Farmers’ Groups Get A Value Addition Project

KIKUUBE – Kikuube district local government has launched a Shs 850 million project which will facilitate farmer groups to add value to their maize and rice produce.

The project is funded through the Matching Grant Facility (MGF) under the Agriculture Cluster Development Project (ACDP).

ACDP is a five-year government project initiated in 2018 to improve on-farm productivity, production, and volumes of selected agricultural commodities in specific geographical clusters of the country.

Kikuube district is one of the four beneficiary districts in cluster 10.

Under the ACDP scheme, a first-time farmer is supposed to pay 33% of shs 450,000 and the government tops up the remaining balance.

In the second season, both the government and farmers pay 50% of the money and at the third season, the government pays 33% while the farmer takes the bigger share, 67% of the payment.

The government initiated the Matching Grant Facility (MGF) to assist farmers get good harvests as well as add value to their produce and to also improve road infrastructure to connect farmers to markets.

Speaking during the launch of the project, Barnabus Ntume, the Kikuube district Production Officer explained that 12 farmer groups applied for the Matching Grant Facility (MGF) but only five were considered after they met the requirements.

The qualified farmers’ groups include; Kyangwali farmer’s group in Kyangwali sub-county which received shs 150million, Twimuke Savings Internal Lending Community Association (TSILCA) got shs180 million, Wambabya Community Development Cooperative Society (WDCS) received shs 180 million, Bunyoro Turihamu Cooperative Society (BTCS) received shs181 million all from Kiziranfumbi sub-county and Banyakole Tweyombeke Association in Buhimba sub-county received shs 150 million.

According to Ntume, the funds are going to be used to construct processing house facilities and equipping the facilities with maize miller machines.

“The first criteria we considered for the groups to get the Matching Grant Facility, was the number of farmers that a group has registered on the e-voucher system (farmers Benefiting from ACDP project)” he explained. He added that the qualified groups were also required to pay a co-funding of 33% of the total Matching Grant Facility.

He added that the district is also expecting to get a Matching Grant of shs 700 million to improve on the road networks in the district.

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He added that this money is aimed at addressing the challenges failing the farmers to easily access the market for their agricultural produce.

Launching the project, Peter Banura, Kikuube district boss explained that farmers managed to get the funding because they were organized and called on more farmers to form groups to ensure that they benefit from the government projects.

He challenged the beneficiary groups to sensitize their members on the issue of post-harvest handling methods to ensure quality of production adding that poor handling of crops after harvest is affecting markets.

He added that Kikuube district has the capacity to be a food basket for Bunyoro region once farmers get united and practice commercial agriculture.

He also promised to link up the farmer groups to different organizations such as the World Food Program to address the issue of market if they get organized and start producing quality produce.

Kikuube district Secretary for Production, Nicholas Kiiza, commended the government for the funding, adding that once the projects get completed, the farmers will start adding value to their agricultural produce.

However, he warned the contractors against producing shoddy work and beneficiaries to monitor the projects to ensure value for money after the completion of the projects.

Man Lawrence and Benon Tusigwire, board chairpersons for Kyangwali Farmers and Wambabya Community Development Cooperative Society respectively, commended the government for supporting them to establish the processing house facilities adding that once completed, the farmers will be able to process their produce and sell finished products instead of selling grains.

However, they said that their associations have no means of transport to facilitate farmers to transport their produce from the farms to stores and tractors and called upon the district local government to lobby and get them such agricultural machineries.

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Cooperators Challenged To Go Digital

UGANDA – Cooperators have been challenged to go digital in order to overcome any unanticipated challenges similar to what the Covid-19 pandemic has done to the business sector in Uganda.

This was revealed on Tuesday during the virtual zoom meeting organized by Uganda Cooperatives Savings and Credit Union (UCSCU) to check on how its primary cooperatives are performing despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Sylvester Ndiroramukama, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Uganda Co-operatives Savings and Credit Union (UCSCU), encouraged SACCO heads to adopt digitalisation to run cooperatives rather than waiting for Covid-19 to come to an end for physical activities to continue.

“As SACCOs, we need to innovate so that we are able to serve our members at the union level. At the union, we have redefined some new products that you can put to use. One of them is Management Information System (MIS), the accounting software because of the high default rate in SACCOs as a result of the pandemic,” Ndiroramukama explains.

“We also had to look at some other partners to solve the issue of loan defaults and that is how we came up with GnuGrid which is a provider of credit reference services that is duly licensed by Bank of Uganda,” he added.

