Kikondo, UG – Zinabala+Kigasa VICOBA continues investing together for food and profit – Apr 2025

A team from the Zinabala+Kigasa VICOBA cultivated and planted maize and beans seeds during April so the first rain season will support the group’s primary investment together. They started the ongoing project beginning the second rain season of 2024. Every Thursday the 50 members of the VICOBA meet to plan and check their savings and credit scheme, liquid soap making, bee hive keeping, and other ventures. But the main activity that is most exciting to them is the staple crop garden of maize and beans.

This season the team used compost to nourish the soil and a mulch of plant material to conserve water, a technique Zinabala group learned from Wamukisa. Kigasa group members are less experienced in FAITH gardening and agriculture, but eager to learn from Zinabala members. The merged group will harvest some food for their families and with crop sales be able to purchase more. This helped them last season, when they earned income from sales of some beans and maize and each VICOBA family received a portion of the harvest for food. This has greatly reduced family expenses on staples in Kikondo village.

Zinabala+Kigasa operates their staple crop garden on two acres of land which limits their productivity. With 50 members, farming a field larger two or three times larger, or more, would mean inputs could be purchased at lower cost per unit, producing more income in total and per acre. During 2025, the year before nationwide elections, the Ugandan government has announced funding for the Parish Development Model (PDM) “aimed at introducing Ugandans to the money economy and improving the quality of life.” In Kikondo’s Mpigi District, groups like Zinabala+Kigasa may sponsor six members with group-approved business plans to receive PDM loans of 1,000,000 shillings (about $285 USD) each. Zinabala+Kigasa will supervise the businesses and guarantee loan repayment in two years. Successfully participating in the PDM may demonstrate financial maturity and qualify the VICOBA to organize as a SACCO (Savings and Credit Cooperative), making funds to purchase land more available.