A retired senior military officer, RO/00184 Colonel (RTD) Dick Bugingo, has continued to use both practical and theoretical farming skills to transform the livelihoods of many Ugandans through mindset change and model farming.
At his AGDI diary farm based in Kyakabunga Sub County, Nyabushozi County, Kiruhura district, Bugingo, a renowned NRA bush war hero, has since 2010 been offering both practical and theoretical skills to people who often visit his farm on a special study tour.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has always taken several groups, including women, youths, and other special categories, on a study tour at this farm.
“As a young journalist, in 2015, together with other media workers, we toured this farm, and it was my first time to hear that music is played before starting to milk a cow,” NEXUS Media’s Ronald Odongo recalls.
On Friday, December 20th, 2024, Col. Bugingo shocked a group of 70 journalists from the Teso and Karamoja sub regions who had visited his farm at the invitation of President Museveni.
Armed with cameras, recorders, and notebooks, one by one, the enthusiastic journalists started stepping out of the three State House Costas, expecting to meet a tough elder, like it had previously been portrayed in the media several years ago.
To their amazement, the media workers were received and immediately ushered into a round resting/leisure permanent huts by Col. Dick himself before they embarked on a two-hour feast on the deliciously roasted beef with a strong aroma that would surely strike your sniffing ability from a distance.
After the feast, the media personalities were later relocated to a waiting tent where the former NRA bush was fighter Col (RTD) Bugingo delivered an hour lecture of opportunity.
In his address, the retired army officer said, “I am a very rich man, a very rich man here in the village, and I make my living from farming. There is no free money given by Museveni to anyone here in Western Uganda. You must change your mindset and embrace modern farming,”
He then said, “I love my president; I serve his interests, and visions to transform our people through modern farming strategies.
“Here we train as we are doing; it’s purely practical. I’m rich in thinking, rich in training fellow Ugandans, rich in accounts, and rich in planning. I sleep like a rabbit with one eye closed and the other opened,” said Bugingo.
He guided the journalists to avoid copying and pasting knowledge they learned from the tour; rather, they should interpret the skills and use them to carefully start a venture according to personal interest.
“In addition to transforming the mindset of Ugandans, I am seeking partnership with the government and the support from the president to help transform and improve cattle breeds in the Karamoja region.
Col. Bugingo, as a cow man, then took the journalists on a tour of a large maize plantation, pastures, grazing land for his dairy cows, and a milking point.
At this point, he switched on a music system installed at the milking point, something that saw cows line up one by one before starting to drip milk as it waited to be milked.
He asked journalists not to abandon media work but to embrace a side venture into farming as the only reliable way to attain economic freedom.
“When you meet the President, please convey our interest in improving cattle breeds in Karamoja to escalate economic empowerment there, Uganda cannot move with only one wing. It needs every tribe. Whoever wants to do business without the neighbor is wasting time, ” said Bugingo.
He emphasized innovations, practice, teamwork, and partnership in order for one to achieve in farming.
Godfrey Ojore, a local journalist in Teso working with the New Vision, appreciated Col. Bugingo for hosting the team, saying they will successfully use the skills to start farming.
In the seven-day mindset change media tour, the journalists have so far visited key model farms in the country, including those started with the support from the Parish Development Model program in Amudat, Nakapiripirit, and Kibuku districts.
Other model farms visited include the one of Joseph Ijala in Serere district, Kawumu Presidential Demonstration Farm in Luwero district, Nyakaana’s farm in Fort Portal, and the one of Minister Fred Byamukama in Kakumiro district.