The meeting attended by dozens of cooperatives’ leaders from the different regions also extracted measures and opportunities that Covid-19 has brought to cooperatives in Uganda.

According to Muzaffar Kinalwa, the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Manager at UCSCU, this was the third of its kind and more weekly meetings will be held by UCSCU on cooperative identity and information sharing to serve its primary members.

Rita Nansitu-General Manager Sao Zirobwe SACCO embarked on M-SACCO application which enabled them to run cooperative affairs normally without the Covid-19 hinderances during the first & second lockdown.

“M-SACCO came on market in the last quarter of 2018 and its uptake has been low but ever since the Covid-19 lockdown, many people have subscribed as one of the strategies of accessing our services,” said Nansitu.

“People can save, withdraw and pay their loans using the system at a much lower cost and excluding themselves from physical contacts that puts them at risk of getting infected with Covid-19,” says Nansitu.

She adds that the SACCO’s resilience to keep operating despite the Covid-19 challenges has built confidence and trust to increase on their savings.

“During the first lockdown in March 2020, members rushed to pick their money thinking that maybe we are going to close but the fact that we kept operating, the persistence has guaranteed our members who had withdrawn their money to resave with us and our savings have grown tremendously despite the pandemic,” Nansitu explains.

However, she says that the SACCO’s annual work plan slowed down as a result of Covid-19 as loan disbursement was not achieved as budgeted.

“We had targets within our annual work plan but most of them have been disrupted. For instance, our loan portfolio disbursement was greatly affected because we could not continue giving loans yet most of our members were defaulting,” says Nansitu.

“For the very first time, we realized an increase in loan default rates because of closure of businesses. We also registered a reduction in savings. Even those who had little savings had to come for them to stock food such that they can survive the uncertainty of Covid-19,” adds Angella Nabatanzi, the Branch Manager ,Wakiso Self Help SACCO.

She also said, the SACCO suffered some expenditures as it went ahead to support some of the vulnerable members in the community.

“We also realized an increase in expenditure as we had to stick to our principle of supporting our clients through the hard times,” says Nabatanzi.

Contrary to urban SACCOs, Patrick Dramadri, the General Manager Oleba SACCO says Covid-19 came by surprise but the SACCO has continued to register a dramatic increase in both savings and membership.

“As opposed to urban SACCOs where they experienced withdraws, on our side which is rural based, our saving portfolio has shoot up while the membership is also getting high,” says Dramadri.

Oleba is a small but steady growing SACCO in West Nile with a total savings of Shs 513million, loan portfolio of Shs 487million and a membership base of 2,300.

Also, Henry Indema, General Manager Moyo SACCO says the institution has registered an increase in savings during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“To our surprise, savings have increased because most of the money which is supposed to be invested in businesses is now in savings and also an increase in membership because we realized that more people are coming to register within this period of Covid-19 meaning that the pandemic has taught the community how to save for the future,” Indema explained.

However, Indema says this never stopped some of the institution’s credit products from losing market.

“There is a reduction in demand for loan products such as school fees loans as a result of closure of schools during the pandemic,” he revealed.

He adds that SACCOs are also suffering with unclear government communication on loans and repayment by clients.

“Most clients have taken the communication from the president that they are not supposed to pay the loans and this has affected the quality of loan recoveries as many have adamantly refused to pay,” Indema said.

Dicky Byamukama, General Manager Lyamujungu SACCO used the virtual platform to narrate how he survived Covid-19 in the month of June 2021.

“I must confess that I am a survivor of this pandemic and I remember when I was in self isolation for 14 days, I tried by all means to keep it to myself so that the business is not affected but the problem of stigma could not hold,” Byamukama testifies about his experience at the sick bay.

He says his contraction of the novel Covid-19 never spared the institution as members got frightened from accessing financial services directly from the SACCO.

“I don’t know how it leaked to members and they started spreading rumours that all Lyamujungu staff had contracted the disease yet it was only me. This information discouraged SACCO members from doing aggressive savings because of the stigma effect,” Byamukama emphasized.

He adds that the suspension of specific businesses like churches and schools also affected the performance of SACCOs.

“Churches are still closed meaning that church goers can no longer attend services yet we had given loans to some churches and teachers as our pertinent clients and now they cannot meet their repayment schedule,” Byamukama said.

Despite the pandemic, Byamukama says Lyamujungu SACCO has also managed to increase members’ savings.

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“During the pandemic we registered an increase in savings to an extent that we have some fixed deposits with other commercial banks because people are no longer taking money for investment but only saving,” says Byamukama.

