By Fidel Boy Fidel
Some believe knowledge must be cultivated before it can be harvested. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is putting this belief into practice.
In Kityerera Parish, Mayuge, President Museveni is transforming his demonstration farms into active centres for the 4-acre model, creating a living classroom where the knowledge and skills needed for a prosperous future can grow and flourish.
The plan is not only to show farmers what modern, diversified smallholder farming looks like, but to give them the tools, inputs and practical training necessary to achieve success on their own plots.
We’re going to develop this farm here according to plan, but at the same time, start giving materials to you people. “Those who want coffee, pigs, chicken, or fingerlings for fish, we will give them directly,” Museveni told residents on August 7, 2025.
The farms will serve a dual purpose: demonstration and training, and input distribution. For demonstration, farmers will be able to observe fully functional 4acre models in action. By seeing yield cycles, feeding routines, spacing, and husbandry all in one location, abstract advice becomes practical and actionable.
For input distribution, residents will no longer have to rely on distant extension services. Starter materials including seedlings, piglets, poultry, and fish fingerlings will be provided directly from the centre. President Museveni pledged that these inputs will reach households ready to adopt the model, ensuring immediate application of what is learned.
The demonstration farms are explicitly designed to teach and not just to preach. Extension-style training, peer learning from local success stories and replication visits will be combined with group organisation where farmers will be encouraged to form SACCOs to access finance and bulk inputs and the centres will model valuechain linkages (how to move from production to market) and practical recordkeeping.
Museveni referenced local examples to make the model tangible: Joseph Ijala, once a taxi driver in Serere, now runs poultry and dairy on 2.5 acres, selling 310 trays of eggs and over 300 litres of milk daily and reportedly earning over Shs 1 billion a year. Nyakana from Fort Portal, on 1.2 acres, earns some Shs 130 million annually, proof that small plots, done well, can be lucrative.
These seven activities can generate sufficient income for any homestead. If you do them well, you’ll not only escape poverty but also create employment and wealth,” Museveni said.
The program prioritises businesses that can deliver quick returns while protecting the environment. President Museveni warned against destructive wetland rice cultivation, promoting peri-wetland fish farming instead. He demonstrated its potential by citing that one acre with eight ponds could generate an impressive 66 million Ugandan shillings annually.
He also championed better crop science, referencing Professor Florence Muranga’s demonstration of 53 tons of matooke per acre, a dramatic increase from the local average of five tons.
These demonstrations are designed to replace guesswork with data-driven, tested methods, providing farmers with precise guidance on everything from stocking densities and feed regimes to crop spacing and inputs, all calibrated for local conditions.
The plan goes beyond a oneoff handout. By distributing starter inputs and helping farmers organise into SACCOs, the centres seek to create a sustainable pathway to credit, bulk purchasing and input rotation.
If implemented with transparency and sustained technical support, the centres can reduce the knowledge gap, lower the entry cost for farm enterprises, and create economies of scale through SACCOs and collective marketing.
The success stories Museveni cited show that profitability on small land exists — the demonstration farms aim to generalise those examples.
But practical challenges remain: consistent supply chains for inputs, effective SACCO governance, reliable veterinary and extension services, and maintenance of security measures. As Museveni himself warned by implication, inputs alone are not enough:
“Even the best program will not succeed unless farmers adopt the practices consistently.”
“Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.” Museveni’s demonstration farms are an intentional attempt to cultivate that garden at scale, planting seedlings of practice, nurturing them with training and input, and protecting them with policing and public services.
If the government follows through on direct input distribution, handson training, SACCO support and security, these centres could turn the 4acre model from a policy slogan into a replicable route out of household poverty.