For many years, Mr. David Bakampa in Hoima District lived in a mud house. A hardworking man who migrated from Kigezi in the late 1960’s. Mr. David was involved in subsistence agriculture, farming a number of crops, practicing some mixed farming. With his meager savings, he has been struggling to look after his family, including paying school fees for his children.

With the support from the partners of Trias in Hoima district (HOFOKAM and the Hoima District Farmers Association, HODFA), David eventually joined Twekambe Chambara Farmers group in 2008. That is when his fortunes significantly improved. David feels that the training he and other members of his group received from HOFOKAM and HODFA, was a very important foundation for the success he eventually enjoyed. This training included preparation of work and business plans, information on improved agronomic practices, as well as lessons in living a healthy life.

David acquired a loan from HOFOKAM of 150,- Euros. With this loan David was able to plant 2 acres of upland rice, buying improved seeds, hiring labor during harrowing, planting, weeding, harvesting, and post-harvest handling. David sold his rice for about 500,- Euros. He acquired a second loan of 150,- Euros, that he also used to plant rice. He did not take a higher loan, because he learnt to calculate and borrow only what he needs to use on his farm. Again he sold his rice with profits and was able to save some money.

After paying back the loans, he saved enough money and decided to construct a permanent house for his wife. In addition he was still able to send some of his children to school.

In 2010, he acquired another loan of 205,- Euros to plant rice again. It was another successful season.  David accessed a new loan and planted 2.5 acres of rice. In addition to constructing permanent houses, he also invested his money in setting up one acre of palm oil trees and four acres of tea plantation. From these operations Mr. David Bakampa is able to send more of his children to school.

David feels that there are three reasons responsible for his success. “I overcame my fear of investing in agriculture”, says David. He learnt from the trainings conducted by HODFA that the more he invests in a responsible manner, the more he could benefit. Being able to access loans enabled David to grow his farm in a way that would not be possible without it.

Besides that, he worked hard and has a disciplined way of doing business. “Some colleagues failed because they diverted the loans to other activities, such as bride price, or squandered it on alcohol”, explains David. David however, always invested according to the agreed business plan as being learnt through the Participatory Agro-enterprise approach used by HODFA and supported by Trias Uganda.

Right now David is a proud father of several children, all of whom are in school, and one even at University. He has built permanent houses for his family, and is looking forward to the next harvests from his farm.