Lyamujungu SACCO is one of the oldest SACCOs in Uganda that started its operations in 1984. It has a total membership of 23,000 members, savings of more than shs 4billion and loan portfolio of over shs 8billion.

Solutions to Covid-19

Nansitu advised cooperatives to reduce the expenses and pay attention to only inevitable expenses.

For Nabatanza, she asked SACCO leaders to restructure member loans to amounts deemed affordable to them for payment.

“You also need to restrict the lending and emphasize that disbursement is only done to members with businesses which are still operating,” she advised.

Nabatanza also encouraged SACCOs to sensitize their members about business diversification

“Engage members to start up small capital businesses that require minimal capital enabling them to cater for their families and also make small payments to service their loans,” she further explained.

Indema advised cooperatives to focus on investment rather than savings.

“This is a period of investment in short term loans, a period of investment in mobilizing fair capital from the community. It is a period of sensitizing our clients and a time of giving them massive financial literacy education so that the community and the client would be in position to know what they are supposed to do,” Indema explained.

“If we are to do that, we shall continue to have more clients, more savings and more capital but if we are not doing that, I am sure most SACCOs are going to close because savings is a long-term liability,” he said.

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Nwoya Under Attack By The Foot And Mouth Disease

NWOYA – Nwoya district is under quarantine to curtail the spread of foot and mouth disease that has reportedly infected hundreds of animals.

The disease has reportedly attacked livestock farms in the two sub-counties of Purongo and Anaka over the last three weeks as the district battles to control the outbreak.

Foot and mouth disease is one of the contagious livestock diseases which affects the cloven-hoofed animals that include cattle, buffalos, sheep, goats, pigs and camels among others.

The disease spreads in animals through breathe from infected animals, salvia, mucus, milk and feaces among others which presents in animals with fever, skin rash and sour mouth.

Although the World Organization of Animal Health reveals that many of the animals can recover, the report points out that the disease leaves animals mainly weak and debilitated with losses in production.

At least 323 cattle in Nwoya District have contracted the disease while 18 of the animals have so far died from the affected areas.

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The disease was first detected from Purongo and has so far killed 10 animals from the area with 78 others battling the disease while 8 more died from Anaka sub-county and 229 are infected, said Emmanuel Orach, the District Chairman for Nwoya.

Emmanuel further disclosed in a recent interview with theCooperator that this foot and mouth disease is suspected to have spread into the area from the wild animals at Murchison Falls Park.

Orach explained that a buffalo which presented signs and symptoms of the disease came in contact with many cattle before it died in the area barely three days before the outbreak.

The Nwoya District Veterinary Officer, Emmanuel Okwir, noted that the district is under quarantine which started three days ago to control infections from other sub-counties.

“We don’t know when the measures will be relaxed but that will depend on the number of cases in the district and we expect the famers to abide by the regulations,” Okwir added.

Hanji Bashir, the Communication Manager at the Uganda Wildlife Authority says they are yet to conduct an investigation into the park to ascertain the condition.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Industry, Frank Tumwebaze has cautioned the district to observe measures in controlling the infections as they wait for vaccination of the animals.

He has also ordered for a total shutdown of movement of animals from the affected areas to the neighboring districts though he noted that the quarantine is not sustainable to the economy.

“We don’t have enough vaccines as you may know that many parts of the country are equally affected by the same disease but the Ministry will ration drugs to support the district,” Frank told theCooperator.

He urged the neighboring districts of Omoro, Oyam and Amuru to keep watch on their respective areas to avoid the mass infection into the region.

Michael Oketta, a livestock farmer from Latoro parish in Purongo sub-county says he is facing a challenge to graze his animals for fear of the infections from the neighboring villages.

“I have confined my animals in a very small piece of land but the challenge is that I am to watch over them and I can’t go to work in my gardens,” Oketta explained.

Alfred Opiyo, the Gulu District Veterinary Officer told theCooperator that the district has not registered any case but noted that the district has informed the extension workers to monitor the farmers.

According to the veterinary reports, its treatment is very expensive which involves washing of the sores using antiseptic solution on a daily basis for at least seven days that most farmers cannot afford.

The farmers are also advised to apply wound spray which has antibiotics onto the animal except in the mouth so as to prevent secondary infections.

Nwoya County Member of Parliament Tony Awany told theCooperator that he will procure antibiotics in the next one week to support the farmers to contain the infections.

“Am using the Shs 200 million that parliament gave me to buy a car to procure some antibiotics for the farmers who are vulnerable to the infections,” Awany explained in an interview.

