No free seeds for farmers
Aug 19, 2009
The Government will not provide free seeds to farmers under the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme, a minister has said.
By Joyce Namutebi and Jude Kafuuma
The Government will not provide free seeds to farmers under the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme, a minister has said.
The state minister for animal industry, Bright Rwamirama, said lack of seeds, planting materials and fertilisers were the reason for low crop productivity, NAADS did not have the money to distribute them for free.
The minister was speaking at Parliament yesterday where he met the committee on agriculture and NAADS officials.
“What we have done is to avail seeds on the market,†he said.adding t
The Government only provided free planting materials to Karamoja and northern Uganda, because they had been affected by drought and insurgency.
Last week, the committee sent away NAADS officials because they were not accompanied by the sector ministers and their documents were wanting.
The Government has approved sh134b for NAADS this year, Sh17b will be spent to run the secretariat.The rest will go to the districts and sub-counties.
The first phase of NAADS would end in December while the second will focus on agro-processing, capacity development and service deliver, said minister Rwamirima.
The MPs expressed concern about the high cost of NAADS inputs and questioned the method used to select six model farmers per parish.
The minister said the farmers were the “training schools for farmers groups in agricultural production.â€
The Government will not provide free seeds to farmers under the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme, a minister has said.
The state minister for animal industry, Bright Rwamirama, said lack of seeds, planting materials and fertilisers were the reason for low crop productivity, NAADS did not have the money to distribute them for free.
The minister was speaking at Parliament yesterday where he met the committee on agriculture and NAADS officials.
“What we have done is to avail seeds on the market,†he said.adding t
The Government only provided free planting materials to Karamoja and northern Uganda, because they had been affected by drought and insurgency.
Last week, the committee sent away NAADS officials because they were not accompanied by the sector ministers and their documents were wanting.
The Government has approved sh134b for NAADS this year, Sh17b will be spent to run the secretariat.The rest will go to the districts and sub-counties.
The first phase of NAADS would end in December while the second will focus on agro-processing, capacity development and service deliver, said minister Rwamirima.
The MPs expressed concern about the high cost of NAADS inputs and questioned the method used to select six model farmers per parish.
The minister said the farmers were the “training schools for farmers groups in agricultural production.â€