Family turns chicken waste into wealth

He sells the finished product to individual farmers, earning about Shs500,000 per month from mere waste. Each bag goes for at least Shs6,000. This income is over and above his earnings from the sale of eggs and chicken.
He collects a minimum of 300 trays of eggs every day from close to 10,000 birds. He is particularly happy that he and his wife have expanded their projects, built an expansive modern country home and sent their children to good schools and university.

Challenges
But their business is not without shortcomings. Mr Kiviiri notes that, “The greatest challenge is to store the manure before customers take it because it can sometimes give out an awful smell.
It is also very bulky and takes a lot of space. Sometimes, a number of customers want to take the product on credit, but never want to pay.”
Kiviiri could be one of the big players of a civic movement aimed at improving the environment in Uganda’s largely unplanned settlement, alongside earning from it on the other hand. Although Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) authorities have not neglected waste collection, the common litter in our towns is proof to an ugly practice.
In fact, in poor areas like Makerere-Kikoni, Namuwongo and Nateete, despite the available waste collection points, garbage still piles up on their small road corners, in open spaces and on pavements, creating a terrible stench and spreading diseases such as cholera.

But getting wealth from chicken droppings is not what Kiviiri has always been into.
“I have done a lot of things in life,” Kiviiri admits, adding that he tried many jobs before finally settling on poultry.
“I was a businessman in Kampala for many years but life on the farm is better than the bustle and hustle in the city. Farming is also very rewarding because I reap from both the eggs and the final sale of the chicken. Although I have a number of workers, the farm keeps me busy and active throughout the day.”
One Kyalimpa, who has worked at Mr Kiviiri’s farm for three years now, said: “Since I came here, we are paid in time and now I can afford to keep my children at school.”

Lessons
Kiviiri’s approach to waste could hold lessons for other poultry farmers as Uganda continues an epic wave of wealth creation. According to African Development Bank, the urban share of Africa’s population has grown from 19 per cent to 39 per cent over the past 50 years, and it’s headed to 58 per cent by 2030.

Rapid urbanisation in Uganda is taking place in the context of a history of conflict, widespread poverty and economic hitches, miserable agricultural practices, limited and unreliable power supply and an acute scarcity of necessities for both the people and the local authorities.
Just like Wobulenzi, many urban centres in Uganda generate a lot of garbage. For instance, Kampala, a city that serves an average of 5 million people during day, with a residential population of about 2 million people, according to KCCA spokesperson, Peter Kauju, is home to thousands of tonnes of garbage from which only about 12,000 tonnes are collected daily; and the city has only one dumping site - Kiteezi landfill.

“Garbage management in Kampala has greatly improved. We have, since 2011, shifted from 120,000 tonnes per month to 32,000 tonnes in garbage accumulation today,” he noted.
Although Mr Kauju could not readily establish the amount of money spent on garbage collection, he emphasised that a lot of money goes into ridding the city of refuse.
However, according to the 2014/2015 ministerial statement to Parliament, KCCA projected an expenditure of at least Shs1.8 billion on garbage collection within the financial year. This money, if well spent, will give us a clean city.
KCCA employs about 300 workers in the sector and at least 90 private companies such as Nabugabo Updeal are engaged in the direct and indirect garbage collection on a daily basis.
Information available reveals that KCCA has big plans for garbage management in the city. They have already secured vast land on Gayaza Road where it will set up a state-of-the-art landfill.

“World Bank has already pledged support for this site and we hope that going forward, we won’t have garbage at the site but rather a place for turning trash into valuable by-products,” Kauju noted.
Since many people are directly involved in farming in towns, garbage collection should not be left to authorities alone. For example, in Kampala, KCCA should team up with local NGOs and university researchers to figure out a different way to handle solid waste in fast-growing impoverished areas like Katwe-Kinyoro, Bwaise-Kimombaasa and many others. They can come up with a programme they can call My Waste, My Wealth. And Kampala is just an example.

This programme can go a long way in empowering women because, unlike men, many women stay at home most parts of the day; and can therefore be available to take part in fighting poor garbage disposal.
The collected waste should then be brought to the shed and sorted out with inorganic wastes such as straws, plastic bottles and kaveera bags disposed of through controlled burning; or recycled to create new products such as mats. The organic waste should then be piled into heaps to make manure. This is what exactly Kiviiri does on his farm.

Many have been impacted by Kiviiri’s manure project. “Whenever I get the need, Mrs Kasamba, a farmer from Kikyusa says, Mzee Kiviiri’s manure is readily available and of good quality. He is also easy to buy from because his prices are negotiable.”
In three or five years, the garbage dumps will be gone if the Kiviiris of this country are given the necessary support in compost entrepreneurship. They can be left to fly on their own in expanding their businesses by purchasing own vehicles to collect garbage from nearby settlements to turn it into manure and finally wealth.

Garbage management
Hundreds of people should be trained in composting methods, as well as hygiene, sanitation and leadership skills.
These should go door-to-door, collecting waste from our homes and markets such as Kalerwe, Nateete and Nakawa to turn it into money.