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Pineapple Farmers Are Demanding For A Factory

NTUGAMO – Farmers in Ntungamo are crying over the continuous drop in pineapple prices in the district.

Justus Tayebwa, a renowned pineapple farmer, blames the drop in prices on the Covid-19 lockdown which has continued to haunt farmers in the district.

Tayebwa owns over 10 acres of pineapple gardens in Nyaruhama cell, Nyamukana town council, Ntungamo district but laments the low sales.

During an exclusive interview over the weekend, Tayebwa told theCooperator that pineapple businesses in the district came to a standstill after the president announced the second Covid-19 lockdown in June 2021.

He says the traders who used to buy their pineapples from Kampala at a relatively higher price ceased coming to their gardens.

“We used to sell our pineapples to business people from Kampala but after the declaration of the lockdown, these traders have never appeared to our gardens again. A trader would be willing to buy but then tells you where will I sell them when hotels like Serena and the rest are all closed?” Tayebwa explained.

He says that farmers were left with no option but resort to roadside trading to avoid their products from getting bad.

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“Roadside stalls have increased in number and even some of our pineapple farmers are running after any passing vehicle to at least reduce the number of pineapples getting bad from the gardens,” Tayebwa added.

He says that a pineapple which used to be bought at Shs 1000 at farm price is now being sold between Shs 300-500.

“Looking at the ongoing circumstances, I can assure you that we are being cheated by buyers because they take advantage of the fact that we are stuck with these pineapples in the gardens,” Tayebwa emphasizes.

“We invest a lot but they buy our pineapples cheaply, at least they would be buying them at Shs 2000 counting on what we go through up to the harvesting time especially during the dry seasons,” he adds.

Tayebwa called upon the government to construct an active pineapple fruit processing factory in the district that would consume the production in Nyamukana hills, a famous area for pineapple growing.

“We are entirely pineapple growers and I would like to confirm that each family in Nyamukana town council has at least a pineapple garden. It may not be all that big but some even harvest about 5-6 trucks in a season though we’ve been let down by the market,” he said.

Tayebwa also attributed the low pineapple market on impassable roads in the newly elevated town council.

“Our pineapple market is bad because of poor infrastructure such as roads and electric power connections that cause poor mobility and smooth running of businesses. So, we appeal to the new town council leaders to work on our roads to enable our produce to gain market,” he said.

Tayebwa says that development in Nyamukana has turned to a night mare as per farmers’ expectations due to increased pineapple production in the area.

“Because we have high pineapple production, we expected government support with factories for our pineapples to gain momentum in the area but this has not come true. Since business inception, it has instead worsened the pineapple prices thus low standards of living,” he explained.

Tayebwa employs about 35 casual laborers and expected about Shs 1billion from pineapple growing at the end of the year.

However, Nathan M. Kahangirwe, the Chairperson Nyakihanga Fruits and Vegetable Growers’ Cooperative Society says the district has a fruit factory that was commissioned in January 2020 but has failed to perform to the farmers’ expectations.

According to Kahangirwe, the factory was established by the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) and it cost shs. 1.4billion. It was expected to process 700 pineapples producing over 111 litters in an hour. It was also supposed to operate eight hours a day absorbing a total of 5600 pineapples.

Tayebwa says that none of the farmers in the district has ever supplied it with about 500-1000 pineapples since last year.

“We thought everything was going to be sorted but instead the situation has worsened because it processes on a slow pace compared to the high pineapple production in the area,” says Tayebwa.

He instead appealed to the government to add two more pineapple factories to boost pineapple processing in order to address market related issues in the area.

Kahangirwe says as a leadership, they decided to suspend the operations of the factory due to numerous challenges that require government intervention.

He says that the mechanical part of the factory is incomplete adding that they also need filling and packing machines.

“We were packing our juice from the factory manually but to improve on capacity production, we need additional parts for packing to improve on quality and time management,” Kahangirwe explained.

He says that they are also faced with a challenge of human resource since they don’t have qualified staff to operate the squeezer and boilers in the factory.

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Hoima Sugar Company Limited Accused Of Grabbing Farmers’ Land

KIKUUBE – Residents of Rwekobe and Rwembaho villages in Kabwoya Sub-County, Kikuube district have accused Hoima Sugar Company Limited (HSCL), an Indian owned company for grabbing their land for sugarcane growing.

The accusation was made by residents who on Monday stormed the offices of Kikuube district local government protesting a planned eviction from their land by the Company.

A group of over 40 residents led by their Local Council 1(LC1) chairperson stormed the district headquarters seeking intervention of the district leadership into their misery.

