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Arua gains from fruit grafting
By Frank Mugabi
West Nile is a region richly endowed with mangoes. Many of these are, however, put to no proper use as they grow in the wild.
Today, the new technology of grafting mangoes introduced by the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) is steadily turning what has been a wild fruit into a profitable venture for local farmers.
Lawrence Alisiku, a youthful farmer of Kijomoro sub-county is an outstanding success story of grafted mangoes and the NAADS programme as a whole.
After completing his senior four in 1995, Alisiku could not continue with school due to lack of fees.
Life nevertheless continued under his grass-thatched house.
In 2000, Alisiku and 19 others decided to form a farmer’s group, Poo Young Farmers, with determination to improve their living conditions.
In 2001 they met fortune when the NAADS programme was rolled into the district. Kijoromo was among the pioneer sub-counties and Poo Young Farmers group was identified for advisory support.
They were registered and trained in fruit grafting.
Alisiku was identified out of the group and taken for further training at Kawanda Research Institute.
Alisiku displays a grafted mango fruit of Palvin variety on his farm
Kawanda helped him establish a mother garden where he started growing up to 11 species of improved mangoes. He also grew four varieties of hybrid oranges, two of passion fruits, four of avocado and two of pawpaws.
Improved mango varieties like, Tommy, Kent, Zileti and Palvin have the capacity to weigh up to 2kg if well nurtured compared to the 0.5kg weighed by ordinary ddoodo mangoes.
Grafted mangoes are also fiber-free, juicy and good for juice production. Other varieties can make mango cakes too.
Alisiku established a nursery of hybrid fruits and later opened a market for selling grafted fruit seedlings.
In the first marketing year, in 2002, he sold 400 grafted mango seedlings and earned over sh1,6m. Each seedling went for sh4,000.
This strengthened his determination. In 2003, he sold 700 grafted mango seedlings earning about sh2,8m. In 2004 he sold 1,000 seedlings and bagged about sh4m.
He also sold seedlings for avocados, passion fruits, red and yellow pawpaws. He sold the seedlings mostly to NAADS farmers’ groups and schools which opened up orchards.
In 2004, Alisiku became a proud owner of a permanent house that he constructed at sh4.8m. He also bought a bicycle and most importantly started paying school fees for his three brothers.
Recently, Alisiku bought a plot of land at Ediofe, a prime area on the immediate outskirts of Arua town, where he intends to put up a residential house.
He employs five people on his one-acre farm whom he pays about sh40,000 each per month. He also provides them with lunch.
“NAADS is a very good programme especially for serious farmers.” Alisiku says but warns, “the programme is advisory and if you do not implement what you are taught then you cannot realise any profit.”
Alisiku is not alone. The remaining 18 members of Poo Young Farmer’s group now boast of increased income levels. Majority have acquired assets as semi-permanent residential houses, bicycles, livestock and radios.
Payment of school fees for their children has also become easier than before.
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