Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja on Wednesday unveiled the Agriculture Development Campaign in Mubende, Kasanda, Mityana and Kyankwanzi Districts, which kick-starts from 18 August to 20 August, 2023.
While addressing Journalists at President’s Office in Kampala, PM Nabbanja said the campaign shall bring on board key Ministries in the development of the Agriculture Sector, which include; that of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Ministry of Disaster Preparedness and Refugee Affairs and all Ministries in the Office of the Prime Minister.
“Unlike in the past, when Ministries would work in isolation, this time we in Government have to work as a team to ensure the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Manifesto is implemented,”she said.
Nabbanja said the campaign shall also be graced by various Agriculture value addition entities, which include; Agriculture processors, Agriculture seeds and inputs producers, Agriculture disease control and experts in Farmers education; such as National Research Organization (NARO) among others.
She in addition said farmers should utilize part of the Parish Development Model (PDM) money to buy seeds for Agriculture production, as every Parish in Uganda received UGX 100 Million as PDM Fund.
Fred Bwino Kyakulaga, the State Minister for Agriculture, told journalists that; the primary objective of the campaign is to awaken Ugandans to transit from subsistence farming to money making commercial Agriculture.
“It’s high time farmers should engage in money making economic ventures instead of growing food for their domestic consumption only,”he said.
He said Uganda has so far registered 61 percent of farmers who have transited from subsistence farming to money economy farming. He enumerated some of the campaign strategies to include; eradication of land fragmentation, misuse of money from Agriculture produce and the discouragement of farmers from exporting coffee as a raw material.
“We shall campaign for farmers to embrace value addition and modern farming technology in addition to putting in place NARO and Fisheries Desks to answer questions from the public,”he added.
Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness and Refugee Affairs, Esther Nyakun, explained that her Ministry will endeavor to update farmers on climate change anomalies, through early warning climate updates.
“We shall in addition advise farmers to grow short rain crops during rain scarcity seasons due to prolonged drought, to avoid situations where communities end up running short of food supplies during dry spells,”she said.
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