Hunger looms as food suppliers abandon Elegu market over COVID-19 fears

Local leaders at Elegu border post, Elegu Town Council, in Amuru district, have expressed fears of a looming crisis as food suppliers at Elegu Market pull out due to the increasing COVID-19 cases being reported at the border.

According to the LC I Chairman of the area, Hassim Akule, many of suppliers of cassava, potatoes, rice, chicken, cows and goats for slaughter have already pulled out of the market leaving in the balance the lives of the 15,000 residents of the surrounding area.

“The increasing numbers of truck drivers testing positive for COVID-19 has caused us problems. Many people are afraid to bring produce to this area for fear of contracting the sickness,’’ he said.

Akule said that unless district officials come to their rescue, the residents of Elegu could face acute food shortage since majority of them are business people who depend on food purchases from other districts in the region.

One of the locals and a vendor at Elegu main market, George Kitoi, sells rice and beans. He said they no longer receive produce from both within and outside the district.

“We used to get rice from Pabbo and Atiak Sub Counties, and from Nwoya district, but as we talk now, there is no truck that crosses here. They have been told not to reach us here since we ‘have COVID-19’, which is not the case,’’ he said.

Kitoi decried rumours being spread abroad that all residents of Elegu town council are afflicted by COVID-19, rumours for which locals are paying dearly.

“The information out there is misleading; as far as we know, only truck drivers have so far tested positive for COVID-19, but in the community we are safe, and we should not be denied food,” he said.

Aisha Kakamega Olinga, formerly a regular food supplier at Elegu market, said that Elegu town council is considered a danger zone at the moment, which is why many traders dare not go there.

“We suspect that there is already a problem in the community, and that is why we cannot risk taking food supplies to the district that has been marked red,’’ she said.

Olinga further revealed that they had been warned by their communities that anyone who dares visit Elegu will be placed under quarantine for 14 days upon return.

Clash with MPs

MPs from the Acholi sub region under their umbrella, Acholi Parliamentary Group, (APG), last Friday asked government to close Elegu border point and place under quarantine all those in the area for 21 days in order to rule out community COVID-19 cases.

However their suggestion did not sit well with the locals, who accused them of selfishness.

For his part, Amuru district LCV Chairperson Michael Lakony tasked the MPs to engage the Ministry of Health to carry out at least 500 samples to ascertain whether there are any community COVID-19 cases at Elegu as they allege.

“We cannot deny members of the community services, based only on assumptions. The Ministry of Health should come to the ground and advise on what to do next,” he said.

Lakony warned that a total lockdown of the area would have serious implications for residents of Elegu.

“If the MPs want the locals to go under quarantine, they should prepare food for a population of at least 7,000 people in this area,’’ he said.

Elegu point of entry, at the border with South Sudan, has been cause for national concern after a spike in the number of positive COVID-19 cases recorded among truck drivers using this border point.

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Fraud allegations rock Bugisu Cooperative Union, six employees arrested

Six employees of Bugisu Cooperative Union (BCU) are under investigation over alleged fraud involving coffee beans belonging to the union worth about Shs 752m.

The implicated officers, including Andrew Nabudere (Plant Engineer), Lydia Kwaga (Tally Clerk), Jesica Nabuzale (Tally Clerk), Stephen Namoso(Machine Operator), Betty Nadudu (Stores Manager) and William Isaiah Wabulo (Operation Manager) were arrested by the police under case No. MBL CRB 877/2020 for alleged theft of BCU’s coffee beans worth Shs 752,600,000

Elgon regional police spokesperson, Rogers Taitika, confirmed the arrest of the union staff for their alleged involvement in fraudulently stealing coffee beans over a period of one year.

“Investigations have commenced into the alleged fraud by the said officers. This comes after the top management officials raised a red flag demanding for their arrest because of their dubious dealings,” Taitika said.

The six officers were two weeks ago arrested and detained at Mbale Central police station, but later released on police bond as investigations are ongoing. They are being charged with theft of coffee beans as per audit report

Sophisticated syndicate

Preliminary investigations indicate that the officers in question have long been inflating the number of farmers who have supplied the union with coffee beans on credit, and as such, the figures declared do not tally with the volume of coffee in the union’s silos.

Bugisu Cooperative Union Vice Chairman, John Musila, told theCooperator that the implicated officers had developed a sophisticated syndicate to defraud the union of its profits.

