Minister for Agriculture commissions two cassava factories in Nebbi

NEBBI – The State Minister for Agriculture, Fred Bwino Kyakulaga has commissioned two cassava factories in Nebbi district under the Agriculture Cluster Development Project (ACDP).

The commissioned factories are among the five that were earmarked for boosting both local and international trade for cassava products.

The government hopes to improve the socio-economic status of cassava farmers in Nebbi by alleviating poverty through value additions and creating job opportunities in the community.

Previously, the poor quality of bitter cassava variety could not meet the market demand hence generating less interest from farmers.

Ms Juliet Abedirwoth, one of the farmers said, as members of the cooperatives, they will be the immediate beneficiaries of the factories because they will supply the factory directly with raw cassava to sustain the factories.

“According to the policies of the cooperative, members of the cooperative who are the shareholders in the cooperative have the direct link to benefit from the factories because roles and responsibilities of members are well spelt out and dividends are shared according to the number of shares,” Abedirwoth said.

Charity Awekonimungu, a member of Aratarach Cassava Cooperative said, she is now able to supply the factory with cassava from her own gardens since she plants the sweet varieties of NAROCASI recommended by MAAIF.

Ongeyowun Innocent, the Production Manager, Aratarach Cassava Cooperative says, employment and participation in the cooperative among the farmers is shared by gender, where women take 70% of the total population of 360 group members while men take 30%.

Mer-Ber and Aratarach Cooperatives are among the benefiting cooperatives in the district under the project of ACDP whose factories were commissioned by the State Minister for Agriculture amidst electricity and water challenges facing the cooperatives.

Agriculture Cluster Development Project (ACDP) is a government program being implemented by Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries in 57 selected districts across the country with financial support from World Bank and its mandate is to transform the local communities with high yielding cassava NASSER 19 and NAROCASI varieties.

According to the Minister, Fred Bwino Kyakulaga, cassava production in the West Nile region is considered to be one of the white golds which is cementing the foundations of the economy by empowering citizens towards better livelihoods.

Bwino says, ACDP is not the only effort being made by the government to alleviate poverty. He called on farmers to take advantage of the Parish Development Model (PDM) to increase the commercialization of cassava production and attach value addition for better economic benefits.

“Cassava is a white gold which gives other bi-products like starch which can be used to produce ethanol and if farmers are mobilized to grow cassava on a large scale, the bi products can boost the economy of the country,” Bwino said.

Levi Nyakuni, Nebbi district Production Officer said, much as cassava factories were commissioned to benefit farmers in the district, they need to plant more sweet cassava which is sustainable for the factories and urged farmers to go commercial.

“I’m hereby urging cassava farmers to think big and reap big from cassava production by planting the varieties which are recommended to supply the factories that are commissioned,” Nyakuni said.

Joyce Piwa, the Agricultural Officer Nebbi district said, the district has trained more than 2,300 farmers on post-harvest handling practices to minimize post-harvest losses in the lower local government.

He is therefore, optimistic that the factories will benefit the farmers if they focus on value addition.

“The district is rehabilitating community access roads linking all the production areas where farmers will transport their products to the processing facilities,” Piwa said.

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UNHCR boss calls for mobilization of funds to support education in refugee settlement areas

HOIMA – The country representative for United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Joel Boutroue, has called for the need to mobilize more funds to support the education of refugees and host communities.

He made the call as the Ministry of Education, United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Kikuube district local government launched a district education response plan for refugees and host communities.

The response plans will work as a guiding tool in promoting education among the refugees and host communities in Kyangwali refugee settlement area with 14,116 refugees.

The response plans will focus on addressing issues affecting the education sector resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, skilling school dropouts, and advocating for girls who got pregnant during the lockdown to go back to school.

Special consideration will also be made for construction of class rooms and technical schools, staff quarters, sanitary facilities, empowering teachers, school administration and school management committees.

The initiative will benefit 30,000 learners from eight government schools and 13 private schools.

In his address, Boutroue from UNHCR said, there is a need to mobilize funding from development partners such as World Banks (WB) and European Union (EU) to support education in refugees’ host districts in the country.

According to Boutroue, UNHCR is supporting more than 400,000 primary refugee school going children and over 4000 teachers in refugee host districts. He added that they have been supporting education with $20million every year.

Boutroue further noted that, as the world copes with the new normal, funding is inadequate to deal with the challenges affecting the education sector in refugee settlement areas.

He also noted that as the country plans to open schools next year; there are many challenges that will need to be addressed before children report back.

