A bumper year for farmers
Dec 28, 2010
COMPARED to the previous two years, 2010 has been a bumper year. There have been fewer instances of drought. This year, several regions experienced bumper harvests, especially of maize.
By Joshua Kato
COMPARED to the previous two years, 2010 has been a bumper year. There have been fewer instances of drought. This year, several regions experienced bumper harvests, especially of maize.
Exceptional bumper harvest was experienced in Lira and Gulu, whose fertile soils had been idle for a long time due to insecurity. Government also injected more money into the agriculture sector as part of its Prosperity-for-all (Bonna Bagaggawale) campaign. The July budget reading allocated sh344b to the agriculture sector, up from 310bn
Hopefully, the extra funding will be used to help farmers to move more into value addition and mechanised production; two areas where the agriculture sector is still doing badly.
Also, farmers welcomed the decision by the National Agriculture’s Advisory Services (NAADS) programme to increase the number of farmers it supports in every parish from six to 100.
While the 2010/11 budget allocated more money to the agriculture sector, to most farmers it still fell short of their expectations.
“It did not say anything about subsidising the price of fertilisers and herbicides, yet they are very expensive,†complained Moses Mutebi, a farmer near Kanyanda in Wakiso.
But, he was happy over the new arrangement, where NAADS, the main link between the Government and the farmer, will support 100 farmers in every parish, instead of the previous six.
“I am sure I will be among the beneficiaries in the new arrangement. When the NAADS people come to me, I will ask for fertilisers and herbicides,†he said. However, Mutebi still has some complaints about the way NAADS carries out its work among farmers.
“The farming implements NAADS gives out to farmers are sometimes overvalued†he says. This year, re-organising NAADS has been one of the Government’s major projects in the agriculture sector.
Hope Mwesigye, the agriculture minister, said NAADS had to be re-organised because there were a lot of complaints from farmers over issues, such as overvaluing farming implements.
Under the new arrangement, farmers will be more involved in the selection of beneficiaries and more transparency in the process of acquiring farm inputs, she says.
A special probe committee was set up to inspect NAADS projects around the country and unearth any cases of financial misappropriation.
According to figures, the agriculture sector grew by 2.4% compared to 0.4% the previous year. The actual spending on agriculture also increased from sh310.7b in 2009/2010 to sh344.1b in 2010/11.
Towards the end of the year, Spear Motors, another tractor supplier, launched a tractor hire scheme. Easy access to tractors is good news to the farmers who largely depend on the hand hoe. The few farmers who use tractors have to pay a lot of money, reducing their profit margin.
The coming of more tractor service providers will hopefully lead to lower prices. “To hire a tractor, one pays between sh40,000 and 50,000 per acre,†says Margaret Namusolwe, a farmer in Sironko. She is sure, if she had access to a tractor, she would hire at a government subsidised fee and have her wheat farm thrive.
At the moment, there are less than 1,000 heavy duty tractors in the whole country. At least 3,000 tractors are needed to service the entire country. Ideally, every sub-county should have at least three tractors, according to farm experts.
One of the biggest challenges facing Ugandan farmers is accessing finances to acquire costly, but necessary farm equipment, such as tractors and irrigation systems.
“I need a loan to buy two ox-ploughs. However, now that a loan facility has been set up to cater for farmers, I think I will realise my dream,†says Zacharias Onyango.
Government has put up earmarked sh60b to cater for loans for agro-processing machinery and other farm equipment, such as tractors and maize shellers.
However up to the end of the year, most farmers were still ignorant of the process they have to follow to access these funds.
“We need to know exactly what we need to do to access these funds. Commercial banks are still giving us a lot of conditions before accessing this money,†says Siraje Munyagwa, a pineapple farmer in Mityana. He wants to start processing his pineapples into juice.
According to government officials, some of the money can be accessed through SACCOS, which get it at a government subsidised rate of 9% interest.
The SACCOS in turn lend it to their members at a 13% annual interest. However, according to several farmers interviewed, the process through which this money can be accessed is still unclear.
At the moment, many SACCOS are giving out the money as any other commercial loan.
“I implore SACCOS to take advantage of the agriculture loan and give it to their members,†appealed RuthNankabirwa, the microfinance state minister. Government has also been encouraging farmers to add value to their produce.
To show the way, the Presidential Initiative for Bananas recorded significant progress when they opened a processing plant in Bushenyi. The initiative is already adding value to bananas.
But, although efforts have been made, a little more work needs to be done. In the cases of Kayunga and Nakasongola, where juice and cassava processing plants respectively were set up to help the locals process their produce, the facilities remain idle several years since they were set up.
“Our juice factory is useless without the juice extractor,†laments William Kibodhe, a farmer in Kayunga. Kibodhe grows pineapples and other fruits on 30 acres, and processes them into juice.
Without a juice extractor, the juice processing factory in Kayunga is a white elephant. Under the new value addition fund, farmers and processors will be able to access some of these machines.
