A working farm wagon

The crew from the oil palm processing operation load jugs of fresh palm oil on the new tractor wagon.

The wagon that Emmanuel Souza and I built a few weeks ago went on its maiden voyage last Friday. Filled with a load of palm oil jugs, the wagon followed the tractor down the hill from the garage to the Lusekele store. Internal roads at Lusekele have deteriorated over the years. So except for the flat expanse of the soccer field, the route included a steep descent and a couple of rough spots.

Kester Mukebwanga hitches up the wagon for its maiden voyage.

The goal is to reduce costs and shift workers to tasks that have a direct effect on improving production and profits. Producing palm oil profitably from its own small plantation is a key part of the strategy that ACDI has for sustaining its agriculture extension work. Transporting a single chunk of firewood can take a worker close to 30 minutes, time much better spent keeping the plantation clean and harvesting ripe fruit bunches.

Kester unloads the last jug of oil.

This week they are going to run the wagon through its paces: collecting palm fruit bunches, hauling sand from the stream near us, collecting dead wood that fuels the palm fruit boiler. Then comes the next lesson: how to organize the work to full advantage wagon capacity and time.