In 2017, Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom offered 22 square miles for 99-years lease to Hoima Sugar Company Limited, to grow sugarcane.

National Forestry Authority (NFA) dragged Hoima Sugar Company Limited to court challenging the occupancy claiming that the land was part of Bugoma forest reserve; but on 25th April, 2019, Masindi High Court ruled that Hoima Sugar Company Limited was the rightful occupant of the 22 square miles of land.

This ruling attracted massive protests from the residents and environmental activists across the globe that included European Union (EU) Ambassadors who last year visited the forest and condemned all those behind the destruction of the forest for sugarcane growing.

Such protests forced the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) to deny Hoima Sugar Company Limited 13 square miles and allowed it only nine square miles out of the 21 square miles, which NEMA deemed fit for human activity since it was grassland (no forest cover).

Residents claimed that the land referred to by NEMA is theirs and Hoima Sugar Company Limited is encroaching on their land.

Flex Akankwasa, the Rwekobe village chairperson said that the sugar company management with support from Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) officers commanded by one Col Morgan Mpeka are giving residents sleepless nights. According to him, the company took advantage of the lockdown, invaded the villages and started grading people’s gardens and homes.

He added that many of his residents are now homeless after the sugar company encroached on their land and demolished their houses.

He accused the sugar company for illegally grabbing the residents’ land adding that the land claimed by the company is not part of the land which NEMA allocated to the company.

He called for government’s intervention to ensure that the residents get back their land before they could take laws into their own hands.

“They took advantage of lockdown, when people could not be allowed to move, invaded our villages and chased people from their land, when the President lifted the lockdown on transport means, we also got a chance to come and seek intervention from our leaders,” he said and demanded government to stop the activities of the sugar company so that the residents regain their land.

Gerald Tusabomu, a resident says since last month, many crop gardens including banana, coffee, mangoes and jack fruit plantations have been destroyed by graders belonging to the sugar company.

Tusabomu, who claimed that he has so far lost 15 acres of land, wondered why the company is not using the land which was allocated to it by NEMA for sugarcane growing and decided to grab land owned by residents.

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He says that the residents are living in misery due to harassment from the army deployed in the area and called for the district leadership intervention to avoid confrontation.

“We have no food to feed our families since our gardens have been graded by Hoima sugar, we request our leaders to intervene and return our land,” he cried.

Charles Twogyirwe, Chairperson of Rwebaho village said that several houses have been demolished adding that he is currently housing over 20 women and their children who were evicted from their land.

“Generally there is no peace in the area, there is a lot of harassment in the village, houses have been demolished, goats and chicken are being eaten by this group. I have 20 women and their children at my home and am thinking of bringing them to the district because I no longer have food to feed them,” Charles Twogyirwe also cried for help.

John Kabandize of Kabandize and Co Advocates, the residents’ lawyer accused the company agents of harassing and raping women and girls, denying residents access to water sources, gardens and torturing them, saying such acts of impunity should stop.

He wondered how a foreigner can use the country’s army to harass the citizens whom they are mandated to protect adding that before the eviction, the residents petitioned several offices for help but all in vain.

“We know how investors operate, this is not an investor, he is just a land grabber, and you cannot just come and invade Bataka because you’re an investor. Where should they go? We are going to use different ways; we are going to use media, the power of residents and law to ensure that people get back land,” he said.

Vincent Alpha Opio, the Kikuube district Vice Chairman condemns the illegal acts of Hoima Sugar Company Limited saying that district leaders are to investigate the matter and come up with a comprehensive report.

“We need development but it should not cause problems to our people. As district leaders, we are not ready to experience the incident of Kigyayo in Kiziranfumbi where hundreds of people were evicted from their land by the same company,” he added. He promised the residents to do the needful to address their concerns.

Joseph Twegonze the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom land supervisor says that it was wrong for the company to start cultivation without opening boundaries to ascertain where the company land begins and ends.

He demanded the government to halt the activities of Hoima sugar company, adding that opening of boundaries on the contested land is the only solution to the stand-off between the residents and the company.

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Civil Servants’ SACCO Grapples With Shs 60 Million Debt

MASINDI – Masindi Civil Servants’ Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited is grappling with over Shs 60 million debts, Nasur Ibrahim the SACCO Chairperson has said.

“All the share capital for the members was mismanaged by the previous leadership. Now members want their money but there’s nowhere to get it. Members are demanding for more than Shs 60 million but I found the account with only Shs 6 million. We are just struggling to reactivate the SACCO. We don’t know what some of the money was used for,” Ibrahim told theCooperator on Wednesday.

