Daniel Reaps Big From the Resilient Livelihood Project With Support From ChildFund

It is inspiring to see young people winning.  On Wednesday last week, we visited one of the youths in this category. Daniel, aged 25 years is among the youth from Dokolo district, Lango sub-region, who benefited from the value addition training that was organized by Lango Child and Community Development Federation (LACCODEF) with support from ChildFund Uganda. This inspiring young man from Kangai Town Council completed his primary school education in 2013, and joined a technical school in 2014, where he studied a three-year course in Brick Laying, and Concrete Practice. He learnt about the value addition training through fellow youth in the community. “In 2021, we were trained on value addition, mixing feeds, piggery, business development, among other things. After the training, we were given onion, and cabbage seeds to plant. This opened my mind, and life started changing,” said Daniel.

Before the training, he could not afford the basic needs of life because he had nothing. He always relied on his mother for assistance. “It was hard to borrow money and ask for assistance from my mother all the time. When I heard about this opportunity, I had to take it for things to change,” he stated.

Around his home, Daniel grows onions, and egg plants. He is also venturing into growing passion fruits, and papaws. On average he earns Ug. Shs.150,000 (40.80 USD) per week by selling egg plants. From the onions, he makes Ug. Shs.800,000 (217.59USD) to Ug. Shs.1million (271.99 USD) per month, which re-invests in to farming.  Through selling onions, and egg plants, he was able to build a poultry house in his compound, he bought a spray pump, and a second-hand sewing machine for his wife. In November 2023, he also bought a second-hand motorcycle at Ug. Shs.2.5million (679.98 USD) which he uses for transporting produce to the market for sale, and a plot of land in the nearby trading center, which he acquired at Ug. Shs.3million (815.97 USD).

 To increase his production, Daniel hired another piece of land (about an acre) in the neighborhood at Ug. Shs.350,000 (95. 20 USD) for two years, where he grows cabbages, from which he expects about Ug. Shs.3 million (815.97 USD) to Ug. Shs.8 million (2,175.93 USD) in sales this year. His grandmother was impressed by his achievements, and she added him another piece of land to boost his production.

“Daniel’s success story encourages me to give him more support. Seeing him succeed motivates me to even help him further. We are always overwhelmed, given the many people we train, but I will always make an exception for people like Daniel. We always help and train many youths but only a few succeed to our expectations,” said Rogers Okello, the Agricultural Officer, Kangai Town Council. This explains why he was supported with 50 exotic chicken in November 2023 as a supplement to what he had already achieved.

In the next five years, Daniel intends to start a piggery farm, buy a milling machine, that will mill feeds for the pigs, and fence off his land. He also plans to rear guinea fouls, hire more land to increase his production of cabbages, and open a savings account in a bank.

"The biggest challenge we face here is the dry spell. We have to fetch water from the well to water the vegetables during the dry spell. There is always market for my produce because we have market days everyday,” he said. He requested to be supported with an irrigation facility, more onion seeds, and two wheelbarrows. The young man expressed his gratitude to ChildFund Uganda, and LACCODEF for opening his mind to unimaginable possibilities.

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