When President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni introduced the four-acre model farming strategy to create wealth in every household, some people took this as a sham.
While others ignored this call, serious Ugandans living in both urban and rural areas who religiously took his message and turned it into reality are now reaping big fortunes from it.
Meet the 80-year-old Kiria Nimrod, a resident of Kamonkoli town in Budaka district, Bukedi sub-region, who embraced Museveni’s farming principles by diversifying his farm with goats, dairy cows, poultry (ducks and chickens), and notably, a large fishpond where he cultivates tilapia and catfish within the five-acre land.
His efforts in this relatively unconventional but highly profitable form of farming have earned him national attention and praise from President Museveni himself.
Kiria, like other Ugandans who successfully adopted President Museveni’s wealth creation strategies, is without doubt a wealthy man and a job creator after venturing into various farming enterprises.
Kiria a few days ago impressed President Museveni with his fish farming tricks when he confessed to having closely been following his messages that wholesomely guided his farming practices.
He is waiting to start harvesting tilapia and catfish from a fishpond on a 50 by 100-meter venture that has the potential to yield over Shs300 million (roughly USD 80,000) in a few months to come.
Kiria’s success story serves as a case study for wealth generation through sustainable land use, especially in wetlands. Using creativity, Kiria breeds his fingerlings from a wetland where rice is planted.
His initiatives re-energized President Museveni’s drive to encourage households to practice the right farming strategies if they are to create wealth.
Kiria Nimrod’s success in fish farming highlights the impact of President Museveni’s four-acre model farming strategy in Uganda. This model, introduced to help households boost income and self-sufficiency, encourages diversified farming practices on limited land.
Kiria’s story illustrates the life-changing potential of diversified farming, setting a powerful example of how households in Uganda can maximize small land holdings for substantial financial gain.
“I am not stopping you from using the wetlands, but leaders should mobilize you to use it correctly. You should start practicing fish farming so that you make money like Muze Kiria, who is making Shs300 million a year from fish farming in Kamonkoli town,” Museveni told Bukedi leaders during a meeting in Butaleja district on Saturday, November 9th, 2024.
He appealed to them to use the wetlands rightly and get more money out of it instead of growing rice where they can barely get Shs5 million a year.
The president noted that fish ponds can be dug at the edge of the wetlands.
From the Bukedi sub-region, President Yoweri Museveni is set to tour the Teso sub-region to assess the implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM) and mobilize for wealth creation in the area.
The tour will run from November 18th to 21st, 2024, where the President will meet stakeholder groups, including various categories of leaders and technical staff.
President Museveni’s four-acre model farming includes diversification with coffee, fruit trees, staple foods, and pasture, alongside backyard poultry, piggery, and fish farming.