Disabled man inspires coffee farmers

The best part of his early life, Antoine Kamali, a resident of Mwurire sector in Rwamagana District, has known nothing else apart from coffee growing. However, with the difficult economic times, he had to venture into causal work to make ends meet. He turned to mining in order to subsidise his meager income from coffee.However it turned disastrous in 1978 when he was involved in a mining accident at Somirwa, which eventually led to the amputation of his leg in 1986, which drove him back to coffee growing. “I’m a coffee grower; I started in 1972 when I was still young. Then I had only 20 coffee trees and the production was mediocre” Kamali, 57, recalls. “I have the knowledge to run a coffee business, from the garden to the market, I know all of it. “ I tried to expand by planting more coffee trees, and by 1982 I had 500 trees,” he narrates, saying that by this time, he earned more that neighbors who were growing food crops. “It’s during this time that I recognised the significance of coffee,” he said “After getting amputated, I decided to put all my energy into coffee farming as mining was no longer possible”. With his savings from other activities, he has been able to expropriate some of his neighbours to expand his land in order to grow more coffee. Kamali now owns over 20,000 coffee trees planted on 6-7 hectares.“As I kept planting trees, I have managed to earn more money to feed my family and see my 10 children through school,” he boasts, saying that he has seen all his children through primary and secondary school, and three of them are in university. “And six of my girls got married.” Currently, Kamali harvests eight tonnes of unprocessed coffee and employs 20 permanent labourers. He is also the founder of Turwanye Ubujiji, a coffee farmers’ cooperative.He is a proud owner of two commercial buildings and two tree plantations. Despite his disability, Kamali helps out in pruning the coffee. “I’m very proud of my work, I am proud to be called a farmer and I’m striving to become a big farmer” Thanks to his work, Kamali has been selected as a model farmer by the National Agriculture Exportation Board. “I am planning to build myself a modern house that I will retire in old age” “Kamali is a model coffee farmer in the district and identifies himself among others, he takes good care of his coffee and deserves more support,” says Emmanuel Rwiririza, the former agronomist of the area and vice president of Musha Coffee Factory.