By Ismael Kasooha
Farmers under the National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) programme in Kibaale district have received processing equipment worth sh50m.

Handing over the equipment on Monday, the district chairman, George Namyaka, said value addition to agricultural products was the only way to increase household income.

“The Government wants our farmers to maximise profits and create more wealth at the household level,” Namyaka said.

He noted that farmers needed to be sensitised on the benefits of forming cooperative unions if they are to have more bargaining power in the market.

Namyaka explained that farmers have been losing a lot of money by selling unprocessed agricultural products.

“Farmers have been donors to the middlemen. We hope this equipment will work as a catalyst for the farmers to tap more from agriculture,” he said.

“We have been getting poor quality inputs because we could not produce our own. Now that the equipment is here, this will not happen any more.”

Namyaka urged the beneficiaries to use the equipment to transform their communities.

The farmers thanked the Government for the equipment and promised to transform Kibaale into an agro-processing district.

“I have been wondering how to get an incubator, but the Government has done it for me,” said Thomas Mugabi, one of the farmers.

The district NAADS coordinator, Moses Amanya, appealed to farmers to join the groups that were given the equipment to add value to their products.

The equipment is the first major investment given to farmers in Kibaale district since the inception of NAADS.