Uganda farmers cry for better seeds
Date:02-23-2015
Horticultural farmers in Uganda have asked the ministry of Agriculture to recruit extension officers who can train them in seed selection and best farming practices. The farmers, under their umbrella body Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers (ESAFF) said most of their colleagues in Eastern and Northern Uganda occur huge losses because they can't acquire the right seeds.
Joel Arumadri Bakore, a farmer in West Nile, said fake seeds were affecting production. He advised MAAIF to recruit extension officers who had the right expertise. “In 2012, an organisation supplied farmers with five tonnes of seeds in Ribo area, but the seeds did not germinate," Bakore said.
In 2014 the Malabo declaration was announced and African leaders reaffirmed their commitment to devoting 10 per cent of their national budgets to agricultural development. However, 10 years after, few countries have come straight with their promises. Agriculture, on overage, takes five per cent of Uganda's national budget.
Sarah Apio, a farmer from Katakwi who grows groundnuts and simsim, said getting quality seeds is a challenge as most of them are fake. "It is true that sometimes we have a challenge of rain but the main problem are bad seeds," she said. "Some of us don't know much science in crop husbandry because our level of education is low.”
Farmers say there is no need for the government to give out modern material if they don't know how to use it. “Let them bring officers to teach us first," they say.
Fredrick Kawooya, the policy manager at ActionAid Uganda, says the problem is usually lack of funds. "The sector has been starved right from the secretariat, although the sector contributes 24 per cent of the GDP and employs at least 70 per cent of the population. My thinking is that there is no political will; the commitment by government is still lacking," he says.
Robert Khaukha, the assistant commissioner at the ministry of Agriculture says he has written to the ministry of Finance to allocate some money and soon each district would recruit extension officers.
Print this page. 