Prime
Domestic issues that impede successful farming
Mr Michael J Ssali
What you need to know:
- Usually the problem begins with absence of transparency in the way the farming activities are carried out, especially how harvests are handled.
If the enterprise is farming, are the household members informed about the selling of the farm products
Much as giving small loans as start-up capital sounds like a good idea to fight poverty, there are a few other considerations to bear in mind that impede progress in any enterprise that a household may want to go into.
Do all the members of the household understand the objectives of the enterprise? Are they involved in the planning and the implementation of the enterprise? Is there transparency in the daily activities of the enterprise?
If the enterprise is farming, are the household members well informed about the marketing and selling of the farm products? Are all the members involved in decision making especially when it comes to how the money earned is to be used? Is there gender equity in the household?
Successful farming may be prevented by lack of peaceful coexistence in farming households. Usually the problem begins with absence of transparency in the way the farming activities are carried out, especially how harvests are handled.
If the main farming activity of the household is growing maize everybody in the household including teenage daughters and sons watches the crop as it grows apart from anticipating returns from the maize when it is sold.
They hope that when the maize is harvested some of it will be stored as food for the household.
They also probably hope that when the rest of the maize is sold there will be money earned to offset some financial problems in the home like buying textbooks for the children, buying shoes and some clothes, or buying iron sheets to make a new roof.
They normally participate in such activities as pruning, weeding, and harvesting of the crop.
However when finally the maize is sold and none of it is saved as food for the household some members get worried and disappointed.
If all the maize is sold and all they see is the head of the home always returning home late from the village drinking night spot there is a big likelihood that in the next planting season the rest of the members in the home will not enthusiastically participate in the farming activities.
Some members of the household might be tempted to secretly harvest some of the maize and sell it to buy school requirements.
When the maize is spread out to dry under the sun they may not bother to protect it from the rain.
Mr Michael J Ssali is a veteran journalist,
[email protected]