The same applies to dairy farmers in Ngoma and Nakasongola, and Simon Mugerwa of Kayunga who makes bagiya out of cassava and sweet potatoes. Each of these people needs less than sh5m to complete their production chain.
COMPARED to the previous two years, 2010 has been a bumper year. There have been fewer instances of drought. This year, several regions experienced bumper harvests, especially of maize.
Exceptional bumper harvest was experienced in Lira and Gulu, whose fertile soils had been idle for a long time due to insecurity. Government also injected more money into the agriculture sector as part of its Prosperity-for-all (Bonna Bagaggawale) campaign. The July budget reading allocated sh344b to the agriculture sector, up from 310bn
Hopefully, the extra funding will be used to help farmers to move more into value addition and mechanised production; two areas where the agriculture sector is still doing badly.
Also, farmers welcomed the decision by the National Agriculture’s Advisory Services (NAADS) programme to increase the number of farmers it supports in every parish from six to 100.
While the 2010/11 budget allocated more money to the agriculture sector, to most farmers it still fell short of their expectations.
“It did not say anything about subsidising the price of fertilisers and herbicides, yet they are very expensive,†complained Moses Mutebi, a farmer near Kanyanda in Wakiso.
But, he was happy over the new arrangement, where NAADS, the main link between the Government and the farmer, will support 100 farmers in every parish, instead of the previous six.
“I am sure I will be among the beneficiaries in the new arrangement. When the NAADS people come to me, I will ask for fertilisers and herbicides,†he said. However, Mutebi still has some complaints about the way NAADS carries out its work among farmers.
“The farming implements NAADS gives out to farmers are sometimes overvalued†he says. This year, re-organising NAADS has been one of the Government’s major projects in the agriculture sector.
Hope Mwesigye, the agriculture minister, said NAADS had to be re-organised because there were a lot of complaints from farmers over issues, such as overvaluing farming implements.
Under the new arrangement, farmers will be more involved in the selection of beneficiaries and more transparency in the process of acquiring farm inputs, she says.
A special probe committee was set up to inspect NAADS projects around the country and unearth any cases of financial misappropriation.
According to figures, the agriculture sector grew by 2.4% compared to 0.4% the previous year. The actual spending on agriculture also increased from sh310.7b in 2009/2010 to sh344.1b in 2010/11.
Towards the end of the year, Spear Motors, another tractor supplier, launched a tractor hire scheme. Easy access to tractors is good news to the farmers who largely depend on the hand hoe. The few farmers who use tractors have to pay a lot of money, reducing their profit margin.
The coming of more tractor service providers will hopefully lead to lower prices. “To hire a tractor, one pays between sh40,000 and 50,000 per acre,†says Margaret Namusolwe, a farmer in Sironko. She is sure, if she had access to a tractor, she would hire at a government subsidised fee and have her wheat farm thrive.
At the moment, there are less than 1,000 heavy duty tractors in the whole country. At least 3,000 tractors are needed to service the entire country. Ideally, every sub-county should have at least three tractors, according to farm experts.
One of the biggest challenges facing Ugandan farmers is accessing finances to acquire costly, but necessary farm equipment, such as tractors and irrigation systems.
“I need a loan to buy two ox-ploughs. However, now that a loan facility has been set up to cater for farmers, I think I will realise my dream,†says Zacharias Onyango.
Government has put up earmarked sh60b to cater for loans for agro-processing machinery and other farm equipment, such as tractors and maize shellers.
However up to the end of the year, most farmers were still ignorant of the process they have to follow to access these funds.
“We need to know exactly what we need to do to access these funds. Commercial banks are still giving us a lot of conditions before accessing this money,†says Siraje Munyagwa, a pineapple farmer in Mityana. He wants to start processing his pineapples into juice.
According to government officials, some of the money can be accessed through SACCOS, which get it at a government subsidised rate of 9% interest.
The SACCOS in turn lend it to their members at a 13% annual interest. However, according to several farmers interviewed, the process through which this money can be accessed is still unclear.
At the moment, many SACCOS are giving out the money as any other commercial loan.
“I implore SACCOS to take advantage of the agriculture loan and give it to their members,†appealed RuthNankabirwa, the microfinance state minister. Government has also been encouraging farmers to add value to their produce.
To show the way, the Presidential Initiative for Bananas recorded significant progress when they opened a processing plant in Bushenyi. The initiative is already adding value to bananas.
But, although efforts have been made, a little more work needs to be done. In the cases of Kayunga and Nakasongola, where juice and cassava processing plants respectively were set up to help the locals process their produce, the facilities remain idle several years since they were set up.
“Our juice factory is useless without the juice extractor,†laments William Kibodhe, a farmer in Kayunga. Kibodhe grows pineapples and other fruits on 30 acres, and processes them into juice.
Without a juice extractor, the juice processing factory in Kayunga is a white elephant. Under the new value addition fund, farmers and processors will be able to access some of these machines.
The same applies to dairy farmers in Ngoma and Nakasongola, and Simon Mugerwa of Kayunga who makes bagiya out of cassava and sweet potatoes. Each of these people needs less than sh5m to complete their production chain.