He explained that whereas the officers had indicated that they had received coffee beans worth Shs 3.6bn from farmers on credit worth, the actual amount of coffee in storage turned out to be much less.

“Top management took a decision to weigh all the coffee beans in the factory silos, only to realize that it was less. The Union records revealed that genuine farmers would be paid about Shs 2.4bn only [instead of Shs 3.6bn as indicated in the records]. It was then discovered that the said officers had inflated the list of creditors with ghost farmers. This implies that the profit margin of Shs 1.2bn was not declared. This tantamount to defrauding the union,” Musila said.

Musila further explained that the Shs 1.2bn would be somebody’s margin, accrued from creating ghost creditors.

“These people had even gone to the extent of creating their non-existent societies which they claimed had supplied coffee and yet had supplied air,“ he said.

The BCU vice Chairman says that management has for sometime suspected foul play within union’s internal processes.

“The management has been all along following up these dubious dealings until a time when they [senior management] instituted an internal audit which showed a lot of mess in the procurement of coffee beans. We had to invite the police to continue with more investigations,” he said.

Musila also indicated that the audit’s preliminary findings showed that the said officers would buy coffee beans at Shs 7.000 per kilo but later sell that same coffee, milled, to their own dealers at Shs 11,000 a kilo, making a difference of Shs 4.000, which they didn’t reflect in the union’s books.

“These people have been making huge profits on each kilo of coffee leaving the union with less profit,” Musila explained, adding that the offending officials had been sent on forced leave as investigations are ongoing.

David Mafabi, the BCU spokesperson, confirmed that police is carrying out investigations over the alleged defrauding of the Union’s funds.

“There was total disregard by these officers to declare coffee beans in the silos,“ he said.

He explained that BCU has a total of 32 silos, all of which currently are full to capacity, but because of the ongoing investigations, management resolved that all the coffee beans stored in the factory silos be re-weighed to ascertain its actual quantity, which is what revealed the mess.

“This union has been registering big losses or only minimal profits due to rotten acts by some of these individuals. This was a well-calculated move and syndicate by these officers, and has been going on for a while,” Mafabi said.

Bugisu cooperative Union [BCU], historically one of the outstanding unions in the country, has been rocked by several controversies in the recent past.

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Gulu vendors and consumers embrace online trade

Traders and consumers in Gulu are embracing an online platform to sell and buy goods.

For close to two months now, many traders in Gulu have taken to a new online store, kawil.ug, to market their products, including food stuffs, electronics, cosmetics, clothes and other household items. The online shop that was launched on April 2, 2020, operates daily, from 8 am to 4pm.

The store delivers free of charge throughout Gulu municipality, and receives payments through mobile money or Visa, all integrated on the platform.

Jacob Odur, a co-founder of Kawil marketplace, explained to theCooperator that they are working with 30 traders in Gulu, to supply them with goods on order. Three of them, including the founders and a delivery boy, serve an average of thirty clients each week.

Odur and his colleague Denis Obote, came up with the idea to open an online shop in the district in 2018, but were only able to bring the idea to life this year.

“Frustrations with the inconveniences caused by everyday items being scattered in different shops made us think of this idea. And as working adults, our tight personal schedules make physical shopping more difficult, hence the need for an online shop,” he said.

Pricing

Odur said that whereas the platform owners do not determine the prices of the goods they deliver, they use a pricing model that ensures that all three parties involved- trader, customer and Kawil- are satisfied.

“Our online goods bear the same price as those in physical shops. The retailer himself gets a profit without him having to keep the goods in his store, and Kawil also gets some money from it that can sustain the business,” he said.

Denis Olla, who owns a cosmetics shop named Can Deg Lok at Gulu Bus Park, has been using the platform for two months now. He pays for the service by giving a discount to Kawil’s founders, depending on the quantity of goods the online shop sells.

“For instance, if they buy goods worth Shs 100,000, I give them a discount of 5 percent. They also earn a small commission for selling my goods,” he said.

Converting skeptics

The online market place is winning over converts even among the sceptical. Abel Ogwang was one. Before the inception of an online marketplace in Gulu, he found the idea of shopping online strange and ‘snobbish’.

“Most online stores I have heard of are based in Kampala and mainly deal in imported stuff,” he said.

