Agriculture ministry to conduct livestock census 

LIVESTOCK CENSUS                                    

The agriculture ministry plans to conduct a livestock census in February to establish the number of domestic animals in the country. 

The state minister for animal husbandry, Bright Rwamirama, said the exercise is intended to facilitate what he called effective planning and budgeting. 

The minister told a meeting at Imperial Golf Course Hotel in Entebbe recently that the ministry cannot effectively plan for the animals whose numbers it does not know. 

Rwamirama said his major role in the sector is to fight diseases and pests, effective regulation of policies, stabilise markets and contribute towards the enhanced production and productivity through effective and efficient delivery of services.

"We cannot only rely on data availed by Uganda Bureau of Statistics as a ministry in charge of food security, we need to know the exact population of goats, cattle and pigs in Uganda," he added.

The minister noted that the Government should be able to ascertain livestock numbers since there are already government employees at districts and sub-counties, as well as animal husbandry officers at each sub-county. 

"These should be able to know the farms and number of animals in each sub-county," Rwamirama stated. 

"Since we do not have enough resources as a ministry to conduct this activity, we shall utilise the already existing structures in districts to successfully conduct the exercise," he added.