Registration No: 2869 Uganda Orphans (BKB) DEMONSTRATION ORGANIC FARM January 2014 We have been enabled go through 2013 in a steady motion as regards production and establishment. Thanks to all our esteemed partners, stakeholders in particular the directors. This report covers part of December 2013 and January 2014. It will have reviewing linkage with the previous report in terms of social, agronomy, livestock and economic dimensions. Social status Our welfare assistant/gardener, Mukyala Topi got injured on her right hand by an iron sheet while picking some utensils. Mr. David has taken care of her in terms of medical bills while other members gave her moral support to have a quick recovery. By now her health is improving. She is back for work. See her in our temporary kitchen (for wood fuel). We are not certain yet if Augustine, one of our gardeners will return. The worry come as soon as I failed to establish an outstanding reason for his failure to return as agreed before x-mas. His return date was 28/12/2013. We have been patient for some time but unable to see farm enterprises collapsing due to labour shortage, thus Richard has come in to take over duties of Agustines work. In this picture, Richard SSebuuma a newly recruited gardener, with Peter cultivating in pastures. Amidst all these social challenges; Lawrence, SSempa, Daniel plus the hired part time worker have done the donkey work on the farm. Other official works have continued normally by the responsible persons.
Last week we got a Nutritionist/Dietetician who will take charge of nutritional packages as required by our visitors. We have received few visitors in this period because most people are on holidays including schools. Agronomy We have been in a rain season which has virtually ended. Most crops have matured. We are now concentrating on staggered plots as we do irrigation. Such crops include maize, lima beans, peas, carrots fruits, onions, spinach, tomatoes, Nabe beans, doodo, jjobyo, sukuma among others. The above are some of the crops grown. Visitors in this picture were farmers from Nakiwogo- Entebbe in November last year. We have established our herbs such as these ones in the picture. We mix these biorationals in a concrete tank as seen in the background Thanks for the Anona morucata (Kitaffeeri) seedlings. Fortunately the farm already has two trees of this species; one of which I planted! Have a look at this fruit.
Our Garcinia buchananii (musaali) fruits have perfomed well with good fruits and are liked by many people. Jackfruits are also doing well as seen in the picture. Lima beans (kigaaga) are one of our newly introduced leguminous crops. We believe it will boost nitrogen fixation and protein supply to both humans and livestock. Some of the coffee plants have put on berries and flowers at the age of 15 months Livestock
One of our sows gave birth to only four piglets. This has not been economical. We have given this sow one chance before we cull it. Our breeding stock for pigs is doing well so far. Look at these gilts in the picture. Junior Ordry (the young cow) gave birth to a male calf. We are selling this calf to save on milk consumed. This calf is 32 days old by now; it consumes 4 liters of milk per day. The poultry unit provides good living conditions for birds as seen in the picture. The unfortunate part is that their ability to make many movements interfere with egg formation and body building compared to the deep litter system. This gap however enables these birds to produce good quality eggs and meat. Other issues The ICS task and the teaching/learning aids get on slowly than I had planned. I found it necessary have to consult many literature, references and standards. This will help us get a well developed paper. The rest of the farm issues will be reported in my annual report of next month as per our BKB calendar year Thanks for all your support Yours faithfully Kamoga Gerald BKB Farm Manager