by Aggrey Nshekanabo
Much as agriculture is the primary source of income for rural residents and it is the dominant force in the economy, little has been committed to change lives in the rural area. It is disheartening that the biggest portion of population is involved in agriculture and is the poorest.
Rural Uganda is home to 86% of the country’s 31 million people and this is what feeds the country out of their rudimentary food production efforts. Because many of them lead a hand to mouth lifestyle, there is little for sale and therefore, their incomes are the lowest.
It is worse for the northern region which has been at war for the last two decades. Poverty levels are highest in the north compared to the rest of the country and because able bodied people have been in camps, living on handouts, the fertile lands of the north have not been ploughed to generate food for the population.
However, there are efforts being undertaken by non-governmental organisations in partnership with agro-processors that are helping people in Lango sub-region begin to pick up their lives.
As peace returns to the region, people are finding the opportunity by establishing gardens; for food and income generation.
According to Susan Corning, the chief of party LEAD [Livelihood Enterprises for Agricultural Development] project, The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed US$35 million for the next five years to promote enterprises in the agricultural sector to improve rural growth.
“We are concentrating on the whole value chain of staple crops, increasing productivity, competitiveness and trade capacity. We are targeting 600,000 households by the end of 2013 and our emphasis is on smallholder producers in partnership with agro input dealers and agro-processors,” Corning said.
USAID hopes that through the Livelihood Enterprises for Agricultural Development (LEAD) project, incomes will be guaranteed and raised, there will be no more hunger and agriculture will no longer be a preserve for the wretched of the earth but a commercially viable engagement.
To guarantee income generation amongst the people of Lango sub-region and other surrounding areas of the North, East and parts of Mid-western Uganda, the USAID funded project has partnered with agro-input dealers and processors like Mukwano Group of Industries for organic sunseed oil production.
In the last four years of the project, sunflower seed producted in partnership with Mukwano Gorup, has increased from 5,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes. This is projected to increase to 50,000 tonnes in the next 12 months. In monetary terms, the farm gate price of a kilogramme of dry sunflower seed offered by Mukwano Group is UShs450 (US$0.2).
One contract farmer, Margaret Dekops Okeng, four years ago, was one of the poor of Agwata, Dokolo district. But she exchanged two cows for six acres of land where she started growing sunflower.
“I bought four kilogrammes of improved sunflower seed at UShs10,500 (about US$5) from Mukwano. The improved seed matures in 90 days and takes two weeks to completely dry. In the end, I got three tonnes (3,000 kgs). Each kilogramme was bought at UShs450. I am now a proud owner of an iron-roofed brick house. We eat well and I send my children to good schools,” Okeng testified.
It is hoped that Okeng’s life story will resonate and be duplicated in the districts of Masindi, Oyam, Lira, Apach, Kaberamaido, Amolatar, Amuru, Pader, Kitgum and Dokolo itself.
But it can only be possible with constant training of the farmers through farmer field schools methodology, training them in basic scientific agricultural pre-planting and planting practices, post harvest management and storage.
Ms. Dorcus Adul, the LEAD Field Officer based in Lira says they do not work in isolation: they work with partner agencies and companies whose vision is to improve lives of the people.
“Our people are now experiencing a difference in their lives. They can see increase in their farm produce because they are planting the right seeds at the right time and in the right way. We have encouraged them to form farmer groups because the same time used to train one farmer now cuts across hundreds of them. Those who embraced our initiative give testimony and by example, they are bringing their friends on board,”
“We have extended our hand to agro-input dealers and we want each farmer to experience the change that will make everyone believe that agriculture can really improve lives,” Adul said.
Indeed one Moses Oundo, a social worker who went to work in the region with a child-focused agency has been integrated among the Langi people, speaks fluent Luo and now grows sunflower. He is one white collar job person who has gone to the land and he is not looking back.
