From a part of the interest they have made a welfare fund; in case of emergency they come together and decide on the case. The remaining part of the interest is shared among the members at the end of every year. The ones who have not paid yet at the end of the year will remain in the records for one more year sp that they can set matters straight. The VSLA group is all about trust, but very well recorded. The group was trained by the Kitgum District Farmers Association (KIDFA).
KIDFA field officers train the groups. Another training the group received was on sunflower production. They got seeds from KIDFA in 2013 and 2014. With 8 kilo of seeds 4 acres of land were cultivated. The group made cooking oil from the harvest of seeds and sold it. The group learned from the field officer to plant in lines, spacing, using tarpaulins to dry and do cleaning on the tarpaulins. The men do the ploughing, preparation of the land. They can use the lessons learnt on their own land.
What is lacking is recordkeeping on the sunflower production, while they know very well how to keep records on savings and loans. Sunflower production is very important in the Northern part of Uganda and has a good market especially for sunflower oil. The group expressed the need to get more knowledge to increase production and better soil fertility.
KIDFA has a dream to unite 50 of those VSLA groups and form a SACCO (Savings and Credit Cooperative). By forming a SACCO it is easier, when functioning well, to attract other investors who want to loan to the SACCO, so higher loans can be handed out.