Ogwang was pleasantly surprised to learn that Kawil supplies even the most ordinary groceries.

”With Kawil, I can even order a tablet of soap and kilograms of rice and wait for it as I do other things at home. I will stick to it,” Ogwang says.

Challenges

According to Nordea Trade, an authoritative online markets advisory, e-commerce is rapidly growing in Uganda, and the country is expected to shortly become the second largest online market in the East African region, after Kenya. But this is not to say that online businesses are immune to challenges.

A recent study by GeoPoll conducted in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire found that trust and prepayment barriers for orders are among the common hurdles to online shopping.

Odur concurs with GeoPoll, and adds that first-time clients of Kawil are often concerned about the quality of goods that will be delivered, as well as fraud.

“At first, our shoppers worried about fraud and low-quality goods. This attitude is carried over from their experiences with other shopping platforms,” Odur said.

“Besides there is sometimes limited inventory both on our side, and on that of our suppliers. This means we are at times unable to fulfil bulk orders. Finally, there is the technology divide, where some of our customers are unable to successfully make orders on the site,” he added.

The founders of the online platform plan to improve the website’s User Interface to simplify shopping, in addition to offering shopping tutorials and increased marketing geared towards guiding clients on how to order through familiar technologies like WhatsApp and Facebook Shop.

COVID blessing?

Despite the challenges of online trade, digital marketing experts believe that e-commerce has changed the pattern of purchase of goods and services.

Besides, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have been a blessing in disguise for online trade, as the period saw a rise of online shopping with many businesses opting to advertise their goods and services online through social media pages. As physical shops remained locked, the cyber shops remained open.

For instance, Dennis Olla says the online platform enabled him serve his clients, even when most shops were closed during the lockdown.

“As shops were closed during the lockdown, the Kawil owners could call me, pick items from my shop and then deliver to the clients. So, as many were crying, my business was operating behind closed doors,” he said.

However, Bosco Otyang, another businessman who deals in electrical appliances such as Television sets, phones, radios, MPs players and chargers among others, has had a different experience.

Otyang said he started using the platform before the lockdown was instituted and sales were great. But, after the lockdown, sales declined.

“I am hopeful that I am going to make more money by using the online platform, once my business normalizes.”

Online future

Richard Kimera, the Coordinator of Undergraduate research projects in the faculty of Computer Science and Informatics at Mbarara University of Science and Technology and a director of Global Auto system, suggests that the unemployed youth, especially those with a background in Information and Communication Technology, should use this period of COVID-19 to think of doing business online.

“I look at online business in terms of employment especially for the youth. For long we have been encouraging people to learn the use of technology and apply it in their businesses, and they did not really understand why they need to sell their goods online,” Kimera said.

“To me, life will never return to the way it was before COVID. The requirement of social distancing is creating some mistrust among people. This means those who started online transactions during this period are going to get used to and adapt to it. Online shops are going to be trending,” Kimera predicted.

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Sebei Elgon Cooperative Union stuck with Shs 500m debt.

The new management of Sebei Elgon Cooperative Union, one of the oldest cooperatives in Eastern Uganda, is currently stuck with a Shs 500m debt accumulated during previous board’s tenure.

According to Elisha Bureto, the cooperative’s Secretary Manager, most of the outstanding debt is due to unpaid staff salaries and other operations costs.

A key income source for the cooperative is the renting out of its properties such as land and houses in the three Sebei districts of Kween, Bukwo and Kapchorwa.

“Annually, we are collecting Shs 200m and Shs 50m in rental fees for land and houses respectively, while the previous board used to collect less than Shs 100m from renting out both land and houses per year,” he said.

Bureto attributed the increased collections to improved coordination between the cooperative’s leadership and the farmers who rent the cooperative’s properties.

Inadequate

However, Bureto intimated that despite the increase in the cooperative’s collections, they remain inadequate for the union to settle its debt and still fulfil all of its obligations.

”Much as our collections have increased slightly, if we use the money we are collecting for settling the debt, the cooperative will fail to operate given the fact that there are many things that still need to be put in place to revive it,” Bureto said.

He appealed for government support in clearing part of the debt, with the cooperative covering the rest of the balance.

Sebei Elgon Cooperative Union was founded in 1963, just a year after Uganda’s Independence. The cooperative is owned by farmers through organized primary cooperative societies in Sebei region.

