Adjumani | Stakeholders in Adjumani district have urged the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF) to consider community-led enterprise selection, as with other projects.
This call came after the Adjumani district and West Nile region were chosen to grow soya bean and mango under the Uganda Climate Smart Agriculture Transformation Project.
Stakeholders have expressed concerns that MAAIF’s current approach to supporting agriculture in the district and region is out of sync with the local context, particularly the crop chain.
“The enterprise you people have given for us is not of our interest especially under the crop chain- where Adjumani is to grow mango and soya bean yet for us we want to go with coffee and cassava.”
However, Anyama Ben, the district LC5 chairman, has endorsed the project and requested transparency from the district coordinator, who also serves as the district production officer.
Anyama, who also serves as the chairman of Nagric in Uganda, asks MAAIF to provide them with the IPF early this year.
“I am aware of this project,” he said. “Actually, it’s like DRDIP project so my appeal is: Dr. Mamawi should be like Golamu of DRDIP. If there’s a delay at the district level, then the project will not succeed and I am requesting for transparency. If something must go for sub-county, it must be sub-county.”
“I want to request the MAAIF on three critical areas; the issue of IPF, we cannot plan when there’s no IPF. So by January, it must be very clear how much Adjumani will be getting so that the technical officers will be working on it and in time because when the IPF delays the project implementation will also delay.”
Anyama added that the project was supposed to last six years, but “two years have already passed and we are left with four.”
“Secondly, for the district to succeed as you are aware, I propose we should use the system of community procurement like other projects and it must be clear because the history shows procurement done at the center- the district technical officers are facing a lot of problems when implementing,” Anyama emphasised.
“Lastly, on the issue of enterprise, you remember when asked: ‘you people where did you see mango has eradicated poverty in West Nile?’ Because this selection of mango for Adjumani district and West Nile region is misplacement; it’s like you have gone back to colonial system of introducing for us cotton to grow in northern region when in Buganda region they are growing coffee; so you have no difference with colonial government.”
Dr. Mamawi Godfrey, the district production officer of Adjumani district, stated that the project’s goal is to increase productivity in four value chains: livestock, crop chain, aquaculture, and beneficial insects.
He stated that the district will increase productivity rates and urged farmers to view the project positively.
“The objective of the Uganda Climate Smart Agriculture Transformation Project is to improve productivity and livelihood that will make them have more money in the pockets of the beneficiaries,” he said.
He appeal to the farmers to receive the project with positive mindset and work hard. “As much as the government is the one bringing the project, they still need to remit the twenty percent co-funding.”
The assistant commissioner of MAAIF, Ogwang Yafesi, explained that the project’s goal is to improve people’s productivity and livelihoods.
Yafesi added that there have been delays in the fund’s processing.
“The project is six years but we have already wasted two in the process of accessing the grant.”
Out of the USD 354.7 million project, he said USD25 million will go as a grant for the refugees.
The project will be implemented in sixty-nine districts across the country, seven of which will host refugees, including Adjumani.
Discover more from tndNews
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.