Perhaps its NRM, not Ugandans, that needs to change its mindset

Victoria Nyeko

This week, Uganda marked her 56th Independence anniversary with national celebrations held at Kasasa Grounds in Kyotera District.

Although there was nothing controversial in President Museveni’s speech this year, what caught my attention was the way he mentioned agriculture, almost in the same way as in previous speeches, although this time there was more emphasis placed on ways to improve agricultural productivity.

“This financial year, government will roll out irrigation projects in at least 14 districts, there are a number of irrigation projects we are going to launch soon and they will enhance our efforts in agriculture,” President Museveni remarked.

Considering that agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy, employing at least 85 per cent of the population, substantive government investment in productivity improvements seems absent.

The irrigation methods that government has demonstrated in the past to farmers seemed rudimentary and inconsistent with the idea of transforming subsistence farming to commercial farming.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the agriculture sector seems to be one of the slowest growing segments at only 3.2 per cent per year. According to government, the reason the sector is struggling is due to the population’s “mindset” which needs to drastically change.

“Our people cannot benefit anything from agriculture when they are still farming for subsistence purposes. Leaders here need to take it upon themselves to sensitise people to understand commercial agriculture to guarantee food and household income,” Mr Museveni said.

From the public’s perception and observations, it would seem as though it is instead the NRM government’s mindset in the agriculture sector that needs to urgently change. They need to invest more in improving productivity through modern tools.

In 2014, then presidential advisor Rose Zimulinda made some interesting comments at the 23rd Ordinary AU Heads of State Summit held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

“The vast majority of Africans consider themselves farmers, but very few have basic agricultural knowledge to produce commercial food. We must stop viewing agriculture as a rudimentary activity. The current harsh reality of poverty can be traced back to lack of agricultural development. There is a misconception that the engines of growth lie outside of agriculture,” she said.

Surprisingly however, over the last 30 years of NRM rule, the agriculture sector seems to have moved backwards; people have become poorer and productivity methods are lagging behind with introduction of methods such as irrigation by water bottle.

Government has neglected its responsibility of setting up effective model farmers across the country to share knowledge, skills and access to technologically developed farming techniques to encourage others to grow from subsistence to commercial farming.

In Brazil, the success of the economy is attributed to agriculture and strong government leadership in rural policy, new research institutions and dedication to training farmers and technicians.

Brazil defined agriculture as a knowledge-based activity and designed policies, institutions to deliver scientific and technical knowledge to farming communities to improve livelihoods. Uganda, regrettably, seems to be heading towards an uncertain direction if the agriculture sector fails to progress from subsistence to commercial farming.

Ms Victoria Nyeko is a media commentator.
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Twitter:@VictoriaNyeko