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Members of the Agoro Self-Help Irrigation Cooperative Society have denounced the delayed rehabilitation of the Agoro Irrigation Scheme in Lawmo district, saying the delay has robbed them of the livelihood they earned from growing rice.

The 187 members of the cooperative used to depend on rice growing as their main source of earning. But last year a team from the Ministry of Water and Environment stopped rice growers from using the irrigation scheme until it has been rehabilitated.

The Scheme was last rehabilitated between 2012-2013 to a tune of Shs 27bn, but a few years after, the water pipes got damaged and parts of the canal silted.

In 2019, the government, through the Ministry of Water and Environment said it would embark on repairs to the said scheme, with the project expected to cost Shs 6bn, after it was abandoned by many farmers because of its poor state.

In March 2020, officials from the ministry delivered over 1000 water pipes to the site but, farmers say, the pipes have been lying idle at the office premises of Agoro cooperative since then.

Affected livelihoods

Teopista Atim says it has been growing rice since the year 2000. She used the proceeds from rice to buy land, build a house and educate her four children.

She said in the early 2000s, her annual earnings from growing rice ranged from Shs 10-12m from 17 acres.

“At the time, the price of rice per kilogram was still low,” she quips.

However, the last time she planted 10 acres of rice in 2019, she earned Shs 16 million.

With the deterioration of the irrigation scheme, however, her source of income has been adversely affected.

“I used to grow rice which could give me a lot of money. But my production level started going down in 2013 because the irrigation scheme was poorly rehabilitated.”

Atim says the irrigation was poorly done, such that the water channels are below the gardens, thus farmers have to set up obstructions by piling sacks of sand to have water flow into their gardens.

“They [Ministry of Water and Environment] promised to start repairing the irrigation scheme in 2020 but they are yet to show up,“ she narrates.

Unable to grow rice, as usual, she tried other crops. It would end in disaster.

“Last year, I planted 10 acres of maize, which was destroyed by floods. I only harvested 3 bags of sorghum, which I used to brew malwa,” Atim said.

Margaret Oryema, another rice farmer, says she started growing rice before the irrigation scheme was rehabilitated, and used the proceeds to pay school fees for her three children up to university level, single-handedly. She also completed constructing a house which her husband started and failed to complete.

Oryema said she used to raise between Shs 7-10m from growing rice on her 8-acre farm before the rehabilitation of the irrigation scheme went awry.

However, last year she did not plant rice and does not expect to earn much this year if repair of the scheme is not expedited.

“Last year we never planted rice. And we are not sure of this year because work on the irrigation scheme has not even started. I no longer have money in my account because rice was my main source of income,” Oryema said.

Denis Ocan, another member of the cooperative, expressed disappointment with the fact that the affected farmers have received no update on the start date of the planned repairs despite a delay of almost a year so far.

No funds

Brenda Akao, the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Water and Environment in Northern Uganda, admitted that the ministry had delivered pipes for rehabilitating the irrigation scheme, but they are awaiting some funds before the repair works can start.

“Yes, I can confirm that we delivered pipes there. But we are now waiting for funding. Our commencement of work there will depend on the availability of funds,” Akao said.

The government adopted an irrigation policy in 2018 to improve agricultural production, with one of the implementation strategies being to construct 70,000 small irrigation schemes countrywide- one for each parish.

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