Sh11b earmarked to revive tractor hire services

Aug 26, 2009

Even with his eight square kilometres of land, Alfred Kakamon thought buying or hiring a tractor was an unnecessary expense.

By Joel Ogwang

Even with his eight square kilometres of land, Alfred Kakamon thought buying or hiring a tractor was an unnecessary expense.

“I used bulls and family labour to dig up the land,” the Amuru-based farmer said.

He grew cassava, groundnuts and rice. He got only sh6m every season from his land.

However, after numerous seminars on mechanised agriculture, Kakamon hired a tractor from the National Enterprise Corporation.

“I parted with sh300,000 per month,” he said. “I have opened up the whole piece of land for farming and I expect to earn sh15m in the first harvest.”

Farming in Uganda is affected by poor land distribution and poor methods, which involve the use of hand hoes. The blossoming industrial and hospitality sectors have also presented hitches to farming.

Dr. Kisamba Mugerwa, the National Planning Authority chief, says: “Farmers get a quarter of output per unit area. We can’t fight famine without increasing food security and putting in place a national food policy.”

Experts believe that Uganda needs to commercialise the agricultural sector to fight famine.

Okaasai Opolot, the director in-charge of crop resources at the agriculture ministry, said: “We can’t do this without using tractors.”

In a bid to commercialise agriculture, the Government has undertaken the importation of tractors through the National Enterprise Corporation.

Col. (Rtd) Fred Mwesigye, the managing director, said the body, which is under the defence ministry, is mandated to do business on behalf of the army.

Since July 2008, NEC has sold 100 tractors to both local and regional farmers. It has injected $5m (about sh11b) in importing 200 more tractors.

“In Uganda, we have sold about 50 tractors to over 24 farmer groups,” says Mwesigye.

Each tractor is supposed to cost about sh50m, but farmers can hire one at a cost of sh80,000 per acre.

NEC has signed a memorandum of understanding with farmer groups to transfer ownership of the tractors as soon as they finalise payments between three to five years.

“By 2013, we (NEC) want two-thirds of the country to access tractors,” says Maj. Charles Olaka, the project coordinator.

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