must be deliberate. If you plant sugarcane on two acres, you might have to wait 18 to 24 months and walk away with about four to five million shillings. The land is locked and the money comes once. But that same period, a farmer with 500 layers on a quarter acre collects eggs daily, sells trays weekly and earns a steady monthly income that surpasses sugarcane, with manure left to feed the garden. That is the difference between working hard and working strategically.
If you have more than four acres you can do cocoa, sugarcane or cotton. That is for the rich, ( Abagaga).
As we celebrate Mzee’s life, we can always fill Kololo with vuvuzelas and jubilation. But the most befitting gift we can give him is to also live his one wish. To stop giving excuses, to wake up and work and to get ourselves out of poverty. That is how we make Kisanja No Sleep a reality.
Happy belated birthday Mzee Wakazi. May God continue to keep you and Maama Janet in wisdom, good health and service to our nation.
The writer works with the Presidential Press Unit.
