Enterprise Farm Report

Company Name 4321 First Street Anytown, State ZIP T 123-456-7890 F 123-456-7891 [email protected] www.apple.com

ENTERPRISE FARM REPORT 2011

1

Dear Friends,

It has been a year of tremendous growth for Enterprise Farm. We

have positioned ourselves to greatly increase our overall profit

margin by implementing an integrated fish farm and adding 15

acres of newly cleared land, plus a working tractor; we have im-

proved our record keeping and accounting systems; and we are working toward educational and cooperative programs for the

community.

As we strive to support New Hope and impact the surrounding

community in a way that helps for the long-term, we are all too

aware that it is easier to hurt than to help. Good intentions are not

enough. It is all too easy to “help” desperately needy people in

ways that make them even more dependent rather than more in-

dependent. It takes wisdom to successfully enable a person or

group of people to help themselves and prepare them for lasting growth. Ancient Jewish wisdom states that the highest form of

charity is to set up a poor man in business, because in doing this,

you ultimately recognize and respect the dignity of the person who

is being helped.

This is our goal. We want to provide jobs and promote profitable

agriculture in the community. We want to excel in our farming

practices and in our business endeavors. We want to increase

New Hope’s ability to provide for itself. We believe this is a testi-

mony to the children of New Hope and a blessing to the commu-nity.

I invite you to look through this report, share in the excitement,

and prayerfully consider partnering with us as we continue to im-

pact New Hope Uganda and the greater community.

.


Food SecurityAs I write this, there is a serious drought throughout

a major part of East Africa (specifically in the Kenya,

Ethiopia, Somalia triangle). Starvation is a severe

problem and especially affects the young children of

that region. The causes of starvation are complex,

the root being poverty. Areas of starvation are char-

acterized by persistent problems in cultivating food,

from lack of seed and arable land to tools. And even

those who can grow food must deal with insects,

drought, floods, and war, which can result in com-

plete destruction of crops.

Other causes of world hunger are related to the

globalized system of food production. This system,

along with trade, favors a reliance on export crops

while discriminating against small-scale farmers and

subsistence crops. Many developing countries ex-

port food excessively and do not maintain enough

food to sustain their own people.

Enterprise Farm is moving toward commercial agri-

culture in order to improve food security measures

as well as increase the sustainability of our farm and

New Hope as a whole. Uganda has two growing

seasons, which gives Uganda the incredible poten-

tial to feed all of East Africa. Currently, Enterprise

Farm is producing 30 tons per season (60 tons an-

nually); however, as we develop more land and in-

crease our soil fertility, we hope to supply more than

100 tons per season. Our ultimate goal as a farm is

to recover our full costs and become financially self-

sufficient, with the excess income going to support

New Hope Uganda.


Fish ProjectEarly this year I was quite discouraged with our fish

project. We had dabbled in tilapia and catfish pro-

duction but saw very little harvest compared to the

amount of food stuffs and labor we put into it. We

learned many lessons through this experience; and

despite our setbacks, I was certain the project could

be a success. In April 2011 I met a man who intro-

duced us to an integrated approach to fish produc-

tion that eliminates the need for costly feed inputs

and increases production beyond what could be

generated from the sum of the individual farming

systems..

We now have three ponds set up for this method: In

one pond, the fish will be fed with scraps from our

vegetable gardens. In another pond, the fish will

feed on the stems of rice plants (the rice will be har-

vested twice a year). The third pond has a duck

structure suspended over it, and the fish below will

feed on the droppings. We currently have fingerlings

being prepared for this pond. We have plans to

build one more pond. We have also added a feed

mixing building, a chicken house, and a hatchery

unit where we will produce all the fish for our ponds

as well as be able to provide fingerlings to the com-

munity.

We completed the setup phase and are beginning a

6-month trial. We expect to be running at full pro-

duction in early 2012, with the goal of raising 40,000

fish annually.