“Our emergency as the president said, is to open schools in January. We therefore have to plan well to ensure that by January, we have the required infrastructure or necessary organizations to put in place double shifts because already schools were crowded before the Covid19 pandemic. Now, we have two cohorts or more lining up to join school. We need to be practical about setting up temporary structures, and double shifts which mean having more teachers at a time of limited resources,” said Boutroue.

While launching the response plans in Hoima City, the State Minister for Primary Education, Joyce Kaducu commended UNHCR and other partners for supporting education.

The Minister also said, the government is planning to integrate digital education in pre-primary and primary schools to take forward the education sector.

She noted that to adapt new technology, there is need for different stakeholders to start critical planning because Covid-19 has brought on board critical thinking and effective implementation of strategies.

“Social media is something that the Education Ministry is working on. We need digital education, we need a digital rollout to the entire country but that alone needs to be regulated, to help the girls and boys to use it meaningfully because there is a lot that can destroy the lives of these children equally from the same social media,” she said.

Minister Kaducu further noted that there is a need for stakeholders to prepare for the opening of schools next year. Issues such as inadequate staffing, school structures and SOPS materials must be addressed before schools open.

The Minister also called on different stakeholders including religious, cultural and political leaders to advocate for the education of the girl child. She added that there is a need to mobilize parents to take the girl children who got pregnant during the lockdown back to school.

According to the Minister, the Covid-19 Pandemic has exposed parents’ and communities’ weakness in looking after their children.

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Ministry of Agriculture needs Shs 20bn for foot & mouth vaccines

KAMPALA – The Ministry of Agriculture needs a 20bn supplementary budget to buy foot and mouth vaccines for animals in the cattle corridor.

The money, half of which will also be used to procure motor bikes for the Veterinary Officers in the same area.

The cattle corridor districts include; Isingiro, Kazo, Sembabule, Gomba, Nakasongora, Lyantonde, Mubende, Luwero, Nakaseke and some districts in Teso and Lango regions and Karamoja region.

The Minister for Agriculture, Frank Tumwebaze told the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, that out of the funds required, Shs.15bn would be used to buy at least 4 million doses of the vaccines that is expected to cover up to about 15 million heads of cattle.

“We shall need to procure a minimum of four million doses of the foot and mouth vaccines to cover the animals in the cattle corridor,” Tumwebaze said.

The cattle corridor districts of Sembabule, Lyantonde, Kazo and parts of Gomba have been locked in the cattle quarantine for a period of at least one year due to the infectious disease that affects animals.

Tumwebaze says, vaccination would be free to all farmers, and at some point it would be made mandatory.

“This disease causes severe production losses, and while the majority of affected animals recover, they become weak and unproductive. That is why we need to vaccinate at the onset of the disease,” he added.

Scientists have reported that areas neighboring game reserves and parks are prone to attacks, as animals share grazing fields with the wild animals.

Lyantonde, Kiruhura, Isingiro and Kazo all share boarders with Mburo National Game Park, while Nakasongora and Nakaseke have a similar challenge.

According to the Minster, part of the funds will be used to procure at least 30 motor bikes for each of the cattle corridor districts, to facilitate veterinary officers to attend to the animals.

“We shall use Shs 500 million for procurement of 30 motorcycles for each of the thirty districts in the cattle corridors,” Tumwebaze told the Committee.

Another Shs 900 million would be used for procurement of veterinary medical supplies, for the veterinarians to use.

Other beneficiaries of the supplementary allocation would be districts along the livestock trading routes, that are also prone to attacks.

These include districts like; Masaka, Kalungu, Lwengo, Mpigi, Mbale, Kumi, Katakwi, Lira among others.

The Ministry plans to start the vaccination exercise before the disease spreads during the wet season, and aims at covering at least 90% of the nation livestock population.

Foot and mouth disease spreads much in the wet seasons, when livestock movement is unlimited especially close to the wild game.

According to the National Animal Census conducted in 2020, Uganda reportedly has at least 58 million heads of cattle, with a high concentration in the cattle corridor.

The disease is reportedly widely spread by the migrant cattle keeping communities that roam the cattle corridor, although livestock traders are also to blame for the same.

The exercise will also include 16 million goats, 5 million sheep, pigs and other animals.

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Prioritise cooperatives for power connection- Min. Ssempijja

The Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Hon. Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja has urged the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to prioritize the connection of cooperative-owned businesses to the power grid.

Bamulangaki made the appeal during his visit to Aratarach Cassava Cooperative Society in Nebbi district.

“The cooperative is doing commendable work by employing over 40% youths, but it is still producing at low capacity due to lack of access to electricity and water. This issue needs to be addressed at the national level,” he said.

