Mr.Mivule Musa is from Bakusekamajja Farmers Group in Kakooge sub county – Nakasongola District who is planting pineapples massively. Mivule joined VEDCO around 2003 through friends who were already group members.

Before joining VEDCO he used to work as a casual laborer in people’s farms and charcoal burning. From this work, he had only managed to buy a bicycle and owned a small piece of land.

While with VEDCO Mivule started with the pig enterprise but later failed to manage it because of the scarcity of feeds and poor markets of the pig products. After this failure I decided to abandon piggery and join pineapple farming. I started with 2000 suckers which I planted on 1 ½ acres; here VEDCO supported me with knowledge on proper spacing of pineapples and at first I managed to harvest 37550 suckers which I sold at 30/= each earning a total of 1,126,500/=.

From the sale of pineapple fruits, I have managed to buy a motorcycle worth 1,700,000/= to help me in searching for the markets. I also bought solar panels worth 1200000 to generate power at home (I use it in lighting and watching television at home). The money from pineapples has also helped me in finishing our house at home; buying household needs and also paying fees for my children (I have 2 secondary students and 8 primary pupils).

The income got from sale of pineapples has also facilitated in expanding my garden from 1 ½ acres to 6 acres now. From here I can manage to harvest an average of 9000 heads of pineapples per season for 2 seasons in a year. Currently I sell the smallest pineapple at 300/= and the biggest is sold at 1000/=. The harvested pineapples are mainly sold to traders from Kasana Luwero.  I am now aiming at having 20 acres of pineapples in a few years but I currently have a problem of land since I no longer have vacant land. I hope to buy land or hire to have my dream achieved.

The pineapple project however, faces challenges which include; monkeys that spoil the pineapples from the garden, limited land for expansion has greatly affected me and sometimes unfavorable weather conditions affect the production of pineapples.

I conclude by expressing my gratitude to VEDCO for exposing us to fellow farmers in different areas which has made us known and providing us with vast knowledge and skills.