After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Extension Education from Uganda’s Makerere University in 2002, Vicky Nyakatuura Bagenda, a SAFE alumnus, secured a job at the Mukono District Local Government. After a few years, she decided to actively engage in farming as a business, establishing a model farm that now serves as a training center for her community. Her farm currently has six ongoing enterprises, including: three greenhouses  with sweet pepper being grown; five fishponds with tilapia and catfish; a semi-free range poultry enterprise with 563 chickens (all locally-hatched), 117 rabbits; vegetables, including tomatoes, cabbages, parsley, kale, spinach and amaranths; and spices such as peppermint, stevia and basil.

The enterprising farmer says her products have a demand that she cannot satisfy. In addition, Ms. Bagenda trains students from secondary schools and universities, youth farmer groups and local farmers, charging USD5 per day, each day represented by a two-hour lesson. In the last two years, she has hosted 50 students from a secondary school within her district, a youth farmer group from Luwero district and 32 farmers from her church who each paid USD8 for a two-day course. In addition, she hosts and supervises university students attending internships.

Retrieved from SAA E-Newsletter, issued in Nov 2022 "Impacting Skills in Agriculture"