Tree nursery garden at Masoli
SUPD is a collaborator in a nursery garden and herbal medicine garden located at Masoli village in Kyambogo 12 km from Kampala and on the way to Gayaza. The nursery garden established in 2009 to research into the propagation of indigenous medicinal plants and multiple use tree species using asexual (vegetative) and sexual (seed) techniques. It was later expanded with a focus on horticultural species. We currently propagate mangoes and we sell our products to middlemen or to farmers directly.
Undergraduate and graduate students of Makerere University have used the facility for their research. The nursery garden is managed by one staff; we recruit labourers during peak labour requiring periods. The key challenge that we currently face is entering the highly competitive seedlings market. We intend to propagate seedlings from seed, from cuttings and by grafting. The enterprise we are proposing will require a total of UGX 32.5 million to establish. Our business plan indicates that we will be able to break even in the second year of our operation. We anticipate to produce 50,000 seedlings in the first year growing up to 70,000 in subsequent years. We will require materials, a staff of 3 workers and labourers in times of peak labour demand. The intermediate result or outcome will be improved livelihoods for the people we will employ and also improvement of the environment from planted trees. Presently, we have started production of 30,000 mango seedlings consisting of Kent, Keitt, Tommy Atkins, Zillate and Apple varieties. These will be ready by February 2015 before the cessation of the long rains. Please place your order with us now. |