He explained that everything is in a mess, adding that there are no proper records and the accountability on how the previous leadership used the money.

“I hear the money was lent to the SACCO members but refused to pay back. I was also told the money was used to do administrative issues. Now members are demanding for their savings because most of them have lost interest because of what happened. I have refused to refund their savings because we need to work around and rejuvenate the SACCO,” he explained.

The Chairperson noted that by the time they took over the SACCO a few months back, it had many problems which needed time to rectify.

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He also said that members would be compelled to save since it was an automatic deduction from their salaries.

The SACCO comprises of entirely both active and retired civil servants for Masindi District Local Government (MDLG).

In April this year, Moses Kalyegira, the Masindi District Commercial Officer convened a special general meeting to put in place a new board.

Addressing the members during a meeting which was held in the council chambers, Kalyegira noted that the SACCO had been dormant for many years because the board chairperson resigned under unclear circumstances which led to the loss of interest by other members of the board and the SACCO members.

“This is a special meeting because the board had failed to perform it’s works. I have engaged the former chairperson Ruth Kisakye three times to convene a meeting such that she could handover officially but all in vain. I have decided that I chair this meeting such that the SACCO can put in place a new board to start conducting business because we couldn’t go on without the signatories,” he explained.

Kalyegira further said that he decided to take over and organize the meeting because he couldn’t just sit and see the SACCO collapse wondering why SACCOs for other people with little financial knowledge were thriving and yet the one for professionals in finance was limping.

“People have been unable to access services and yet they have their money on the account because the board members lost interest. Let’s forget that and start a new chapter today. I have been receiving many complaints from members about their money being idle in the bank and being deducted,” said Kalyegira.

According to Kalyegira, the SACCO started in 2003, adding that there’s a time when membership reached 300. But by the time they conducted the elections, the active members were 100.

The purpose of its formation was to enhance a saving culture amongst members and to offer loans at a low interest to civil servants.

In the same meeting, Charles Musiguzi, the then treasurer told the members that more than Shs 20 million was in loans, adding that they had Shs 6.5 million on the SACCO account. He also explained that there was a time savings reached Shs 70 million.

He also added that they had a challenge of recovering the money from some people who asked for cross transfers.

“The mode of recovery and saving was automatic deduction from the salaries. Recovering this money might also be a challenge because some of the civil servants no longer work with us,” he said.

He also told the meeting that the reduction of membership was brought about by the laxity of the board members and the poor mobilization skills.

In his inaugural speech, Nasur Ibrahim, the board chairperson promised to regain back the dignity of the SACCO.

“I am one of the people who had lost interest. This is a SACCO for technocrats. How can it fail?” he asked.

However, the chairperson told theCooperator that he is also finding it hard to regain members’ willingness to revive the SACCO since they were demoralized by the acts of the past leadership.

“We have not yet lost hope as a new leadership. We are still mobilizing the members to renew their membership but it’s not a simple task to win them back,” he noted.

Some members whom theCooperator spoke to said that they’re totally disappointed with how the past leaders mismanaged their savings and share capital noting that they would sacrifice their money expecting a lot but in vain.

“We lost interest in the SACCO unless the new leadership came with a convincing explanation, we cannot join the SACCO,” the members who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

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Wawoto Kacel Cooperative Loses 55% Clientele

GULU – Wawoto Kacel Cooperative Society in Gulu district has lost 55% of its buyers as a result of the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Wawoto Kacel was formed in 2007 by a group by Comboni Samaritans of Gulu, a Catholic Charity, with the purpose of assisting the vulnerable groups such as those formerly abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), persons living with HIV/AIDS, Persons with Disability (PWDs), orphans and single mothers.

Because of their age, physical strength, limited skills and access to land, the cooperative chose to train the beneficiaries in the sedentary skills such as sweater knitting, decorative winnowing fans, earrings made of grains and seeds, table cloths, necklaces, shawls, blankets, and cards among others.

In the years preceding the pandemic, the cooperative used to sell a greater portion of their products to foreign tourists or ship their products for sale by their parent charity, Good Samaritans Italy.

However, Immaculate Adong, the manager of the cooperative, told theCooperator in an interview that since March 2020, their sales have dropped by 55%, as international travels were canceled.

“Corona has greatly affected the sales department, because ideally, we give work to members and they come to do it every Monday – Friday and it is the only way of empowering them economically,” Adong said.

Since March 2020, the cooperative has continued with production amid high costs and very low sales. This is to enable the members to be busy while accessing some of the fringe benefits such as access to free health services.

