One day-old chicks ready for delivery. Photo Credit: Internet
By Arnest Tumwesige
LUWEERO I NAKASONGOLA I NAKASEKE: In the rolling farmlands of Greater Luweero (consist of Original Luwero, Nakasongola and Nakaseke districts), poultry keeping is steadily transforming from a backyard survival activity into a promising commercial enterprise.
What was once dominated by indigenous birds scratching around homesteads is now evolving into a vibrant value chain attracting youth, women, and investors alike.
According to Dr. Kidda Makubuya Andrew, the District Production Officer and Marketing Officer, poultry farming is gaining momentum, although nearly 80 percent of farmers still keep local breeds.
Beyond this majority, a growing group of progressive farmers now rear 100 birds and slightly above, while a smaller segment has ventured into large-scale commercial production.
Makubuya notes that poultry has emerged as a solution in a district where household land sizes have reduced significantly over the years. With many families owning less than four acres, farmers are turning to poultry as a land-efficient enterprise. The system requires minimal space, making it particularly attractive to young people and women seeking income-generating activities.
The introduction of the Parish Development Model has further accelerated interest in poultry keeping. The venture offers relatively quick returns compared to other agricultural enterprises, enabling households to generate income within a short production cycle.
The Value Chain: Opportunities and Gaps
Despite the growth, critical gaps remain along the poultry value chain.
Access to quality breeds is a major concern. In Luweero, reliable suppliers are few. The National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRIC) in Entebbe is almost the sole dependable supplier of improved breeds.
Dr. Makubuya notes the urgent need to invest in the delivery of day-old chicks so farmers can access quality stock more conveniently.
Private companies such as Uga Chick Poultry Breeders Limited, Biyinzika Poultry International Limited, and SR Kuku also supply chicks, but the demand often exceeds supply. A few local hatcheries bring eggs from Entebbe for hatching, yet the quantities are too small to meet the growing demand.
Feeds present another challenge. Farmers use chick mash, growers mash, and layers mash, but progressive farmers often struggle to afford commercial feeds. In a bid to save profits, many resort to compounding their own feeds. However, this compromises quality and ultimately affects productivity.
Whereas, Luweero produces maize at a commercial scale, with more than 80 maize mills operating in the district, farmers have quick access to purchase broken maize or maize bran from these mills to mix feeds. While this reduces costs, the nutritional balance is not always optimal.
Access to vaccines and veterinary drugs is largely dependent on private arrangements, with minimal direct government support. Extension services, however, are provided by both government and private actors.
“With 18 lower local governments; eight town councils and 10 sub-counties, each has a veterinary officer. But with 111 parishes in the district, each extension officer ends up serving about six parishes, stretching their capacity” Makubuya told GLNA.
To bridge this gap, extension delivery has been partly privatized. Government officers now focus more on technical extension and advisory roles guiding farmers on bird management and linking them to input suppliers and markets along the value chain.
Catching Up in the Cattle Corridor
In neighboring Nakasongola District, poultry farming is still catching up in what has traditionally been known as a cattle corridor.
Paul Mugerwa, the district’s Animal Production Officer, says almost every household keeps local chickens. However, broiler and layer production remains limited. Areas such as Kakooge lead in broilers and layers, while Katugo and Migyera have farms with fewer than 300 birds on average.
Unlike Luweero, which struggles with vaccine storage facilities, Nakasongola has invested in infrastructure. The district boasts a cold room constructed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries capable of storing vaccines for the entire district.
The district has additionally supplied medical storage fridges to sub-counties including Nakitoma, Nabiswera, Kakooge, and Kalongo to bring services closer to farmers.
Nakaseke: A New Commercial Frontier
In Nakaseke District, with a land size covering 3,422.92 square kilometers of which 3,325.4 square kilometers is dry land and 97.52 square kilometers wetland, poultry keeping is concentrated in the central and southern parts, largely for subsistence.
However, commercial activity is rising. Dr. Derrick Mutegeki, the District Veterinary Officer, notes the emergence of large commercial farms. For instance, Kuku Chick has established a manufacturing plant producing poultry concentrates using soya beans and operates a hatchery machine capable of producing two million day-old chicks in a day.
Although the district lacks precise population data, Dr. Mutegeki estimates that poultry numbers exceed one million birds due to more than six mega farms coming into play.
With vast land and proximity to the Capital City, Nakaseke is positioning itself as a prime destination for bulk investors seeking better profit margins.
Equally, the existence of Pharmaceutical companies Uganda now manufacturing poultry vaccines within Uganda instead of importing them from Kenya, enables faster disease response unlike in the past.
Large Investors Boost Poultry Population
Findings from the district production departments of the three districts indicate that Luwero and Nakasongola each have about six large-scale commercial poultry investors, while Nakaseke leads in numbers. Notable investors include SR Afrobreers Uzima Kuku Chick, Uga Chick, and Biyinzika, among others.
Those in Nakaseke include HMHU Ukuku Ltd, Kande Farm, Uga Chick, Hen Brook, IndBro Poultry, Amo Farms, and Yo Kuku Farm, among others, each keeping thousands of birds.
In Luweero District, the current average poultry population stands at about 1.4 million birds. In Nakasongola, the population is about 1 million birds, while in Nakaseke, it is estimated at around 1.2 million birds.
The chart below illustrating the population size in each district
Disease, Theft, and Market Pressures
Poultry keeping remains a high-risk enterprise. Diseases such as Newcastle, fowl pox, and Gumboro can wipe out entire flocks, with mortality rates reaching 100 percent if farmers lack access to timely treatment. Local poultry farmers, often operating with limited capital, are the most vulnerable.
In Luweero, Dr. Makubuya observes that progressive farmers appreciate the importance of vaccination. The best results are achieved when vaccines are purchased directly from Entebbe and delivered to end users under proper cold chain management.
However, poor cold chain systems during transportation, unreliable electricity supply, and the practice of breaking vaccines into smaller quantities for profit compromise vaccine efficacy.
Large-scale producers also affect market dynamics. When these large producers release layers onto the market, they can overshadow smaller progressive farmers, creating stiff competition.
Generally, access to credible feed sources is a persistent challenge. Farmers struggle to obtain essential ingredients such as sunflower seed cake, cotton seed cake, bone meal, broken maize, maize bran, and silver fish (mukene), often sourced from Container Village in Kampala.
In some cases, these ingredients are adulterated with sand to increase weight, leading to poor performance where birds fail to lay eggs or gain weight as expected.
As Nakaseke faces similar challenges to Luwero and Nakasongola, particularly feed access, majority of the subsistence and progressive farmers rely on extension workers for mixing ratio calculations to formulate their own concentrates, but poor-quality ingredients ultimately affect egg production and broiler quality.
