NAADS: Makerere starts training UPDF officers

By Pascal Kwesiga

Makerere University is to start training UPDF officers selected to monitor the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) program across the country.

The 250 army officers will undergo a two-week induction training course at the University’s college of Agriculture and Environmental sciences before they are deployed.

According to the college’s communication officer, Jane Anyango, the training begins today Wednesday.

She explained that Makerere has been tasked with the responsibility of training the officers in agriculture before they can be entrusted with the program that seeks to alleviate poverty through the promotion of commercial agriculture.

The induction training, Anyango said will end on August 20.

This comes weeks after the government scrapped NAADs coordinators in the ongoing restructuring process of the program.

President Yoweri Museveni who ordered the restructuring of the program said UPDF officers will be deployed across the country to monitor NAADs.

Museveni said he was impressed by the army’s performance in the ongoing anti-poverty drive targeting army veterans in Luwero triangle areas that bore the brunt of his five-year guerilla war.