On Feburary 24, 2017, the union elected a new board that saw Emmy Sayekwo replace Maj. Juma Seiko as board Chairperson.

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NCUI gears to usher in Digital era of cooperative training in India

With a view to grappling with the extraordinary challenges being posed by COVID 19, the national apex body of cooperatives in the country, NCUI is trying to usher in an era of “Digital Cooperative Education & Training” in India.

The challenges before cooperatives are manifold as most of the members are from rural parts of the country and marginalized sections of society. This explains why NCUI Cooperative Union has initiated its education/training activities in a big way.

When NCUI’s NCCE found it difficult to carry out its activities due to the lock down, it began optimally utilizing the online apps available for conducting training programs for various sectors of cooperative movement in the country through the CISCO Webex. These programs are being conducted in collaboration with sectoral federations.

From mid-April’20 onwards a total of 12 online webinars/training progs have been conducted successfully by NCCE for SHGs, Women and Credit sectors. Besides, the employees of NCUI and students of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, Sonipat are being trained for Certificate/Diploma Courses in Cooperative Management. Thus, this lockdown period has been put to a productive use for these cooperators.

Apart from learning about cooperatives – ideology, management & legal aspects – the cooperators, especially women spread in the rural areas have been digitally empowered as they are being gradually enabled to attend these programs on digital platforms making “Digital India” the vision of the government of India a reality.

During the months of April and May, 2020 more than 500 participants from India and Nepal attended these online training initiatives of NCCE.

Since the COVID 19 pandemic is yet far from over, and people are expected to resume economic activities with social distancing norms, NCCE has contacted the stakeholders to sensitize them with the issue and take a plunge into the digital training era.

NCUI is busy discussing with several national-level sectoral cooperative federations such as IFFCO, KRIBHCO, multi-state cooperative societies, state/district cooperative union/JCTCs to plan such online training programs for their employees, members and leaders to educate them about cooperatives on the one hand and on the other to enable them to take the use of digital technology further down the grass-roots level.

Sandhya Kapoor Dy Director, NCCE captured the new mood very well when she said “Every crisis is an opportunity as it tests your strength to adapt – be it a living being or an organization. NCUI has resolved to adapt and grow”, she added with confidence.

Source: Indian Cooperative

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COVID-19: Moroto Municipality loses millions in revenue from closed businesses

Moroto Municipality has lost millions of shillings in revenue collection as a result of the current lock down imposed to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The municipality, which used to collect between Shs 9 to 10m monthly before businesses were closed only managed to collect Shs 800,000 for the month of April from the municipality’s North and South divisions.

Isaiah Tumwesigye, the Town Clerk, Moroto Municipality, says these collection figures are unusually low, even in Moroto which has historically struggled with revenues due to a dearth of vibrant businesses in the area.

Nevertheless, the council usually utilises the monthly revenue to maintain hygiene within the town and cover the power bill for street lights in the Municipality.

With revenues even further reduced, Tumwesigye says the council’s ability to offer garbage collection services and bury unclaimed dead bodies within the municipality has been seriously handicapped, a situation he blamed on the ongoing lockdown.

“We are hit badly by the current lockdown because all the areas where we used to get revenue such as lodges, restaurants, bars, bus parks, and markets are closed,” Tumwesigye said.

He noted that the situation has been worsened by the outbreak of cholera disease that has killed five people leaving dozens hospitalized.

In a bid to curb the spread of a cholera outbreak that has hit the district, officials in Moroto municipality last week shut down several rental properties operating without pit latrines, blaming the deadly disease’s spread on the widespread practice of open defecation in the Municipality.

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BCU hunts for tenants for its properties after COVID-19 slump

The Bugisu Cooperative Union is in the market for reliable tenants to occupy its commercial properties located in prime areas of Mbale district, theCooperator has learnt.

According to BCU Estate Manager, Moses Birabi, four buildings belonging to the union have been affected by a Coronavirus-triggered economic recession that has forced many businesses to close countrywide.

“We have four houses in town that are not occupied and we are in search of financially capable tenants who can occupy them for commercial purposes,” Birabi said.

He said the union has properties at Cathedral Avenue in the heart of Mbale Municipality; others along the centrally located Manafwa Road in Mbale City, and even more in Wanale Division south of Mbale Municipality, all of which have the potential to attract serious business to the union.

