Finance, markets, water top farmers' manifesto

FARMING | POLITICS 

Farmers have highlighted six priority areas that political parties and players should put into consideration if they need support from them in the 2021 general election.

The farmers want water for production, access to quality agricultural inputs as well as access to markets and cooperatives.

The farmers also single out mechanisation and agro-processing, among others.

The farmers' manifesto has been developed by the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) and Caritus Uganda, through collecting responses from farmers in 100 districts across Uganda.

"How I wish the farmers knew how powerful they are and use that power to hold these politicians to account. The time has come for us to demand a fair share of the country's national cake.

That is why we are asking the politicians in their manifestos to be specific when dealing with agriculture," the UNFEE chief executive officer, Kenneth Katungisa, said during the manifesto launch in Kampala Monday, November 30, 2020.

In 2014, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) said 72% of the working population in the country is engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing, making the sector the country's backbone.

Foreign exchange

Agriculture is the biggest source of foreign exchange, raw materials for local industries, employment, income and the overall wellbeing of the country.

Out of the sh45 trillion budget for 2020/2021, Government allocated the agriculture sector sh1.3 trillion, compared to sh1.1 trillion that was given in 2019/2020.

According UNFFE's policy and membership manager, Prudence Aijuka, farmers want the next Government to expedite the implementation of affordable small scale irrigation for smallholder farmers who play an important role in food production and raw materials for agro industrialisation.

"They want construction of new irrigation schemes and rehabilitation of the old ones, promotion of community solar-powered systems and building capacity of the farmers on irrigation, water harvesting techniques and soil conservation," she said.

"Farmers demand arrest and prosecution of people dealing in fake agro-inputs and products, reduced taxes on agricultural inputs, support to the private sector to carry out market research, set farm gate prices and regulate liberalisation," Ajiuka said.

Besides improving market access and delivery of market information, Aijuka said the farmers also want "planned and market oriented production to enable farmers produce required supplies, skills development on value addition and support farmers to improve their decision making in the choice of value chains and how they are run".

They also highlighted the need for reviving farmers' cooperatives and bank to ease access to cheap credit, build a framework for dialogue between agriculturalists and financial institutions, reduce interest rates, and redirect funding for agriculture to co-operatives and SACCOS.

They also want promotion of financial literacy.

Katungisa revealed that during compilation of the 2021-2026 farmers manifesto, they found that the ruling government had actually worked on 53% of the demands that farmers had raised in their 2016-2021 manifesto.

The National Resistance Movement manifesto in 2016 committed to support key strategic commodities such as maize, beans and coffee to ensure greater impact on household incomes.

It also addressed national export earnings through distribution of improved seeds under the Operation Wealth Creation programme.

What minister says

Agriculture minister Vincent Ssempijja said although the farmers' manifesto highlights strategic actionable areas that would augment Government's priorities such as agro processing and value addition,

"UNFFE has the mandate and capacity to advocate for its members but it is not doing enough to support the ministry in lobbying for more funding."

"The President has the goodwill, but when he makes commitments such as a farmers' bank, you should be the ones amplifying it. I also want you to expand this manifesto by indicating how much does each priority you have highlighted need and propose where the money should come from," he said.

"We have increased the number of extension workers in the country but farmers continue to lag behind in accessing information. One acre of land can produce 50 bags of maize," Ssempijja added.