Agriculture automation still far from reality

Mar 17, 2009

The government’s call for modernisation of agriculture through mechanisation is still below international average despite continued Government effort to improve it in the last two years.

By Joshua Kato

The government’s call for modernisation of agriculture through mechanisation is still below international average despite continued Government effort to improve it in the last two years .

Mechanisation of agriculture is not just about getting tractors on the land. It includes harvesters, mechanical sprayers, crop shellers, grass cutters and others.

The beauty of mechanisation is that everything at the farm is simplified. For example, while it takes a month for a farmer using a hand hoe to plough an acre of land, a tractor needs just a single day. While it takes two weeks for an orange farmer to spray a half acre of oranges using a shoulder operated sprayer, a 200 litre motorised sprayer takes a single day!

According to statistics based on tractor purchases in the last 25 years, there are about 3,000 tractors in the country. However, more than half of them may no longer be operational because of various reasons, including the expensive spare parts. Ideally, there are around 1,000 operating tractors in the country, with the majority based in the Sebei and Bundihugyo regions. “Most of the new tractors are bought by farmers in the Sebei region,” says Hajji Umur Luwagga, a second hand tractors dealer. This is why he has his main base in Mbale.

In the past year however, the Government has introduced 500 walking tractors to be scattered in sub-counties around the country under the National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) programme. UGIRAN, a joint tractor assembling plant between Uganda and the Iranian government has also started giving out tractors to farmers across the country.

There has been debate as to whether Ugandan farmers can afford tractors. Last year, Pastor Samuel Kakande unveiled state of the art agriculture tractors valued at around sh3bn. Other individual farmers have bought tractors through bank loans and investments.

On the Government side however, the excuse that there is no money to buy tractors should be discarded. ShlO3bn is slated to be spent under the NAADS programme this financial year.

Overall, in the last four years, over sh210bn has been spent, purportedly on agriculture development! Every district receives at least sh800m every year to cater for NAADS activities. NAADS is not the only multi-billon project that has failed to produce tangible result.

The Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) is another; over shl50bn has been spent in the north in the last few years under the NUSAF programme. Some of these funds should be channeled to mechanising the agriculture sector.

The Government may not go for the Kakande kind of machines, there are many cheaper offers on the market. For example, the cheapest agriculture tractor costs about sh7m, while the most common tractors cost between sh15-25m. Even if districts used at least sh150m for mechanisation, they would acquire at least 5 tractors every year.

Tractors locally assembled at Luzira through a joint venture between NEC, the UPDF production department and Iran cost between sh4O-55m. So far, at least 10 have been given out to farmers in Mubende, Nebbi, Teso and northern Uganda. Walking tractors from China cost sh4-5m and a single tractor can change agriculture in a village. At sh55m each for the bigger tractors, sh5bn can ensure that there is a tractor in every district of Uganda!

“Telling us how to plant cassava or maize is no longer the main point. We know how to produce these things. We only lack the means to produce them in larger quantities,” says Samson Ocen, a farmer in Kaberamaido. Abubakar Magala, an estates farmer in Mityana says, “I have done all other levels of agriculture and now what I need is a tractor. I need government to assist me get one,” Magala has got over 100 acres of land.

A few farmers have tried to hire from individuals, but the cost is too high. For example, to work on an acre of land. a farmer has to pay between sh150,000 and sh200,000.

In Mayuge district, which is in the heart of Busoga region’s agriculture, there is only one tractor for hire. And since it is only one, the operator works as ‘he wishes.’ He charges sh70,000 per acre, but the service is so poor that farmers do not get value for money. One of the farmers in Mayuge, who hires the tractor is Ruth Kibowa, “I wish I had money to buy my own tractor. Somebody should help us even if it means paying for it in installments,” she says.

Under the 500-walking-tractors programme, a tractor will be stationed with one of the lead farmers at the parish. It will then be hired out to farmers in the area at a fee.

According to Frank Tumwebaze, President of the Uganda National Farmers Federation, for easy management, these and bigger tractors should be passed through area farmers’ groups. “Farmers’ groups can effectively manage these tractors. We have got groups in all districts. The government can introduce these tractors through these groups,” Frank Tumwebaze says. Perhaps then, agriculture in Uganda will move to the next level.

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