Orphan/Children Fund Uganda
Orphan/Children Fund Farms
Agricultural Development Plan

The purpose of this page is to give a brief summary and explanation to the reader what O/CFund Farms plans to grow and produce on their land, and challenge the reader to get involved in some way. This alone is how we change our world into a place we can all be proud of.

Location

The location of the farm is about 70 miles north of Kampala, Uganda in the Nakasongola District. The farm is on 3,200 acres, 3.5 miles of it is frontage on the River Sezibwa in which 50 acres (marked by the star) will be used for Orphan/Children Fund Academy. The 50 acre campus of O/CFund Academy will consist of a large orphan village with its own methane power supply, housing, school, training center, medical facility, and sports facilities.

Purpose

The existence of O/CFund Farms is not just for profit but for purpose. Nothing can be sustained without profit, but there must be a higher purpose to succeed, a reason to succeed. Our need and purpose to succeed at O/CFund Farms is so we can help more children. O/CFund Farms will be a place without small thinking or limits. A place where everyone can grow.

The farm will have a multi-faceted purpose. First the farm is being developed to create the funds needed to support the many children that O/CFund Academy will be caring for. Our goal with regard to funding is to be completely self sufficient, meeting all the monthly expenses of food, clothing, staffing, and education from profits from the farm and associated enterprises. Secondly, the farm and associated enterprises will be way to create jobs and give training to the local communities and the surrounding areas. Thirdly, the farm and associated enterprises will be used to train and equip the children raised in O/CFund Academy the valuable skills of business, agribusiness, business management, manufacturing, and self sufficiency. Our hope is to give every graduate the necessary tools to compete and succeed in today’s business world. The Fourth reason for the farm is to create a nucleus where we can support and influence the surroundings communities and people for good. We hope to be a beacon of hope and change. A center of influence, where we can create co-ops in which the local farmers can increase their skill levels and income. A place to train in newer technologies and receive the seed money and supplies needed to get a new start. We will be cooperating and partnering with women with and without husbands as well as the men. Our greatest hope is to be able to help change the lives of needy widows and at risk children in that area. Our vision is to perfect this model and go to many other places and influence change in a similar way. The Fifth reason is for the children of O/CF Academy and the nutrition they will receive. Through the growing of highly nutritious foods our children will receive a diet that will enhance and give them the needed nutrition required to develop strong bodies and minds. One cannot put enough emphasis on nutrition when it comes to mental health and development. Third world countries are lagging behind in academics and many believe it is because of the lack of nutrition. It is also proven that without adequate nutrition the body is incapable of maintaining a healthy immune system and is unable to fight off many diseases. O/CFund Academy will serve well balanced and nutritious meals and supply nutritional supplements to our children and staff.

Products

O/CFund Farms will grow and raise a diverse range of products. We believe we must be diversified, for in the agricultural world things are always changing. Different crops must be grown as rotation crops, so that the use of manmade pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers can be greatly reduced or done away with completely. The list below will start with the plant products, then the livestock we plan to grow and raise. An explanation of what we intent to do with the products and livestock will follow. The list of plants we intent to grow are as follows: Rice, Corn (maize), Milo, Sunflower, Peanuts, Industrial Hemp, Moringa and Eucalyptus trees. The animals we intent to raise are as follows: Fish, Dairy Cows, Beef Cattle, Pork, Goats, and Honey Bees.

Rice: The farm has about 1,500 acres that will support the production of rice. Upland rice is a great cash crop with a 3 month growing cycle. This product can add immediate cash to the organization. We will be adding a rice mill to add the value to the rice by processing, bagging and selling direct into the local and Sudanese markets.

Corn: The farm will always have some corn on the ground. The corn will be milled in our own mill and processed to make corn mill for porridge and porsho. A small tortilla factory will be installed to make corn tortillas for the orphanage and local markets. Corn will also be use as feed for the livestock.

Milo: Milo will be grown as a rotation crop for it high value as a livestock feed and fish food. We hope to process the Milo into our own floating fish food for the Tilapia fish we will be raising.

Sunflower: Oilseed sunflowers will be grown first for it oil content. A sunflower seed is about 50% oil. The remaining cake that is left after it is pressed is an excellent feed stock for the livestock. We will have our own press and we plan to use the oil for the cooking needs of the orphan village and to fuel all the diesel vehicles and equipment associated with the farm. With the high cost of fuel and the unavailability of fuel locally we see this as a great way to add value to sunflowers.

Peanut: Peanuts will be a rotation crop used to add nitrogen to the soil and as a high protein food. The peanut is about 50% oil and the hay from it is a great feed for livestock. We will roast some for a high protein snack and make peanut butter for the orphan village. We will press some for oil and the remaining cake will be used as feed for the livestock. Peanut butter and peanut oil can be sold into the local and international markets.

