Best Farmers 2025: Dr Richard Wemesa takes third place

VISION GROUP | HARVEST MONEY | BEST FARMERS | GAYAZA

In 2020, with universities closed and incomes uncertain owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Richard Wemesa, a lecturer at Makerere University, the University of Nairobi, and the Uganda Institute of Banking Services, and his wife Rhoda Gloria Nafula turned to the land. The couple opted to grow maize on their 30-acre piece of land in Jolwe, Wakiso district. Today, what started as a survival strategy, has become a, family‑run Jolwe Farm, a diversified agri-business with maize milling, piggery, poultry, and dairy units employing over 60 people, training students, and providing a reliable market for local farmers.

Genesis of Jolwe Farm

In 2020. the couple’s first option was selling their harvest to grain dealers in Kampala’s Kisenyi market. But when prices dropped to as low as sh700 per kilo, the returns were not commensurate to the investment and they turned to value addition.

In 2021, they invested in a maize mill. The first imported machine that cost millions, but it broke down within three months. Undeterred, they turned to locally fabricated machines from Katwe, Kampala, which are still in use. Today, the couple processes 15 tonnes of maize daily, marketed under the Jolwe Flour brand, supplying schools and institutions. To meet demand, they supplement their harvest with grain from the districts of Mubende, Busoga, Wakiso, and Kampala.

“To make money from maize flour, quality must be guaranteed. Every consignment is checked before milling,” Wemesa explains.

According to the best farmers judges, Wemesa emerged as one of the winners because of the way he managed to integrate the several enterprises at the farm. “He grows maize, processes it into flour but the bran is feed to his animals. The manure from the livestock is used as fertilizer on the farm,” observed Professor Ogenga Latigo.

Piggery

The milling business produced bran as a by‑product, which inspired the launch of a piggery in 2022. Starting with six gilts and three boars, by 2025, the unit had 200 pigs. Their breeds included Large White and Landrace, crossbred with imported Duroc boars from France and South Africa. Within 4-5 months, the crosses weigh 70–100kg.

In 2025, each pig was sold at sh650,000–sh1m, while piglets fetched sh100,000–150,000. Pork went for sh15,000 per kilo.

Poultry

In 2023, Jolwe added poultry, starting with 200 broilers. In 2025, the unit had 15,000 birds, mostly layers and kuroilers.

The production capacity was 52 trays of eggs daily, each sold at sh10,000. The kroilers cost sh3,000 for a month-old chick and would be sold at sh18,000 each when they clocked three months.

Poultry feeds are mixed on the farm with the composition including bran, broken maize, and concentrates. “We employ a worker to monitor feed quality, ensuring proper growth and fewer diseases,” Nafula explains.

This is the tenth year running that Vision Group, together with the Embassy of the Netherlands, KLM Airlines, dfcu Bank and Koudijs Animal Nutrition, are running the Best Farmers competition. The 2025 competition run from March to November, culminating in today’s awards ceremony.