Access to Rural Non-Farm Livelihoods - Natural Resources Institute

Box 1. Michael Dunga, coffee trader
Michael is 35 years old. He was married, but his wife died, so he and his two sons live with
his elderly mother, who also looks after four other children – two are the children of her first
son, Michael’s brother, who died, and two are from other relatives. All are in primary school,
except one who is mentally disturbed. Michael is well educated, with O levels, and used to
work for the district administration. When he worked for the district, he was able to put some
of his salary into a group coffee trading business. Things went well for a while, but then some
of the group members began to suspect that one of them was keeping back some of the profits
for hims elf. They confronted him, but all that happened was that the next time it was this
man’s turn to go to market, he disappeared with all of the group’s money. Michael says that
they thought that this man was their friend, but that he was desperate. Michael was retrenched
in 1993 when the district administration was restructured. All his savings were lost in the
coffee trading business, and since then, life has been hard. They sell some crops and he
labours on other peoples’ farms to get a bit of money for soap and paraffin and a little milk for
the children. His mother used to brew beer, but she is too old now, and too busy caring for all
of the children. He can not start trading again because he has no capital and no way of getting
any, and he can not get credit as they do not have title to their land. What is all the more
galling is that the man who made off with the money is back in town, prosperous and
influential.
Opportunities for individual traders have increased under the government’s liberalisation
policies and with the failure of the former marketing co-operatives.
Trade in both fresh and dried or smoked fish is undertaken by both men and women who
travel to landing sites on Lake Kijanebalola and purchase it from the fishermen or processors.
Several were observed peddling their wares from bicycles, but researchers also met with a
woman who lives right on the main road and who sells dried fish from a stall outside her
home.
There are several small shops selling basic household goods such as soap, sugar, matches,
exercise books and pens, etc., as well as sodas and snack foods such as hardboiled eggs. They
buy their stock in Kibaale, or, if they can afford the transport and intend to buy a lot, in
Kyotera or even Masaka. However, many shopkeepers lack business skills, such as
bookkeeping, and are thus unable to keep track of their profits, or lack thereof. Sales are
closely linked to agricultural incomes – when these are down, business is very slow.
There are also three petrol sellers in the village who sell small quantities of petrol to drivers
who have run out. Until the middle of 2000 when one opened in Rakai Town 70 , the nearest
petrol station was in Kyotera, over 20 km away. Even with the opening of the new station in
Rakai, there is still plenty of business, as the drivers of the taxis (minibuses) and special hire
cars which travel through Byakabanda are usually employees of the owners of the vehicles,
and not the owners themselves. Typically a driver is required to give the owner of the vehicle
a set amount of money each day (usually a relatively large amount), but manages the day to
day details of the business, including buying fuel, himself – any profit over and above the
amount he is required to give the owner is his to keep, and thus drivers not only try to
economise on fuel use, but to estimate accurately the amount they will require so that they
return the vehicle to its owner empty at the end of the day. However, sometimes they
miscalculate, which is when they are forced to buy from roadside sellers.
70 This proved to be short lived – it had closed down by the time this report was being completed at the end of
November, allegedly as a result of mismanagement and the break-up of the group who owned it.
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