Jonny’s African Dream
“Africa needs young entrepreneurs with new ideas,
new thinking, and, rather than aid where we patronise
the people, we need investment where we work with
them. That is what we stand for and that is why we
believe in business rather than charity.”
A common misconception Jonny encounters is that
Uganda and the surrounding sub-Saharan region is all
sandy desert, when in actual fact it is largely green
and mountainous, with a thriving wildlife and plentiful
trees and plants.
“Rest assured, if there is one country in the world
that can grow crops, it’s Uganda,” he says. “This is why
the potential for agricultural development is so great.”
Uganda has the climate to produce two crops per
year, but it fails to produce enough to meet demand
because of a lack of capital to invest in seed and crop
cultivation. Land is expensive and fragmented as a
result of the practice of dividing land equally between
siblings as it passes down the generations.
It is a pretty big leap from Reading University student
to mastermind of a Ugandan farming enterprise
business – but OP Jonny Rowland (03-10) has sown
all the seeds of a successful venture.
What started as a gap-year project as part of his
agriculture degree has turned into a remarkable
business enterprise to help farmers in Uganda
increase their food production and promote
profitable farming.
When Jonny, 23, first went out to Uganda last year,
Kagando Farm, in the south-western Kasese district,
was failing and on the point of being closed down.
This would have put 10 people out of work and
been a huge blow to the hospital it was designed to
support.
By using expertise gained from his university course
alongside experience from working on arable and
dairy farms in the UK, Jonny managed to turn the
farm into a profit-making enterprise which now
contributes towards the running costs of the hospital.
An irrigation project he designed and built ensured
the farm could grow crops all year even through
dry periods of no rain. He also built water troughs
to make sure the dairy herd had constant access to
water, plus improved feed, which led to doubling the
milk yield at the farm.
Jonny returned to the UK to finish his degree and
graduated this summer with a first class BSc (Hons) in
Agriculture. He also spent time developing the germ
of an idea which took root in Uganda, where he was
joined for a time by fellow OP James Wilkinson (9910).
As a result, they have launched Agri Evolve, a ‘profit
for purpose’ social enterprise which encourages
farmers to co-operate in a share farming model,
where farmers work together to share the cost of
using improved inputs.
Agri Evolve will provide capital to build resources
such as irrigation systems, crop storage facilities and
resources, such as seeds and fertiliser, along with the
training and monitoring needed to improve farming
practices and develop markets to sell their produce
to. The company will take a share of the profits from
the [