Vegetable ProjectToo often farmers in Uganda produce food without

having a clear idea in advance of when, to whom

and at what price they are going to sell their crops.

This approach needs to be replaced by far greater

coordination between farmers, processors, retailers

and others in the supply chain.

Much can be achieved by simply bringing together

buyers who lack supply with farmers who are able

to produce. The advantage this kind of coordination

brings to the farmer is the potential of having a more

assured market and pre-arranged price. The advan-

tage to the buyer is the opportunity to achieve

economies of scale and reduce overall costs.

As part of our overall vision, Enterprise would like to

begin forming a social business that would solve

many of the above mentioned issues ,and we see

vegetable gardening as the avenue. Because many

in the community have small portions of land, vege-

table growing is an ideal way to maximize space.

Enterprise has 3 acres of vegetables gardens plus a

nursery for seedlings and more sun-sensitive pro-

duce. We recently started a centralized selling loca-

tion called ‘The Forge,‘ where we sell our own fruits

and vegetables alongside produce from community

gardens. We hope to purchase refrigerators and

freezers where we can blanch, freeze, juice, and fur-

ther add value to our produce.


Dairy ProjectIn March of 2011, we sold eight of our aging oxen

that had been used for ploughing. With that money

we bought two young pair of oxen, three holstein

cows, and built a structure that can hold up to eight

zero-grazing milking cows.

In 2012, we would like to push our dairy project in

order to provide natural fertilizers (cow manure) for

our soils, meet the milk needs of our primary and

secondary schools.

To make this happen, we will need to fill our barn

with five additional cows, add a forage chopper (in

order to maintain a zero-grazing feeding system),

and purchase stainless steel milking buckets and

necessary filters to ensure good sanitation. Eventu-

ally, we would like to produce enough milk to sell

added value products such as yogurt and cheese.

At the Jinja farm show this July, we talked with rep-

resentatives from Heifer International about possibili-

ties of strategically teaming up with them for addi-

tional animals and completing a methane extractor

that could provide bio-gas for lanterns and cooking.

This will also be pursued in 2012.

Name of report 6

Piggery ProjectI began working for Enterprise Farm in March of

2008. I arrived just as the brick and mortar pig barn

was being completed. At that time we owned five

sows, and shortly after my arrival we purchased eight

new pigs. We focused on buying good breeds, such

as Large White, Combra, or Yorkshire rather than the

local breeds, in order to improve feed efficiency.

Since that time we have grown internally to house as

many as 112 animals.

Recently we sold off many of the young piglets to an

organization called ‘Concern For The Girl Child‘ and

other private buyers and currently stand at 55 pigs. It

is quite evident that feed costs consume over 80% of

our profit margin, and we are working at strategic

ways to reduce feed costs and improve health. We

have planted Morringa trees around the pig barns as

a valuable source of vitamins and minerals and have

planted several acres of soybeans to add to the feed

ration.

Our future goal is to add a butchery unit, where we

can select, season, smoke and package choice cuts

of meat. Our production goal is to produce as many

as 600 piglets annually.

Land Clearing

28%

33%

39%

Land ClearingThe Farm only utilizes half of its land, as you can

see from the map to the right. Though we currently

farm 65 acres of land, we have just as much land

sitting as unproductive ‘bush.‘

This year, with the help of generous financial gifts,

we have cleared and leveled 15-acres of farm land.

All of this land is cleared by hand. There are three

phases to land clearing in the middle of Uganda.

The first phase is bush whacking: Men cut down

the thick underbrush with pangas (machetes), pile

it, and often burn it. The second phase is tree se-

lection: We often allow the nice straight hardwoods

to stand; however, we uproot the trash trees. This

is done by digging around the tree and using an

axe to cut it down. When the trees have fallen, we

hire a chainsaw to cut the trees into firewood or

timber. The firewood is often sold to New Hope’s

family groups for cooking, and the timber often

goes to New Hope’s timber mill. Once the new field

is cleared of fallen trees, we begin the third and fi-

nal phase: Cleaning and leveling the field of ant and

termite hills so that our tractor can plough and

plant.