Industrial Hemp: Hemp will be grown for a multitude of purposes. We will mention a few. It needs very little fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide, if any. It de-weeds a field and will drive many pests away from a field. It is an excellent rotation crop. Over 20,000 different products can be produced from the fiber, seeds and hurd of hemp.  Our plan is to grow it for the seed and for the hurd and fiber from the stock. We will use the seed as food which is one of the most nutritious in the world and press the oil. Hemp oil is one of the only totally digestible oils for humans, and it’s the highest in Omega 3. We will cut and crush the hemp stock, add lime to it and make hempcrete. Hempcrete is 7 times lighter and stronger than concrete. We plan to produce many different products for sale from hempcrete. Most will be sold into the local commercial market.

Moringa: Moringa is a very important tree. We will grow it for the leaves and for the seed. The leaves are a very nutritious vegetable which can be eaten fresh or dried and added to the foods like porridge, and soups. The seeds and pods are also nutritious and the seed has a high content of valuable vegetable oil. The remaining meal from pressing the seed can be used as a water purifier, fertilizer, and for use in our composting toilets. Growing the trees for the leaves is done by planting the trees spaced at 2 feet by 2 feet and harvest every 3-4 months. If dried, the leaves must be dried in the shade to maintain its nutritional content. The leaves will also be used to feed the fish and livestock. Studies have been published by the WHO and others that suggest that Moringa is a superfood. Studies show that children, who receive 2 Tbs. of dried Moringa added to their porridge daily, gained 30% more weight than those that did not. Our hope is to produce and sell enough Moringa to help and change the health of Africa’s orphans and the children we have at OCF Academy.

Eucalyptus Trees:  Trees are important to the world for many reasons. Eucalyptus is currently being harvested for poles and fuel. It is also being grown for carbon credits to off set pollution. We will grow eucalyptus for the construction industry, for use as power poles. We hope to plant a few million trees on a 1,280 acre parcel adjacent to our farm. After about 5 years of growth, the trees will be harvested and sold to the power companies for a healthy profit. Trees will be used as a savings account.

Fish: Two types of fish will be grown in two different ways. Fish ponds will be dug at the river frontage to grow Tilapia. The Tilapia will be grown and sold into the international markets through our contacts in Egypt and England. Catfish will be raise in the irrigation canals that will be situated throughout the farm. The catfish will be used for food for the children and sold into the local market. Catfish is an easy species to raise and very inexpensive to feed.

Dairy Cows: The reason for dairy cows is milk and the by product manure that we will use in our methane digester to produce gas and electrical power. With the milk we will use it for food for the children and produce cheese and yogurt to sell into the local market. We will process the milk in our own facility, and make the cheese and yogurt in our own factory. Good profits are obtained by adding value to the raw milk. We will work hand in hand with the Ministry of Agriculture to improve the breed.

Beef Cattle: Cattle will be raised to sell into the local market. During the dry season, along the river we have another 1,200 acres of free grassland that is available for grazing. We will use this added grassland to bring in extra herds of cattle during this time to fatten up and sell when the rain starts again. Some will be slaughtered and sold to butcheries. The hides can then be tanned and sold into local and international markets. We will work with the Ministry of Agriculture to introduce improved breeds and crosses.

Pork: Pigs will be raised free range. We will confine the pigs by the use of electrical fencing.  We will initially use the pigs to clear and root up certain areas by confining a large number of pigs until they eat and root up all the vegetation in that confined space. The ground will be free from vegetation, tilled and well fertilized.  We will slaughter the pigs and smoke the hams and sell the hams into the international market. The remaining pork will be sold to local eateries and some will be made into sausage and smoked. The smoked sausage will be sold into the local market, needs no refrigeration and will be a source of cheap protein for the local population.

Goats: Goat meat is the favorite meat of Uganda. The goats will be raised free range and sold into local market and slaughtered to be sold directly to the butcheries. The hides will be tanned and sold. Working with the Ministry of Agriculture, we will improve the local breed and introduce Boer goats and crosses.

Honey Bees: Bees are raised for their honey and they help us by pollinating our crops. The honey from Uganda is some of the finest in the world. It is all natural, and because of our other crops like Moringa and Hemp, it will have high nutritional properties. We will use the honey as a sweetener for the children and sell the remaining quantities into the local and international markets. We plan to harvest and separate the propollis, pollen and royal jelly from the honey to sell into international markets and benefit locally from its healing properties as well.

