Daniel Masaba is a chicken farmer who runs one of East Africa’s largest poultry farms after leaving his previous career as a medical doctor to pursue full-time chicken farming.
In an interview, he noted that it was a difficult decision for him to make because chicken farming is considered a low-wage industry.
Masaba has been farming for the past five years, beginning with roughly 800 chickens on his father’s estate. He currently owns 400 acres of property, which is home to over 20,000 hens, 150 cattle, 750 goats, ships and various plants and vegetables.
Masaba has made farming a pleasurable lifestyle by transforming the venture into an inspirational platform.
“When I quit my job, people said I was crazy. I knew what I was doing, despite the comments from people. The farmers want to go back to school to become doctors and here I am going the other way. I believe I was crazy in my nice way,” he said.
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However, Masaba defended himself, explaining that low pay for medical doctors partly contributed to his poultry venture.
“Honestly, what we earn here in Uganda as doctors is not the best. I had a bigger mission. While researching, I decided to do greenhouse farming but while doing my greenhouse farming, I met an expert who told me to do poultry. In 2019, I decided to put up a chicken structure
“I put up a structure on my dad’s land and bought my first batch of birds. The first few months were quite tiresome but after that, I got some gist of it. I noticed this thing can actually make money,” he explained.
Unlike other chicken producers, Masaba has invested in both feed production and day-old chicks.
Most of the items he utilises in his enterprises are created from locally accessible materials. He has over 200 acres of corn farm, the earnings of which are utilised to produce poultry feed.
Farm Up grows a variety of products, including beans, potatoes, bananas, and pineapples, to feed his workers.
Farm Up now employs over 200 people after its founder, Masaba, retired as a practicing medical doctor to become a full-time farmer.
“It’s something I could do forever. Everyone needs food. This is even a bigger impact. In addition to sharing food, we kill animals and go and distribute to the villages on big days; people can feel the impact of having this farm in the area,” he noted.