The total cost to clear an acre of land is roughly

around $300 from start to finish. We do receive

some of that back through firewood and timber

sales. Our goal is to clear 60 acres and be in full

production by the middle of 2013.

Cultivated LandLand to be ClearedPasture


Our Workforce

19%

18%

15%

48%

Labor/Food InputsMechanization Profit Margin

We currently employ 32 workers from across the

Nakaseke District. During our pond construction

phase, we contracted an additional 25 workers

over the course of 3-months. And while labor sta-

tistics for Nakaseke district are unreliable, the fact

is that there are always people searching for a

consistent and reliable source of income. There

hasn’t been a week that has gone by without sev-

eral requests for a job.

All in all, labor constitutes a significant amount of

Enterprise Farm’s expenses, especially when cal-

culated as a percentage of overall sales. In actual-

ity, Enterprise has existed, up until this point, as a

community employer first.

We want to continue to give our workers fair

wages, but it has been hard as inflation has been

as high as 18.7%, food prices are soaring, and the

government has mandated workers pay into the

NSSF (National Social Security Fund).

We daily feed our workers with breakfast and

lunch, and we supply Identification cards and gum

boots on a yearly basis. We hope to give each

employee an Enterprise Farm embroidered’ over-

alls or apron to increase the Farm’s professionalism

and care of our workforce.


Capital AssetsThe Europard 82-hp 4wd tractor has been an

enormous asset. We have put almost 400 hours

on it in the last 7 months since arriving in early

January. The tractor consumes an average of

$500/month for fuel and maintenance. But it has

enabled us to double our crop production, and

we have hopes of tripling our production next

season. The tractor also enabled us to plant eve-

rything “on time” this season, even though an

extended dry season shortened the planting

window.

Our tractor implements include a two-row John

Deere planter, a disc plough, a disc harrow,

chisel plough, pull behind mower, leveling blade,

and wagon. However, as we move toward com-

mercial farming, our hope is to make capital in-

vestments that would include a maize harvester

($15,000), a boom sprayer ($2500), and a forage

chopper ($1200).


The FutureThe farm has been growing, but not without hard

lessons learned along the way. Our desire is that the

farm would operate at the highest level of excel-

lence and efficiency.

The farm is in a transition period and is shifting from

a community work project towards a more com-

mercial model. As our piggery and fish projects

grow, and our dairy cows increase, we will add nec-

essary protein into the local diets. Likewise, as our

vegetable gardens yield and we pursue a local

farmers’ cooperative, it will help reduce poverty and

add necessary vitamins and minerals into local di-

ets.

As we farm additional acres of land with crops such

as maize, soybeans, cassava and groundnuts, we

will begin to generate a supplemental income for

New Hope Uganda and provide a level of food se-

curity for the Kasana community.

Thank you for taking the time to read this report.

Please prayerfully consider partnering with us as a

way to effectively empower the Kasana community

and New Hope Uganda, ultimately fighting poverty

within the region. If you have any specific questions,

please contact me:

Shawn D. ZimmermanEnterprise Farm Manager,

New Hope [email protected] #: 078-448-8715

to call from U.S. #: 011-256-78-448-8715

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


To partner with Enterprise Farm

please contact:

United States

New Hope Uganda Ministries

PO Box 154

Belle Fourche, SD 57717-0154

Gary Wood

North American Director

800-611-6486

Canada

NHU Ministry for Children

3332 Deiter Bay

Regina, Saskatchewan S4V 2V9

United Kingdom

Church Relief International

The Sarum Hill Centre

Sarum Hill

Basingstoke

Hants

RG21 8SR

Uganda

P.O. Box 16

Luwero Uganda

East Africa

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