Irrigation

Annual rain fall for Nakasongola is in the 30-50 inch range. It is adequate during the rainy season and a little bit afterwards. Some our crops may need to be irrigated at times. Our plan is to create levy channels and irrigation canal systems. The levy will protect the farm from floods during the rainy season and allow us to control the water for irrigation. Water will be brought to different areas of the farm by ways of canals. We will be able to flood the fields when needed, during the rainy season. The farm will be broken up into an estimated 100 acre fields, and the irrigation canals will be the boundaries to divide them. The orphan village will have a methane digester that will produce 70 kilowatt of continuous power and the plan is to use the excess power at night to pump water for irrigation. Water will be pumped to where it is needed from the river Sezibwa that flows year round most years. Weather and climate experts have published in the Economist that Uganda’s rain fall will most likely increase in the future because of global warming.

Partners

A project like this is not for the faint at heart. O/CFund Farms recognizes the fact

that a lot of technical and agricultural experience will be needed to fulfill this project. Because of this we are partnering with many experts in these fields. We have farming partners in the US as well as Africa. USAid and their UG contractor APEP will be assisting us with grants and technical assistance. On our corporate board we have Professor John Joseph Otim PhD, former Ugandan Minister of Agriculture, UN expert for fisheries and agriculture and personal advisor to the current President of Uganda, President Museveni. Dr. Otim is playing a vital role in this venture.  He is in the process of completing the feasibility study on the farm.

Co-ops

O/CFund Farms plans to create a partnership between the farm, its other enterprises and the local community. O/CFund Farm will maintain ownership and management of the coop and processing facilities to insure that the needed funding is always available.  People must be taught to rely on themselves and break the cycle of dependency on governments and NGO handouts. The wonderful old quote “teach a man to fish and he will feed himself for a life time” and “If you give a man a fish you have only fed him for one meal” comes to play here.

Our plans for the coop include:

Supplying the needed equipment and resources to clear the land and to plant and harvest the crops. We will provide the resources to buy the livestock. We will set up the related infrastructure to process the harvests for local and foreign markets. Many of the crops we envision to grow have multiple uses.

Crop Co-op

O/CF Farm Coop will contract with the family that owns the land. The contracts will be a legal document drawn by OCF Farm Coop attorneys, the husband and wife team and if appropriate the legitimate adult children. This provision to include the whole family unit is to safeguard future hassles and challenges with land inheritance issues. We will contract with the land owner’s family to clear the land. This will be done by organizing the local families that own land; to come together and help one another clear each other’s land one plot at a time.  O/CF Farm Coop will supply the tools and heavy equipment. We will serve nutritious meals to workers. This will ensure speed and efficiency in the work environment. This will be one way to build strong bonds with the local community, the O/CF Farm Coop, NGOs, workers and administrators.

O/CF Farm Coop will supply the landowner the equipment and driver to plow and plant the crops in the field.  (Owner will be given credit against the harvest for the cost of the fuel and driver.)

O/CF Farm Coop will supply the technical advise (O/CF Farm Coop is working with USAid, Ugandan Ministry Agriculture, and consultants to accomplish this) and the needed funds for supplies to farm the crops. The farmer will be given credit against the harvest for the supplies.

O/CF Farm Coop will purchase the crops from the farmer at fair market price (minus the credit issued) in the field. O/CF Fund Coop will pick up the harvest from the farmers and deliver them to the processor. This price will be that day’s market price. The costs = (true costs with no profit)

O/CF Farm Coop will contract with the landowner’s family including the wife. By adding the wife to the contact we make sure the children are taken care of.  O/CF Farm Coop will create 7 year renewable contracts. The landowners will be required to grow the crops recommended by the O/CF Farm Coop. The reason being is that we have researched and compiled several crops that will grow the best on the land, will have multiple uses and markets as well as high market values.

Livestsock Co-op

O/CF Farm Coop will supply the funds and expertise to start a livestock coop.

O/CF Farm Coop will purchase the seed stock and supply the funds to build the needed facilities to raise animals or fish in a humane and environmentally friendly way.

O/CF Farm Coop will use the crop coop to supply some of the feeds for the animal coops.

O/CF Farm Coop will create or find the needed markets for the livestock.

O/CF Farm Coop will help get the livestock to market.

Environment

O/CF Farms plans to grow, raise, and produce all of our products in the highest quality and in a humane manner. OCF Farms plans to grow as much as possible in an organic way.

Work Force

O/CF Farms will create a work environment that is both fair and healthy. Care will be taken to give our labor force a way to provide for their families without compromise.

Workers health care will be taken care of by our in house medical staff that will be on hand at the orphan village. O/CF Farms will be an equal opportunity employer.

Equipment

O/CF Farms will need many different types of farm equipment to operate this commercial farm. Our hope is have many of these pieces donated and have already received promises of such. A detailed list is not in the scope of this paper.

Budget

It has been estimated by farming experts that it will take about $1.2 million to set up the farm. We will have to wait until the formal study is complete for an exact figure.