BCU already counts among its tenants prominent companies such as DFCU, , Housing Finance, Absa, Centenary and Stanbic banks, as well as telecom giant MTN, in addition to hosting several super markets and pharmacies.

“As a union, we are soon to sit and evaluate the proceeds that accrue from these buildings,” Birabi said.

COVID-related slump

However, some of the union’s commercial rental properties have been negatively impacted by the strained economic environment resulting from nationwide restrictions put in place to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hence, occupancy in some of the union’s buildings has dropped, despite tenants having the option to renegotiate rent and payment conditions.

In fact, theCooperator has learnt that many previous occupants of the properties have neither turned up nor shown interest in returning despite President Yoweri Museveni’s announcement in his latest address to the nation that business people should now prepare to resume work.

Established in 1954, BCU is an agricultural union that deals primarily in Arabica coffee, a cash crop introduced to Bugisu sub-region in 1912 and that remains the central money-making venture for the union’s 277 primary cooperative societies.

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Sebei Elgon Cooperative Union donates Shs 15m to COVID fight

The Sebei Elgon Cooperative Union has donated Shs 15million to the three districts of Kween, Bukwo and Kapchorwa, to help in the fight against COVID-19. To this end, each district received a Shs 2m cheque, and processed powdered coffee worth Shs 3m to make five million.

According to Elisha Bureto, the union’s Secretary Manager, their contribution is in response to a call by the government for all well-wishers to join hands in supporting the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We would love to give more but this what can afford for now, and we pray that what we are giving to Sebei districts will be of some help as we are fighting COVID-19,”Bureto remarked while handing over the union’s contribution to Kapchorwa district on Monday this week.

The items were received by the Kapchorwa Resident District Commissioner (RDC) and head of the district COVID-19 task force, Emma Cherukut, together with the district’s deputy Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) James Owili Abiya.

Cherukut hailed the cooperative for its support saying it would help the district task force to address some gaps they face in the fight against the pandemic.

“On behalf of government and my own behalf, I want to thank the Sebei Elgon Cooperative for this support. It will help to push our COVID-19 taskforce in achieving our targets,” she said.

For his part, Kapchorwa deputy CAO, Owili, said they would consult as a task force on how to best utilise the items donated by the cooperative.

The RDCs from Kween and Bukwo, the two other districts that benefitted from the union’s largesse, also hailed the cooperative for its support and pledged to use it only for the intended purpose.

Registered in 1964, Sebei Elgon Cooperative Union brings together farmers societies from across the Sebei sub-region.

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Dairy Milk, the woes of Ugandan exporters

Uganda is a naturally gifted agricultural country. When you see the volumes of production under the largely subsistence approach that characterises our agriculture, the potential is immense. One sector whose potential has been proven is the Dairy Sector.

Milk production in the country experienced a nose dive in the 1970s all the way through the 80s. We relied alot on imports especially of milk products like powder milk, cheese among others. The Dairy Corporation used to collect and process 20 million litres of milk per annum in 1972 but this dropped to an all time low of less than half a million litres in 1983.

Fresh Milk collection by Dairy Corporation 1980 – 1991 (‘000 litres) – Source EPRC

When the Government came up with the Diary Master Plan of 1993, it was a key turning point closely followed by the enactment of the Dairy Industry Act, 1998. As a result of these interventions, the industry monopoly enjoyed by the Dairy Corporation was removed, allowing other private players to venture into processing.

The Dairy market in Uganda is dominated by small scale dairy farmers who contribute 80% to the overall milk production in the nation followed by 20.0% from the large scale dairy farms. Their production is mainly based on low input traditional pasture production systems making the country one of the few low cost producers in the world.

Liberalisation of the sector has seen annual production grow from 9.3 million litres in 1990 to 2.5 Billion in 2019. Production growth is estimated at 18% per annum. This shows the high prospects the sector holds.

Some of the players include; Brookside Dairy, Jesa Farm Dairy, Pearl Dairy Farms, Amos Dairies and GBK Dairies. Due to local market limitations, they have ventured into the export market with Kenya being the leading destination. A move that seems to have disrupted the dairy industry in that country.

