Hoima extension workers urged on fulfilling their calling to farmers

________________

Agricultural extension workers in Hoima district have been urged to step out of their offices and actively engage with farmers in the field, guiding best farming practices to help them to fully benefit from agriculture.

Speaking recently during the handover of two motorcycles and six motorised sprayer pumps to the production department officials, district chairperson Uthaman Mugisha Mubarak, urged extension officers to fulfil their roles effectively.

He said there is a need for agricultural extension workers to step out of their offices and actively engage with farmers in the field and empower them with knowledge and guidance on best farming practices.

He noted that farmers are always complaining that the extension workers are not on the ground, yet these farmers are always faced with challenges such as disease and pests, which affect their productivity.

“While the farmers receive training before getting the Parish Development Model (PDM) money, there’s still a need for continuous support and empowerment to ensure that the money they receive gets invested in profitable ventures that serve the intended purpose of fighting poverty.”

“I commend the district production department for using the little available resources to procure the motorcycles, but let us use this motorcycle to move to the field and help our farmers with farming skills to ensure that they benefit from what they do,” he said.

However, Hoima district senior production officer Dr Charles Kajura decried the inadequate extension workers to offer extension services to farmers in the district.

He noted that the production department is supposed to have 92 staff for both office and field, but the department only has 22.  

According to him, out of 92 staff, 12 are supposed to be at the district, while 80 are for the sub-counties, but, unfortunately, the district has two staff, while the field staff are 20.  

He noted that such a staffing gap is affecting their efficiency since the small staff cannot manage to reach out to all farmers in the entire district, and called on the government to intervene.

Kajura said the two motorcycles cost a total of shillings  22 million under the agriculture extension grant.

He said he expects the motorcycles to boost the monitoring and supervision of government programmes such as PDM and reach out to PDM beneficiaries for training.

He noted that they have established training centers for PDM beneficiaries where they train and equip the beneficiaries with the knowledge of selecting enterprises and how to manage the funds given to them.

"We have established training centres at every parish in the sub-counties and all PDM beneficiaries, especially the new ones, are trained from these centres,” he said.

Commenting on motorised sprayer pumps, Kajura said pumps were procured, and the extension workers will go into the field and demonstrate the proper use of agrochemicals.

He noted that they have observed growing misuse of agrochemicals by farmers, which is hurting the environment and killing pollinators.

Assistant Resident District Commissioner Shafiq Ntuuyo urged the beneficiaries to use the motorcycles appropriately and give value to public funds.

He noted that procuring this motorcycle is not for officers to enjoy around, but they are for facilitating them to reach out to the farmers and help them with farming skills.