The minister revealed that the Aratarach Cassava Cooperative Society is one of five cassava cooperative societies in the Nebbi district being implemented under the Agricultural Cluster Development Program (ACDP) championed by MAAIF.

Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), with funding from the World Bank, funded the construction of five mini cassava factories in Nebbi district. However, the factories have since faced ongoing power and water connection challenges due to their remote locations.

A case in point is Aratarach cassava cooperative society, a rural-based cooperative society operating in the remote sub-county of Kucwiny in Nebbi district, 8 kilometers from the nearest electricity power supply line.

According to Gerald Ongwech, the Chairperson, Aratarach Cassava Cooperative, the co-op was formed by former Functional Adult Literacy members (FAL) in the year 2001.

“It started with 31 fully registered group members but became a cooperative in 2013 with over 700 members, each of whom paid Shs 10,000 in membership fees.

Lost opportunities

Ongwech says the lack of access to the national grid is affecting the cooperative’s ability to add value to the cassava flour, which he says has a ready market.

“Much as we have a ready market for our cassava flour, the cooperative’s production capacity is limited due to the high cost of running it on generator power,” Ongwech said.

Already, the co-op has lost some potential clients due to its power challenges.

“We were approached by t Uganda Breweries Limited to supply them with 200 metric tonnes of cassava four per week, but had to shun the offer due to our current incapacity to meet the demand,” intimated Ongeyowun Innocent, the society’s Production Manager.

As a result, the co-op has, for now, limited itself to producing for the local market.

“We urge the government to connect the cooperative with electricity and water to run the cassava factory which is a source of employment to youths and widows,” Ongeyowun said.

One such member, Paska Unwangbanga, was all praises for the cooperative which, she says, has enabled her to meet her family’s daily needs, and pay her children’s school fees.

“The cooperative provides members with loans at affordable interest rates. It also employs some of the members and ensures our cassava is bought right from the plantation site,” she said.

Joyce Piwa, the focal person for ACDP Nebbi district, confirmed that most cooperatives in the district are hamstrung in their operations by lack of water and electricity.

“Government should consider promoting cooperative activities as one of the tools to eradicate poverty at the community level for socio-economic transformation,” she said.

Connection imminent

During his visit to the cooperative’s factory, Minister Bamulangaki promised that government would soon resolve the area’s power issues as the Karuma dam nears completion.

“The power scarcity in West Nile is temporary; very soon the region will be connected with power from Karuma dam, with a substation being constructed at Olwiyo in Nwoya district,” Bamulangaki said.

He urged the cooperative management to negotiate with the ministry of trade for marketability such that the cooperative products be known to the global market.

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Masindi women tipped on growing their SACCOs, SMEs

Women belonging to different women’s SACCOs and savings groups, as well as owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Masindi district have been trained on how to manage and grow then from one level to the next.

The one-day training was conducted by the All-in-One Women’s Association (ALOWA) at Kolping hotel in Masindi on Wednesday.

Godfrey Bahemuka, the Masindi district Community Development Officer (CDO), sensitized participants on the processes and procedures of forming SACCOs and savings groups, and on the roles of the elected leaders.

“As members, you should always know the vision, mission, and objectives of your groups and SACCOs. Most of you don’t know these things and yet they are key. That’s why many of your groups and SACCOs don’t last,” explained Bahemuka.

He also underscored the need for proper record keeping in all organizations involved in savings and credit, noting that this documentation is necessary for accountability.

The members were also taken through group conflict management and basic financial literacy.

Bahemuka also advised the leaders of different women groups to make use of the available government programs like the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP) and Emyooga to get capital for their businesses.

Unite purposefully

Lilian Namirimu, the Executive Director, ALOWA urged women to unite with a purpose, and not only plan to come together when the government is planning to give out funds.

” As women, we need to work together and not in isolation. We shall achieve our targets if we are united,” Namirimu said, adding that unity would give them greater bargaining power in lobbying for their interests.

Namirimu said the association decided to extend this training to women because of the important role they play in promoting social and economic development.

Florence Achiro, the Chairperson, Women of Worth Catering Group, commended ALOWA for organizing the training.

“The knowledge we have acquired will enable us to improve on the management of our groups and businesses.”

Stella Alinaitwe from Masindi Central Market Vendors SACCO appealed for further training opportunities from other organizations.

“We really have inadequate knowledge on how to run these SACCOs. We need more training like this to equip us with the necessary information to grow our SACCOs and businesses.”

The meeting was attended by market vendors, produce dealers, and women leaders, among others.

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