Solar Irrigation is Rebuilds Lives in Rural Tororo

When Water Returned to Gule B: How Solar Irrigation is Rebuilding Lives in Rural Tororo

In Gule B, a quiet stretch of Legaga village in Tororo district where the heat often presses hard against the earth, farmers once lived at the mercy of the sky. Seasons came and went unpredictably. But today, on these same plains, green spreads wide across 18 acres, nourished not by chance but by solar-powered irrigation that has transformed Gule B from a place of waiting into one of working.

Now in its second year of operation, the Gule B Solar-Powered Irrigation Scheme is home to 18 farmers, each tending a small but powerful plot. The scheme is supported by a structure of landlords and 3–4 sub-landlords, many of them sons of the original landowners, all working together under a new shared vision: farming with certainty.

The scheme was constructed by Nexus Green Ltd on behalf of the Ministry of Water and Environment, with financing from UK Export Finance. But for the people of Gule B, it is more than an installation, it is a lifeline, a second chance, a door that opened when many had nearly given up.

Patrick Owere: From Debt and Drought to a Future He Can Build

As chairman of the farmers’ association, Patrick Owere knows better than anyone how much has changed.

“Before this scheme came, I suffered,” he says quietly. “School fees were difficult. Taking my children to school was a struggle.”

Back then, he grew maize, a crop that often betrayed him. When harvests failed, he turned to loans.

“There is a time I borrowed UGX 2 million from Finance Trust Bank,” he recalls. “Even at only 3% interest, paying back was a big struggle. I had to sell my cow.”

But irrigation brought a new beginning. In the first season of 2024, Patrick earned UGX 2.3 million from a single plot. His confidence returned. He expanded his growing area and ventured into larger-scale cabbage production. With better earnings, he started both a dairy farm and piggery.

“Some of us have moved from grass-thatched houses to permanent homes,” he says with pride. “Before, we waited for rain. Now, God has answered us.”

Margret Efrance Onyango: A Widow Who Rebuilt Her Life Row by Row

Margret Efrance Onyango, a landlord and mother of five, stands among rows of green pepper and onions. A retired school administrator from Victorious Education Services in Kampala, she returned home to find farming both her duty and her only path forward. Before irrigation, she planted cassava and maize.

“The sun would burn everything,” she says. “It was painful.”

But the solar scheme changed her fortunes almost immediately. With training and guidance from the ministry irrigation support officer, she began earning consistently about UGX 700,000 every quarter, depending on the crop.

“I no longer wait for seasons,” she says. “I plant throughout the year. Thank you, President Yoweri Museveni, for bringing this project to Gule B.”

From her earnings, she built a two-bedroom house, something she once thought beyond reach.

Godfrey Owere: A Village Chairperson Watching His Community Rise

For Godfrey Owere, the LC1 chairperson of Gule B, the scheme is not just supporting farmers, it is uplifting an entire community.

Gule B has 82 households and over 570 residents, and Godfrey has watched change unfold from the very first harvest. Last year in his first season, he earned UGX 2,150,000.

“For years I struggled to take all my six children to school,” he says. “Now they are in better schools.”

With his income, he managed to roof his house, an achievement that gives him visible pride.

“The community is proud,” he says. “To have such a project here, it has changed our lives.”

Inside the Scheme: Planning, Sharing, and Growing Together

Every season at Gule B begins with preparation led by Bruno Byembabazi, an irrigation support officer from the Ministry of Water and Environment.

“My role is to guide the farmers,” he explains. “We prepare for the planting season, check seeds, and design a watering-sharing matrix so that every farmer receives water fairly.”

They follow a seasonal calendar and rely on hybrid seeds, which are disease-resistant and verified before planting.

“I have to check the seed myself,” Bruno says. “I look at whether it is genuine, suitable, and healthy. We don’t use GMOs.”

Farmer earnings fluctuate with market and weather conditions, but the scheme’s performance tells a powerful story: 1st season: UGX 17 million; 2nd season: UGX 6.5 million; 3rd season: UGX 29 million; 4th season: UGX 7 million

These figures, highs and lows, reflect the realities of farming but also the resilience of a community determined to move forward.

A Future Growing Brighter Than the Sun That Powers It

Gule B is not mountainous. It is quiet, flat, ordinary. But what is happening here is extraordinary.

Families are turning soil into school fees. Farmers are growing crops, not debt. Widows are building homes. Children are studying from better schools. Men and women who once waited helplessly for rain now wake up with purpose.

And as the solar panels stand steady in the Tororo sun, Gule B’s story continues, written in green leaves, full granaries, and the dreams of farmers who finally have the water they waited for.