Mukono gets disease-free banana tissues

Sep 17, 2015

A total of 15,000 disease free scientifically multiplied banana tissues provided under the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) have been procured for supply to Mukono farmers

By Mike Musisi-Musoke in Mukono

 

A total of 15,000 disease free scientifically multiplied banana tissues provided under the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) have been procured for supply to Mukono farmers.

 

OWC is a presidential poverty reduction initiative set up to replace the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), overseen the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF).

 

This is the second round of items to be supplied to Mukono this planting season, after 37 tonnes of maize seeds of a fast yielding improved species supplied earlier on.

 

Each of the fifteen sub-counties is expected to receive 9,000 tissues for the beginning, enough to plant not less than two acres.

 

The tissues were on Wednesday handed over to the OWC overseers Lt. Col. David Lukanga and Maj. Moses Segujja by Mukono District production Officer Dr. Fred Mukulu at the district headquarters.

 

Mukulu said that compared to the traditional system of planting tubers, the tissue system rules out possibility of transferring diseases to the plantation as they are technically prepared and multiplied with the technology removing all possibilities of transferring diseases from the mother plant.

 

He disclosed that former NAADS extension staff have been re-instituted, and implored them to conduct regular visits to farmers, advising them on the best practices for ensuring the best yields.

 

Lt. Col. Lukanga advised extension workers to avail farmers the amounts they applied for, rather than deducting them for purposes of supplying to as many as possible, saying that this will kill the desired poverty reduction goal.

 

"If a farmer who applied for tissues to cover an acre is given less, President Museveni's objective of fighting poverty through bulky yields will be beaten and we shall be back at point zero", he said.

 

Major Segujja appealed to suppliers in future to alert them of delivery well in time to give them time to in turn alert farmers to get ready to receive and plant immediately when the rainy season is still on.

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