“Because most of our members have chronic sicknesses, we let them continue with the production on the assumption that the pandemic would quickly wane,” she said.

However, because of the limited sales, Adong said they have a lot of finished products including those that were ordered for in late 2019 by schools.

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“The section for tailoring and sweater knitting schools are also closed. Even the orders we had from schools were canceled and the products that were ready a few days before the first lockdown have not been picked,” she said.

The Art and Craft industry employs many people, world over. The first mapping done by UNESCO National Commission in 2009 on the creative industries in Uganda showed that the sector boosts economic growth, job creation, and export earnings, and human resource development.

A 2018 UNESCO Global Report titled Cultural Policies, Cultural and Creative Industries says the sector employs 30 million people globally.

Because of the pandemic, the cooperative also failed to resettle part of the 50 members of the cooperative to their villages.

Each year, Wawoto Kacel resettles five members of the group to their respective villages.

The resettlement scheme depends on each member’s needs such as buying land, building a house, and giving Shs 1,000,000 start-up capital for an income generating activity of their choice.

“After resettling a few members, we get new members on board, but the Covid-19 pandemic has affected resettlement of 10 members ,” Adong said.

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MP Donates Part Of His Shs 200M Towards Construction Of A Health Facility

SOROTI – Residents of Soroti City, West Division are in celebratory mood as their area member of parliament Jonathan Ebwalu donated part of his Shs 200m meant for a car, towards the construction of a health facility.

Speaking during the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of Agora Health Center III on Thursday, Ebwalu told the jubilant locals that he has donated Shs 70m out of Shs 200M he received towards the construction project.

The facility will have a doctor’s consultation room, Out Patients Department (OPD), laboratory and a ward for women. It’s to be constructed on 58 acres of government land located in Ojikai cell, Agora ward in Soroti City west division.

Once completed, the health facility will serve the cells of Ojikai, Akere, Olupe and Ogerai an estimated population of more than 9,000 people.

For many years, residents from the above cells have been walking long distances to access medical services. The residents often need a stretcher to transport patients or a woman in labor to either Majengo Health Center III at the division headquarters of Lilim Health Center II in Lalei sub-county, Kamuda Health Center III in Soroti district, about 15kms away.

The residents say in most cases, mothers give birth on the way to the health facility or are assisted at their homes by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) because of lack of access to health centers.

“I have been assisting women in this village for more than 40 years because there is no health facility,” said Jessica Asio, a 70-year old traditional birth attendant.

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“I usually accompany those who develop complications to Majenjo Health Center III or Kamuda Health Center III, usually at night. Sometimes we fail to reach the hospital and it is my task to see that they have delivered,” she adds.

Nicodemus Eyangu, the vice chairperson Agora ward said that the situation becomes tougher during rainy seasons when they need to make a choice between carrying the mother in labor over the slippery roads or helping her deliver at home. According to him, of course some have died in the process.

“I have witnessed more than five people die before reaching the hospital in the past three years,” said Eyangu. He has also seen three women deliver on the way before reaching the health facility.

Narrating the ordeal, they go through, Eyangu said leaving home to get to either Majengo Health Center III or Kamuda Health Center III, for patients of malaria, they carry them on the back to reach the road where a motorcycle can be used.

He added that for the pregnant women, residents carry them on the mattresses and lift them to the nearby road.

Catherine Alem, a resident of Ogerai cell said that its for this reason why they are in jubilation when they received the good news about the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the health facility by their area member of parliament Jonathan Ebwalu.

She said that once the health facility is completed, it will save them from the burden of walking long distances to access health services.

“I am not supposed to construct a health center because it is not one of my functions as an MP. But following the public out-cry about how they suffer with accessibility to medical services, I decided to donate part of shs 200m government gave me for purchasing a car to start the construction of a health facility,” Ebwalu said.

The legislator added that as MPs, they are forced to intervene in the area of service delivery because our government has failed to reach everywhere.

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Sheema District Threatened By Banana Diseases

SHEEMA – Locals in Sheema district are perplexed over the anticipated famine yet to hit the district over the roaming banana diseases that have attacked the district.

Despite the increased market for bananas, it has continued to fetch low prices as a result of Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) challenges.

Farmers in Sheema district are in total despair after three banana diseases attacked their plantations. These diseases include; banana bacteria wilt [BBW], fusarium wilt and banana rust thrips.

David Twinamatsiko, the Sheema District Agriculture Officer (DAO) confirmed that there are several diseases attacking banana plantations but the most appealing one, being the rust thrips that needs serious attention for sustainable economic development and production of bananas within the district.

