Museveni To Farmers: Don’t Overprice Milk

KAMPALA – Insidious cattle diseases such as Foot and Mouth and Anthrax have diminished the quality of the country’s animal products, made farmers to overprice milk and narrowed their competitive edge in the international market”, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tubuhaburwa has said.

“The global demand for milk products is 906 billion litres valued at US$ 458 billion therefore our present production of 2.6 billion litres of milk can enter the global market provided you solve the problem of cattle diseases such as Foot and Mouth, Contagious Bovine Pleuro Pneumonia (CBPP) and Anthrax and of course also offer competitive prices,” the president said in his annual State of the Nation Address last week at Kololo Independence Grounds.

“Therefore, the Banyankore I once met at Rwakitura clamoring to over price milk need to know more about this global competition for market with countries such as New Zealand and Holland,” the president added.

“So, one day I attended a meeting at Rwakitura with the Banyankore. They said we want more money for our milk but if you overprice milk, how will it compete in London, Beijing, New Delhi and New York with milk from other countries? So, we need to wake up our people that we are struggling in a global environment,” he said.

Museveni said Uganda needs to produce quality products to compete internationally.

“Our people need to know that if we are to compete for global markets, our products must be of good quality, must be safe but also cheaper than what other countries are offering,” he said, adding that finding market for agricultural products is not an issue, the post-harvest mishandling of the products is.

“The global demand for maize and maize products is 852 million metric tons valued at US$ 152 billion therefore our production of five million tons of maize can be absorbed provided we solve the problem of quality, getting rid of the shameful aflatoxins- caused by people who mishandle food during harvesting. Why do you mishandle people’s food?” Museveni asked

He said demand for Ugandan products is high.

“Fortunately, the global demand is able to take all the coffee because the global coffee demand is 166.34 million tons and the global demand for milk products is 906 billion litres, valued at US$ 458.1 billion. Therefore, our present production of 2.6 billion liters of milk, can enter the global market provided we solve the problem of cattle diseases (Foot and Mouth, CBPP, anthrax),” he said.

He also appealed to all Ugandans to join the money economy through practicing commercial farming.

“Let all the leaders stop confusing people by sending contradictory or divergent messages. The NRM message ever since 1966 has been; all homesteads should join the money economy and stop working just for the stomach,” Museveni said.

He said the performance of industries in Uganda is still held back by the heavy costs of manufacturing, which include; exploitative commercial bank loans and high transport among others.

“In addition to our long-term goal of building a modern standard gauge railway, we are together with Kenya, rehabilitating the metric-gauge railway for immediate use because by road, a 20ft container costs US$19000 and a 40ft costs US$3200 to Mombasa yet by rail it costs only US$1400 for a 20ft and US$1900 for a 40ft, respectively,” he said.

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He also nudged the youths to adopt technology which will address unemployment in Uganda.

“I have been urging our people in the ICT sector to take advantage of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the world. India is earning US$191billion per year from this business of BPOs and employing 1.1million young people,” the president explained

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a method of subcontracting various business-related operations to third-party vendors.

Museveni said he will not accept the minimalist approach of the Ministry of Finance where Ugandans generate wealth that is smaller than that of individual companies in some parts of the world.

“By 2026, Uganda’s population will be 48 million people. If each person is earning US$3,000, that will be US$144billion. Yet US$3,000 per person per year translates to Shs10.8million per year and this will just be people’s incomes, without including infrastructure,” he said.

However, the president believes that once COVID19 is kicked out, Uganda’s economy will resurrect.

“Before the Corona, we were earning US$1.5billion from tourism alone, hotels, banking, music, sports and professional services were moving on well until corona came in,” Museveni said.

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Aupi Community Cooperative Fails To Cultivate Land

YUMBE – Aupi Community Cooperative farmers struggled for three years to find money to buy 200 acres of farmland.

Now, they can’t cultivate the huge acreage in the West Nile district of Yumbe.

They need tractors to open up the farmland but can’t find any to hire.

According to managers of Aupi Community Savings and Credit Cooperative Society, demand for agricultural products soared in Yumbe District spurred by the huge influx of refugees in need of food.

Farmers couldn’t match the demand for food since they didn’t have tractors to open up huge acreage of arable land.

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The Board Chairman of the cooperative Tohaabubakar Ijoga said, “Aupi cooperative has committed members who are ready to practice commercial agriculture but due to inaccessibility of tractor hire services by the group, members have resorted to small scale agriculture for domestic use.”

He said the cooperative has only Shs 65 million, which is too little to buy a tractor.

