Solar Irrigation Boom Pushes Buseru Farmers in Kaliro District to Start Saving for Shs500m Local School Construction

By Mulengera Reporters

A powerful wave of change has swept through Buseru village, Butambala Parish in Gadumire Sub-county, Kaliro district in Eastern Uganda where farmers who once struggled to survive are now boldly planning to build their own community school worth UGX 500 million.

All this started when a solar-powered irrigation scheme turned dry land into productive farms and hopeless families into confident earners.

The Butambala Solar-powered Small-Scale Irrigation Scheme, installed and implemented by the Ministry of Water and Environment under President Museveni’s directive and constructed by Nexus Green, has completely shifted life in the village.

Where farming once depended on luck and rain, it is now powered by the sun, giving farmers a chance to grow crops throughout the year and earn steady money, thanks to President Yoweri Museveni.

This new income pushed the farmers to form a SACCO where each member saves at least UGX 3,000 every week.

What began as a simple plan to buy hybrid seedlings quickly grew into a much bigger dream, building a kindergarten school so that their children no longer walk between 3 and 20 kilometres just to study at both Butambala Lake View Primary School and Gadumire Bulamogi College.

Village chairperson David Nabyoma, 56, says the community was once “economically dead,” but the solar project changed their lives in a way they never expected.

He proudly explains that he can now pay university tuition for his child without any struggle, something he could not imagine in the past.

He says the whole community now believes they can raise the money for the school because farming finally pays.

Mothers in Buseru have also felt the power of this transformation. Jennifer Mbeize, a mother of 10, says her family used to earn so little that even basic needs were hard to afford.

But after the irrigation scheme was installed, her farming income shot up, enabling three of her children to complete certificate courses and aim for diplomas.

She fully supports the school project and says she is ready to contribute because her farm can now sustain her family.

Another resident, Sharifa Nakisige, 30, says her life changed completely when she shifted from cassava and maize to tomatoes, onions and cabbages. Her earnings jumped from UGX 700,000 in the first season to UGX 2 million in the seasons that followed from just 1.5 acres of land.

She says that before this new farming system, they only grew food to survive, and poverty never left the doorstep.

Agronomist Nicholas Kayongo continues guiding the farmers on the right crops, buying seeds for them, and helping them fight pests and diseases without harmful chemicals.