Twinamatsiko says rust thrips is caused by a fungus called anthracnose which damages bananas getting ready for harvest.

“We are getting concerned about rust thrips that is spreading fast in the district and municipality. It is a combination of two; the thrips and small insects which infest the banana plantation eating up the banana skin and leaving them damaged” Twinamatsiko said.

He explained that the banana fingers become hardened and turn either black or brown a reason as to why it is called brown black rusty thrips.

“The fungus doesn’t get any chance of growing on the undamaged finger but when there is damage then the anthracnose takes the advantage on the banana yield,” said Twinamatsiko.

Twinamatsiko says a total of more than 40 acres of banana plantations have recorded at least one of the above reported diseases since September 2020.

“Actually, this report was made on 10th September 2020 and BBW and fusarium wilt had spread all over but are a bit scanty, the most serious one is the rust thrips and I want to report to you that we are still battling with them in the district,” he emphasized.

Twinamatsiko says the reported intensified banana diseases have paralyzed sub-counties of, Kigarama, Kyangyenyi, Masheruka, Rugarama, Kitagata, then Kakindo town council and Shuuku town council.

He adds that the banana disease burden in Sheema stands at 57.5% out of 47,360 households with a total of about 220,000 people in the district.

“In Kigarama sub-county alone, banana bacteria wilt is at 3%, fusarium wilt at 2% then the rust thrips at 4% rampant in villages of Rwehundo, Nshongi Greater and Nshongi I. Then when you go to Masheruka it has 1% of BBW and fusarium wilt at 0.5% then the rusty thrips at 4% rampant in Bugarama village” said Twinamatsiko.

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Impact

Denis K. Hanest, the chairperson of Ntegyeza Bitokye and Agricultural Produce Marketing Cooperative Society Ltd, which unites banana farmers in three sub-counties of Kigarama, Kyangyenyi, Masheruka and two town councils of Kakindo and Masheruka town council says the banana diseases have truly affected banana production in the area.

“Currently we cut almost like 100,000 bunches a week but out of that you find that we remove almost 6,000 bunches infected by rust thrips disease,” Hanest explained.

Albert Ahimbisibwe, also owning about 2 acres of banana plantation in Shuuku town council told theCooperator that he started by seeing black bananas in Kabwohe market and he realized that rust thrip was soon encroaching on his banana plantation.

“I first saw most matooke in the market were black; then later after a week, I also realized my bananas changing color in the plantation,” says Ahimbisibwe.

Twinamatsiko says the affected bananas have some side effects on consumption and farmers lose value in terms of low production during the harvest.

“In most households, children have refused to eat matooke, remember it’s Covid-19 time and matooke is in abundancy. As long as it’s damaged by the thrips, if you cook such bananas, they don’t taste normal even the texture of the cooked matooke changes completely,” he explained.

DAO adds that the rust thrip infected bananas are also feared by customers in the markets and people have lost income and food security.

“It would lose color and of course from the outlook, the business people refuse to buy them and it doesn’t attract customers on your stall. Those who have tasted claim that it remains hard and difficult for eating though people have gone ahead to sell them,” Twinamatsiko said.

“People in the district are crying for government support in terms of food security but because our government operates in situations where there is an emergency or a calamity like hailstorm which comes suddenly when people are not prepared,” he adds.

Intervention

Twinamatsiko says the Ministry of Agriculture officials took samples directly to Kawanda but as a district, they haven’t gotten any agro-chemical solutions from researchers being a new problem in banana production.

“Several reports have been forwarded to our agriculture office which we equally forwarded to the ministry officials. They even came and picked samples when we first saw the symptoms to identify the exact diseases,” he explained.

“There are some agro-chemicals which we could use to kill these insects but the ministry is worried because it has not yet done enough research on the exact chemicals that can be applied to kill the fungus,” Twinamatsiko adds.

He says rust thrips disease has also spread to over 21 districts like Ibanda, Ntungamo, Fort Portal and some parts of Buganda.

However, Twinamatsiko says some cultural practices have helped farmers to avert the spread of banana diseases onto their plantations.

“We are advising them to use cultural practices like keeping the banana plantations weed free, removing the male buds to avoid the attraction of pests, birds and bees that can spread the fungus. We are also telling them to dig the composite pits and as they are decomposing the pests will equally die, “he advised.

Farmers expect quick responses but as a scientist, research findings don’t come out so quickly because it has to be tried several times thus encouraging farmers to be patient,” says Twinamatsiko.

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