First came the chicken, then the egg farm

A Chinese company is turning a section of Ugandan wasteland into an agricultural powerhouse that is changing people's lives

When Herbert Hoover was running for US president in 1928, his party famously promised voters during the election campaign that if they voted for him, they would be rewarded with "a chicken in every pot". Ironically, this was just before the start of the Great Depression.

So when, in another time and another place, a country's leader tells his people that they have the right to enjoy "an egg a day", it comes across as slightly quaint rather than novel.

For that pledge to be honored, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has his work cut out. More precisely, the country's hens have their work cut out, given that the country's population is 42.5 million. So an extra poultry farm here or there would not be a mistake.

Enter those responsible for China-Uganda Agricultural Cooperation Industrial Park, currently under construction, which will be able to hold 30,000 of those hardworking hens.

"We're helping Museveni achieve his goal," says Yang Hongping, general manager of the agricultural park, which is owned by Kehong Group.

Rice, millet and sesame will also be grown in the park, and rice will be processed there.

The park is on 1,000 hectares of former wasteland 80 kilometers north of Kampala. Kehong Group bought it in 2016 and has been granted use for 99 years.

Kehong says the park aims to provide at least 20,000 jobs for locals and help 1 million people become wealthier by introducing new agricultural techniques and providing materials such as seeds and machinery.

Since buying the land, Kehong has spent more than $25 million developing a modern agri-industrial park with well-prepared land, water management facilities and processing factories.

"The land you're standing on used to consist of bushes, weeds or forest," Yang says. "Things were really tough at the start. It has taken many months to open up and level the land, and it's going to take years to fertilize the new soil."

Those efforts have already begun. Experts at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences have taken rice seeds from China to Uganda and planted them in the park, and the results are promising. Double or even triple the amount of rice is now being produced in the area compared with three years ago, Yang says.

"Uganda imports a lot of rice from Pakistan, but only wealthy people can afford that and bananas. Most people eat only corn and beans. We're hoping that one day we can sell our rice to other East African countries - and even to Pakistan."

Most of those who work in the agricultural park are selected from among the farmers who live nearby. The attractions are manifold, including being paid regularly and learning Chinese farming techniques. Farmers not working for Kehong Group, aware of the park's impressive production figures, have begun buying seeds from Kehong at a discount, and are given free advice on growing methods by Chinese experts, Yang says.

Richard Kibuuka, the human relations manager of the farm, says that total employment will eventually reach 20,000 people.

"We offer steady work - planting, weeding, harvesting. If it is not the busy season in the fields, employees can work in the rice-processing plant or the chicken farm," he says.

"When you are working daily, that means you earn daily. When you are employed for a week, that means you'll get money at the end of the week. You eventually increase your income.

"Even for unskilled people, we teach them what a skilled person is supposed to do. They learn to lay out the plant beds, watering and so forth. A person may come in unskilled, but you will find him later totally skilled and leading a group," Kibuuka says. He adds that people working at the farm might earn four times the amount they made previously, or more, plus the farm provides lunch and accommodations.

The company is also building a rice-processing factory that includes the most advanced Chinese technology. In China, rice is processed in five classes, and Kehong's factory will produce the highest of those - whole, plump grains peeled by machine. The factory will be able to produce 1,100 metric tons of processed rice a day, Yang says.

Local farmers harvesting crops using Kehong's seeds and techniques will benefit in having a ready buyer in the company, which will process the rice, and soon be able to provide high-quality rice to the high-end East African market, he says.

Even if Uganda's farmers and those of other East African countries are the beneficiaries of Kehong's presence, Yang is frank in declaring that this is not all about philanthropy, but profits as well.

"While our presence may produce very good social benefits, of course we have economic interests to consider," he says.

Nevertheless, the positive aims that underpin China's presence in agriculture in Uganda and other African countries should not be underestimated.

Under the South-South cooperation initiative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, each Chinese province is twinned with at least one African country. Sichuan is twinned with Uganda, and as part of that relationship has sent more than 40 agricultural experts to the country to provide technical assistance to local farmers. In addition, to make that aid more meaningful in the long term and to help raise farmers' incomes, the Sichuan provincial government invited Kehong to invest in Uganda.

Under this model, experts are seen as "pathfinders", the government as "the platform builder" and companies as "the final operator".

Zhou Yong, director of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, says Kehong's operations in Ugandan agriculture have proved to be very effective and are respected by others in the FAO responsible for such programs.

"For Chinese investors like us, undertaking farming in a remote African country comes with many risks and difficulties," Yang says. "But if the agricultural experts can deliver us firsthand information about conditions and can provide technical help, we are greatly reassured."

To improve productivity by making the most of local weather conditions, the company has designed and built its own irrigation system in the park, one that can store 130,000 cubic meters of rain from wet seasons to provide water in the dry seasons. The system can also deliver household water to locals. Before Kehong set up its operations, local farmers had no access to water during the dry season and were frequently flooded in the rainy season, but they are now benefiting from the drainage and water storage facilities the company has built.

The mechanization of farming in Uganda is still in its early stages, Yang says.

"Few farmers can afford tractors, but that doesn't matter. We plan to rent machinery to local farmers. They'll be able to make full use of all these tools and machinery. If you want to be helpful, you need to be flexible and mindful of people's needs."

The biggest challenge for farming in Uganda is the country's large areas of wasteland, he says, adding that if local farmers can turn wasteland from wild hills to flat arable land using Kehong's machinery, it will have a permanent impact.

The park also serves as an agricultural science research center. Experts there are trying to cultivate species compatible with the local climate and that match the tastes of Africans.

Once the egg-laying farm is fully running, the company may also breed poultry chickens and livestock, such as cattle, Yang says.

"We would also welcome any other company that wants to invest in the agricultural park. A few years from now, we would love to develop our own logistics and e-commerce team."

Ugandan President Museveni has said that while his country's major urban areas are largely designed as trading towns, the project is taking the concept of an agri-industrial park to Luweero district.

The park will ensure that "what was a forest is going to turn into a city for agricultural produce and factories. This is an important instrument for transforming the community," a local newspaper, The Observer, quoted him as saying.

Yang, the agricultural park manager, says: "The ultimate goal is to help turn the current extensive farming into intensive agriculture in Uganda. Once production levels in Uganda have risen, the country will be less passive and more competitive in terms of its food supply."

Contact the writers at xiaoxiangyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/05/2018 page9)