Kabalega Secondary School to embark on agri-business

MASINDI– Administrators at  Kabalega Secondary School in Masindi Municipality have decided to invest in agri-business as one way of helping the school boost its income streams.

Speaking during the twin inauguration of Kabalega Secondary School and Masindi Secondary School board of governors on Friday, Andrew Tumwesige, the headteacher Kabalega Secondary School noted the school plans to invest in agri-business on a 50-acre piece of land they are going to procure using compensation money which the school got as a result of the construction of Kigumba-Masindi-Hoima-Kyenjojo road.

“The project will be funded by the board of governors, the Parents Teachers’ Association [PTA], the old boys, and government under Operation Wealth Creation [OWC],” he said.

He further noted that in a year the school management spends over Shs 300 million on food for students and teachers, arguing that if the school gets involved in agri-business, it can cut the cost to Shs 100mln in a year.

He said the project objectives include to produce food for students and staff, reduce the expenditure on food, provide agriculture and agri-business skills to both staff and students.

“We need also to provide a demonstration centre for the community members and parents and also to provide value addition skills to learners on top of partnering with government in promoting and improving household incomes among others,” he explained to theCooperator.

Some of the proposed projects include a dairy farming unit with a maximum of 10 exotic animals, a poultry unit with a maximum of 1,000 layers and 500 broilers, a rabbit unit with a maximum of 500 rabbits, and a piggery unit with a maximum of animals.

Others are a vegetable unit covering two acres, a passion fruit orchard of at least one acre, coffee intercropped with fruit trees for shades on a maximum of three acres, and an apiary unit of not less than 100 beehives.

Tumwesige explained that the project was a brainchild of the previous board that wrote to the Ministry of Education and Sports [MoE&S] to open up a school farm in 2018 using the road compensation fund from Uganda National Roads Authority [UNRA].

He noted that they birthed the idea of putting up an agri-business project following the benchmarking they did at Nyakasura School in Kabarole district in 2019.

“What I am requesting from the board is to support me and also lobby assistance from government. Through Operation Wealth Creation I would need a tractor to till the land. I would like the board to support me in stocking the farm with animals. They should lobby for me to get four dairy animals to add to what we have. Apparently, I have three exotic animals and 14 free range,” Tumwesige noted.

Tumwesige further noted that subscription to the staff SACCO stopped because of the economic crisis.

“A planned SACCO capitalisation of Shs 10,000,000 million was not approved by the board of governors and practically couldn’t be realised because of budgetary constraints,” he said.

Mary Angella Naddamba, the desk officer government secondary schools Bunyoro region in the MoE&S asked the school managers to always ensure that SACCOs for staff members are supported.

She commended Kabalega Secondary School for plans to start agri-business, noting that it is the way to go if schools are to run with minimal difficulties.

“Other schools should also emulate what Kabalega is going to do to be able to sustain themselves amidst challenges,” she advised.

She further took the board members of the two schools through their roles and responsibilities.

“Your role is oversight, monitoring, and supervision. Development of management policies for your schools and everything your doing should be in consultation with the law. When handling financial issues it should be a consultative approach. We are supposed to do these things right not out of emotions,” advised.

Naddamba also advised the boards to put in place strategic plans to help them have a direction in whatever they’re doing.

Dr. Aloysius Byaruhanga, from the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority [PPDA] who is the school’s new board of governors chairperson, promised to support the headteacher and ensure that academic standards improve and the project is approved.

“We are going to work hand in hand with the headteacher and ensure that the environment of the school change, welfare for the teachers and also facilitate the development of the school,” said Byaruhanga.

Tonny Mugenyi, who is the chairperson Kabalega Secondary School Old Boys Association [KASSOBA] and also a member of the board said that as old boys of Kabalega, they are going to harvest water for the school either from rain or from the ground.

“We are also going to mobilize resources to ensure that the debts are cleared on top of mobilising for more students to join the school,” said Mugenyi.

https://thecooperator.news/schools-urged-to-engage-in-agricultural-practices/

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