Meanwhile, Leonard Okello, the chief executive officer of Uhuru Institute for Social Development, advised the management of Aupi Cooperative to apply for tractors through government programmes such as Operational Wealth Creation (OWC).

“Use the available government programmes to bail you out from poverty, e.g. parish model and OWC, which target to eradicate poverty among organized and focused members in the community,” Okello said.

Amana Small, a member of the cooperative, said the members’ reluctance to repay loans has held back the cooperative’s progress and capacity to own tractors.

She said if the cooperative owned a tractor; it would be easier for group members to hire it at a low cost compared to tractors hired from private individuals.

She said hiring a tractor costs Shs120, 000 per acre and it’s hard to place an order because everyone wants to hire that one tractor.

“Uhuru please help us with a tractor such that we practice commercial agriculture for economic transformation,” Amana said.

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Traditional Herbalists In Tree Restoration Drive

GULU – Traditional herbalists in Acholi sub-region allied to Wise Women Uganda are replanting indigenous herbal trees, which are facing extinction.

Some of the endangered tree species include; Afzelia Africana, commonly known as Beyo and shea-nut, found only in Acholi and some parts of West Nile.

The trees are being felled indiscriminately by timber and charcoal dealers.

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However, about 40 women, mainly traditional herbalists and birth attendants, said that in the past they could easily get indigenous medicinal trees and shrubs to treat patients but to date they can hardly find any.

Juliet Adoch, the director Wise Women Uganda, told theCooperator that they bought seven acres of land in 2016 to plant medicinal trees and shrubs.

“In our umbrella organization, we have traditional healers and traditional birth attendants and we all use medicinal trees to heal several ailments among the population, but since most of the indigenous tree species could not be found, we have embarked on restoration,” she said

She said they have several seedlings of Beyo, Shea-nut trees.

The women have also distributed seeds to farmers in the region and sensitized them on the medicinal benefits of indigenous trees.

Grace Acayo, a traditional healer, said they have struggled to get seeds of both Afzelia Africana and Shea-nut.

“A lot has been injected in this restoration initiative but all was aimed at seeing that indigenous trees are grown once again,” she said.

The tree replanting initiative has also been taken to schools so that the young generation can also embrace it as a means of fighting natural calamities that might result from environmental degradation.

The District Forest Officer James Ocaka lauded the initiative and urged the entire population to borrow a leaf from the women.

“Reforestation should be our responsibility and since women have taken the lead, there is a lot to learn from them,” he advised.

He however, decried the indiscriminative cutting of trees in the region.

In 2018, the Ministry of Water and Environment, suspended the cutting, transportation, and sale of Afzelia Africana and shea nut trees, and their products.

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Build Factories, Farmers Tell OWC

AMURU – The pitiable retail prices of crops grown out of seeds supplied by Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) has remained a subject of vast disagreement between the beneficiary farmers and the program officials in the northern district of Amuru.

Farmers are demanding that OWC builds factories and industries in Amuru District to help farmers add value to their produce.

Interviewed by theCooperator, farmers said OWC has given them planting materials of citrus, cassava and potatoes, but when the crops are harvested they fetch far too little on the market.

Jalia Kalenga Amuge, a citrus farmer, said OWC should help farmers add value to their produce.

“Well, we appreciate the program since right now food production is on the rise but it has not helped us much in areas of surplus for sell. We sell whatever we produce in its raw form, which is costing the farmers a lot,” she said.

Juma Olum said cassava prices are demoralizing. “The only factory in the region cannot consume what we produce. That leaves farmers with no choice but to sell at a giveaway price to the middlemen,” he said.

Simon Peter Komakech, the Amuru OWC District Agricultural Officer, told theCooperator that failure to add value to produce remains a big challenge for farmers across the district.

https://thecooperator.news/five-cooperative-owned-cassava-factories-nearing-completion-in-nebbi-district/

Some farmers are demoralized and have restricted themselves to growing only food for domestic consumption.

“You imagine a sack of fresh cassava being sold at only Shs 20,000 and that can go down to Shs 15,000,”’ he said

Komakech said value addition is the way to go much as many farmers cannot afford it.

“At times we imagine that even if farmers are empowered to add value to what they produce, where will they find the market for their produce?” he said.

OWC Spokesperson Kiconco Tabaro advised farmers to use the available factories within their areas to add value to produce.

“They shouldn’t lose hope, but they should team up and find a solution to the problem. The government is soon unveiling a plan to have factories in areas where production is high so that value is added on to what farmers produce,” he advised.

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