Rice improves life in Doho

Feb 10, 2010

AGNES Muyagu is a widow. With eight children to take care of single-handed, her challenges are countless. But Muyagu is not one to sit back and wallow in self-pity. She invested her energies in the production of rice in Doho Irrigation Rice Scheme (DIRS). She has a three-acre piece of land from whic

By Carolyne Muyama

AGNES Muyagu is a widow. With eight children to take care of single-handed, her challenges are countless. But Muyagu is not one to sit back and wallow in self-pity. She invested her energies in the production of rice in Doho Irrigation Rice Scheme (DIRS). She has a three-acre piece of land from which she reaps over 1,000kg of rice per season. There are two seasons in a year.

“This irrigation scheme has helped me pay school fees for my children and provide for my family. Sometimes I wonder how life would be without it. The only challenge though, is that it demands very hard work. But I know success comes from hard work. So I am not complaining,” she says.

Doho Irrigation Rice Scheme in Nampologoma village, Mazimasa sub-county in Butaleja district, has been a source of livelihood for many families in the area. Almost every family is engaged in rice farming and production.

Needless to say, there is hardly any bare ground in Nampologoma village. From a distance, one may think the ground is covered with a carpet.

Whether it is a road or just any bare surface, every available space is used for drying rice.
In his state-of-the-nation address on New Year’s Day, President Yoweri Museveni, reiterated the need for the construction of water dams to ensure that there is enough water for farming throughout the year.

He also promised support for people engaged in income-generating activities under the increased household incomes (bona bagaggawale) programme. The Rice People — an organised group called Doho Rice Scheme Farmer’s Association (DRSFA) with a membership of over 4,380 farmers — would fit in this programme very well.

The group was formed and registered with the Government in 1993 to replace the cooperative society. Members make an annual contribution of sh20,000 that brings enormous benefits like accessibility to small loans, rent-free land in the irrigation scheme, technical services and much more.

The Government provides technical support which includes maintaining and rehabilitating the irrigation system, provision of improved rice seeds and agricultural extension services to the farmers.

Wilberforce Sagula, the assistant agriculture officer at Doho Irrigation Rice Scheme, says: “From the cultivatable area of 2,380 acres, about 6,800 tonnes of rice are harvested per year. However, there is still a challenge of collective marketing. Currently each farmer harvests and individually markets their rice produce.”
The farmers used to grow rice on a small scale but the yields were low due to poor management of floods and poor rice variety.
The farmers also lacked rice hullers to shell and grade their rice and they used to transport their produce on bicycles to Mbale to hull and sell.

With the help of the Chinese government, the Ugandan Government constructed the irrigation scheme and trained farmers in the management of floods and pests.

From 1984-1996, their yields improved from subsistence production to producing over 2,000kg of milled rice per acre. And in a gesture that meant a lot for these farmers, the Government bought rice hullers for the scheme while the Chinese brought better varieties of rice that had been tested at Kibimba Irrigation Scheme. The rice grown on Doho Rice Scheme is K5, K85 and K98 which is sold as Kaiso on the local market.

The story of ‘The Rice People of Doho’ comes a long way. In fact, rice growing in Butaleja dates way back to the 1940s. In 1976, the Chinese constructed Doho Rice Irrigation Scheme, which was completed in 1984.

In 2000, Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) in conjunction with the agriculture ministry sensitised farmers to increase yields. In 2003, they trained farmers and co-opted technical staff on government payroll to oversee the scheme. Some farmers were taken for training at Kilimanjaro Agricultural Training Institute in Tanzania.

Doho Rice Scheme covers an area of 2,500 acres, of which 2,380 are arable. The rest is for irrigation structures, farm roads, irrigation canals and embankments that protect the garden from flooding.

The scheme is divided in blocks that are allocated to farmers on recommendation of community leaders depending on the capability of the farmer. The community leaders consider the applicant’s discipline and his or her ability to work the acreage applied for.

The farmers at Doho Rice Scheme sell a kilo of rice to middle men at sh1,200 in a good season to sh1,400 in a bad season. In spite of the bad farm-gate price, rice remains both a source of livelihood and food security for the people of Doho. But Wilberforce Sagula says most of the rice is lost during the hulling process because the machines are old.

“They crash the rice into small pieces that cannot be sold on the market. They are also exploited by middlemen who buy the rice cheaply and sell it expensively,” says Sagula. But all said and done, children in Butaleja are not like other Ugandan children for whom rice is a delicacy, reserved for only big days like on Christmas or Idd.

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