Having lived in Kampala all her life, Zennah Muhumuza never imagined that Bukurungi village, in the remotest corner of Mubende District, would ever be her next home.

Neither did this 48-year-old secretary know that it would be in this “wilderness” that she would build a prosperous family. Cushioned by the regular monthly income of her husband, Fathil Muhumuza, an agriculturist and teacher, Zenah had enjoyed the comfort of a housewife in Kampala as she went about raising her children.

But all that was rudely interrupted when Muhumuza lost his job as an inspector in the Directorate of Production & Economic Affairs, Ministry of Defence.
“We could no-longer manage to pay our rent and our children dropped out of school,” Zenah recalls.

The family had no option, but to camp in Bukurungi where Muhumuza had acquired 10 acres of forested land.
“The first time I came here, I looked at the forest and thought no normal human being can stay here,” Zenah says.

She decided to go back to Kampala, but the situation in the city worsened after she was thrown out of the rented house.  
“There was no option but to carry my children and join their father. Those were dark days for us. I had never cultivated, my children never knew how to cook on firewood. I grew thin,” she recounts.

The family built a semi-permanent structure that they started living in while it was still wet.
“Life became hard. You couldn’t get even a hundred shillings in a day. I never thought this would ever happen to me,” Zennah says.
The Muhumuzas started growing bananas but because their land was rocky and because they lacked experience, things never worked out.

Soon, the family went into charcoal burning. With a bag going for Shs 3, 000, the Muhumuzas thought this was good income. However, they soon realised that even with charcoal burning, they couldn’t achieve a lot apart from destroying the environment. They could still not afford school fees for their children.

Then Zennah learnt of an organisation called Send a Cow Uganda (SACU).
“In 2004, somebody told me there was an organisation giving out cows. I couldn’t believe that someone could give out free cows,” she said.

SACU gave her some training and eventually she qualified to get a cow. After two weeks, the cow gave birth and Zennah’s family found itself with plenty of milk.
“I realised the milk was too much for my family alone [to consume]. We would get 16 litres per day. I started selling some, making daily sales of Shs 6, 000,” she said.

When the milk prices rose, Zennah would make daily sales of Shs15, 000. Within a short time, Zennah started to venture into other projects. With money earned from milk, she acquired more land and began raring chicken, goats and also bought more cows.

When we visited Zennah recently, she didn’t regret having moved to Mubende anymore. Her family now owns 22 acres of land on which they rear chicken, plant trees, fruits and zero grazing cows.
She has 320 local chickens, 200 broilers, 150 layers and has booked another 1,000 birds.

She has 4,000 seedlings of pine, 4,000 grape fruits, 4,000 orange plants, 4,000 mangoes and 600 passion fruits, which she sells at Shs 3,500 each. Zennah has 30,000 coffee plantlets which she expects to sell at Shs 250 each. This will fetch her Shs 7.5 million.

Currently, Zennah earns Shs 20 million annually from farming. Last year, coffee plantlets alone earned her Shs 2.5 million. From farming, Zennah has been able to educate her six children, three of them now university graduates. One is in the final year, and two are in high school.

She has also constructed herself a nice residence, which she values at Shs 70 million. She also built a mosque at her home as a way of thanking God for blessing her family.

Motivated by her success, Zennah has encouraged other farmers to work hard. At the time we visited her, Eve Nakabugo had camped at her home to acquire farming skills.

“I am here to learn how to rear animals and manage the loan scheme,” Nakabugo said.
In 2008, Zennah was voted the best farmer in the SACU farmers’ competition –earning herself a trip to the United Kingdom where she shared experiences with farmers there about organic farming.
Sue Padfield, a farmer with Church Farm, describes Zennah as an inspirational person.

“I would never have believed there would have been an opportunity for us to meet and work with such an exceptional, inspirational, beautiful African woman who has totally touched my heart as you, Zennah,” Sue writes.
She adds: “You came into our lives for a purpose, you leave us with an everlasting memory.”

Zennah will be traveling again to UK on March 14 to acquire more knowledge on organic farming.
Zennah’s success has raised her status in the community. She is currently the LC-III councilor and will be standing for LC-V councilor in the next elections.

“It is very amazing. For somebody who was destroying trees, she is now the supplier of trees,” said Aggrey Nshekanabo, SACU’s Communications & Marketing Officer.
“Everything in her home is environmentally friendly. She is not only supplying trees but also planting trees. If she had gone ahead with cutting trees, we would have found a desert.

From the rocky soils, she is able to produce so much using manure. That is the beauty of the cow. Once you have a cow, you are able to manage all the other components,” he added.

SACU has demonstrated that livestock, when supplied with appropriate and comprehensive training, enables farmers to re-establish and expand productivity in a sustainable manner. Based on protected zero-grazing units, the restriction of the cows to the shed/shelter effectively generates manure for fertilization of the soils for other agricultural projects.

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