According to the Dairy Development Authority (DDA),exports stood at US $ 60 million in 2016 and increased to approximately USD 130 million in 2017/18, a figure expected to hit USD 500 million in a few years from now if trade conditions stabilise. The increase in the net exports has been as a result of increased compliance and meeting standards of Uganda’s milk and milk products on both regional and international markets due to efforts by DDA in regulation and quality assurance. Dairy exports mainly go to EAC, COMESA countries and SADC SADC, UAE, Nigeria, Syria, Egypt, Omen, USA, Nepal & Bangladesh. The exported dairy products include; UHT milk, ghee, casein, whey proteins, and butter oil among others

The East African community was founded to among others foster a large regional market for goods and services through free trade. However, over the years, trade conflicts have cropped up between some member states. In 2019, Kenyan Egg traders came out in arms over the cheap imported Ugandan eggs and wanted a ban placed on their importation but the government refused to cave in to the demand.

Following the assault of dairy products from Uganda on the Kenyan market, tensions begun simmering as the local dairy sector struggled. This culminated in the slapping of a 16% Value Added Tax on Milk imports from Uganda.

Rwanda had already stopped milk imports from Uganda heavily impacting some companies like Pearl Dairy Farms whose Lato Milk product was on demand.

Having nurtured the Dairy Sector from insignificance to the current successes it is enjoying, it would be foolhardy for the Government of Uganda to simply let it struggle through these challenging waters without intervening. Access to a large regional market is an attribute used to lure investors. With an annual production potential of 10 Billion litres of milk the sector is set for further growth. These non tariff barriers are likely to prevent further investment and kill budding businesses that could have used the EAC market to become significant global industry players.

The onus therefore is with the regional governments to come together and address this and other trade issues being affected by Non Tariff barriers.

James Wire

Small Business Consultant

SOURCE: The Wire Perspective

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Masindi youth promoting agriculture through music

A section of youth from Miirya Sub County in Masindi district, under their umbrella organisation-Agri-planet Uganda- have started promoting agriculture through music.

Already, they have recruited several talented musicians from the Bunyoro region to compose and record music that inspires people to embrace agriculture.

“We need to change the trend by promoting Agriculture through music, and I am sure we are going to achieve it,” explained Cleophs Alinaitwe, a proprietor of Agri-Planet Uganda, a youth-based platform and social enterprise that focuses on imparting agricultural skills to young people in Masindi district.

“Many songs have been made promoting other sectors, but agriculture has hardly been thought of. That is why we have introduced Agri-Edutainment into our programmes to inspire the young generation and the entire population to enjoy agriculture” Alinaitwe said.

Alinaitwe revealed that the organisation has so far recruited four musicians who ahve already released one song which is inspiring the young generation to enjoy agriculture.

“Three more songs promoting agriculture are in pipeline now, and will be widely circulated on different platforms once released,” he said.

“I call upon musicians in the Bunyoro sub region to refocus their music to sectors which will benefit them, such as agriculture,” he said.

Youthful members of Agri-Planet Uganda. They say they have benefited a lot from the organisation. Photo By Yosam Gucwaki.jpg

Joseph Kirya, aka Badman Sniper, is one of the musicians contracted to promote agriculture through music. He notes that after understanding the value of agriculture, he is now dedicated to creating music that will inspire embrace of agriculture as a life changer.

“I am dedicated to making music which will encourage farmers in Bunyoro sub-region to enjoy agriculture,” explained Kirya.

Another musician who was brought on board, Gerald Twesige aka Lovens official says music is the best way of disseminating agricultural information adding that they will strive to produce quality music that farmers can enjoy.

Big dreams

Ignitious Ahumuza, another of the organisation’s proprietors, says that Agri-Planet Uganda’s vision is to transform Africa’s agricultural sector as an enabler of rural economies.

He added that the group is in the process of facilitating the formation of the Albertine poultry association and the Albertine banana farmers’ association through which they hope to provide extension services to farmers.

“We could have completed this exercise only that we were antagonized by the Coronavirus pandemic. I am calling upon farmer organisations in Masindi and the entire region to join us such that we can make agriculture admirable by attaining the necessary skills,” said Ahumuza.

In addition, the organisation owns more than five acres of banana and over 500 poultry chickens birds. Current production stands at 15 bunches of banana a week, and 10 trays of eggs per day.

They also hope to equip youthful farmers with important skills, lobby for markets on their behalf and set up a Farmers’ Resource Centre.

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