Uganda's Pineapple District

If there's one man in Kayunga district who has played his role in the eradication of poverty and embraced the country's Prosperity-for-all Program, that man is Mr. Hebert Ntanda.

As the Parish Chief of Galilaya Sub-County in Kayunga district, the 30-year-old, has led by example and become an inspiration to his fellow natives because of his agricultural initiatives which began in 2006 when he visited a pineapple farmer in Busana Sub-County of the same district.

"I was impressed by what I saw," says Ntanda. "So I asked him how they grow pineapples, the rate of harvest and what he had gained from his pineapple farm."

Ntanda was amazed that the farmer was hiring the land on which he grew his pineapples yet back home Ntanda's father has very fertile land which had long been idle. Hearing how enterprising he sounded, Ntanda's father gave his son one and half acres of land and so began the pineapple business.

Imagine how disappointing a few months after planting, the pineapples dried –all of them. A distraught Ntanda uprooted them and had he been faint-hearted, he would have given up then. But he planted afresh and this time they sprouted with vigour and two years down the road he made his first reap.

He was more than excited when the locals from Galilaya and the rest of Kayunga flocked to his farm, clamouring for his fat and juicy pineapples. By picking 500-700 pineapples monthly and selling each at 700, Ntanda earns over half a million shillings every month.

"Poverty has since jumped out of my pockets," he says with a smile.

From his pineapple garden, Ntanda pays school fees for his brother and sister who are in secondary school, and has also bought a plot of land which he will use to expand his pineapple garden.

"It's humbling that I've inspired many others in my district to also engage in agricultural projects to improve themselves both physically and finally," he says.

It's interesting that Ntanda who holds a diploma in marketing didn't stay in the city looking for a job. He heeded the advice his of idol president Yoweri Museveni who has always young people to become job creators than job seekers. So he returned to his village to serve his people as well as become a job creator.

Ntanda has a dream. His dream to help Kayunga district become the centre of pineapple production in the country. It's not a dream that's far-fetched. With such fertile plains, and with zealous and enterprising young men like Hebert Ntanda, Kayunga may be on its way to becoming Uganda's "Pineapple District" just like Lanai Island in central Hawaii is known as "Pineapple Island" because of the fond cultivation of pineapples there.