Last Updated on: 3rd May 2023, 07:07 pm
Adjumani, May 3, 2023: Amelo Technical Institute is finalizing the skilling of 80 youth in piggery and poultry management. The trainees are part of the second cohorts.
The training is fully sponsored by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) under the Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU), a program supported by the European Union.
Amelo is one of the eight Technical Vocational Education Training Institutes (TVETs) that OPM has contracted to train a total of 1,300 youths in agriculture and agri-business-related areas with aims to promote employability and income-generating opportunities for the youth in Northern Uganda.
The principal of Amelo Technical Institute Patrick Ejorm Amelo said they are conducting skills development and training programs in key areas such as horticulture, crop & animal husbandry, beekeeping, agro-input supply management, tree nursery operation, and carpentry.
The training also includes an apprenticeship and start-up kits for the trained youth to enable them to practice the skills as well as set up small businesses in their families and communities.
Mr Alex Joachim Ojera from Nwoya District who enrolled and received training in piggery is pleased that he has acquired skills that would him for the rest of his life.
“I have learned a very vital and environmentally friendly aspect of piggery, I can make Indigenous Microorganism (IMO) which is sustainable for the environment,” Ojara said.
How to make IMO using local materials
Ojara said he makes IMO solutions using cassava and sugar. Ojara first boils the cassava then smashes it and buries it in the soil for 5 to 7 days. After seven days he gets the cassava and adds sugar at a ratio of 1:1 kilograms.
After mixing with sugar Ojara then adds maize brand of 1kg and keeps it to stay for three more days before it becomes ready for the pigs to consume.
Ojara who has now trained for two months said once he completes the training he will go and start his project of piggery in Nwoya district on his father’s land.
Mr Bruno Moses Olanya from Lamwo district attested that, before he joined Amello he had no idea of how to keep pigs saying that after two months, he has acquired skills of identifying the different breads of pigs for better management.
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“I choose to do piggery because I see that the market is available locally and even internationally, especially in South Sudan,” Olanya stated.
Mr William Idro Opio from Dufele sub-county in Moyo district, who finished senior four in 2019, said he did the electrical installation but he has decided to enrol to acquire skills in poultry keeping and management because of the demand for chicken in his area.
“I have learned skills like disease identification and treating of chicken, I cannot treat my own chicken when I go back home,” Idro said.
Mr Stephen Anyama an instructor for crop husbandry at the institute said in the first cohort also about 80 students were passed out, with some of them trained in vegetable growing which is sustainable to the climate.
Ministers visit the institute
The state minister of Northern Uganda Ms Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny who visited Amello Technical Institute over the weekend urged the youths to undertake the skills training to create their own jobs and fight poverty in the region.
The minister told the youth that northern Uganda is still the poorest region and it is through skills training that they can eradicate poverty in their families.
“We are still very poor in northern Uganda, so this training is not just for granted, we have a number of youths out there without skills, and the population of the youths is 78%. As youths, you are a resource. The more youth we have who are poor, the higher the level of poverty will be in Northern Uganda,” the minister observed
The minister also said, “When you leave here please hold these skills at your heart, this is already a livelihood for those who are already married, for those who are not yet married make sure this is something that will support you, if you abandon this skill, if you marry when you are poor, you are going to increase the level of poverty in northern Uganda.”
The minister emphasized that by putting this skill to use, the youth will end the vicious cycle of poverty in the region, especially by benefiting from the parish Development Model which is currently being implemented at the parish level and is meant to contribute to eradicating poverty in northern Uganda.
Background
The other TVETs include Lokopio Hills, Franciscan Brothers ADRAA Agriculture College, Amugo Agro Technical Institute, Ave Maria Vocational Training & Youth Development Centre, Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre, Kotido Technical Institute, and Nakapiripirit Technical Institute. Every TVET has been awarded a grant contract of about shs220 million.