LRA survivor offers land for government project

A survivor of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion has offered 20 acres of land to government to facilitate the implementation of a community rebuilding project.
Mr Caesar Lukwiya, a resident of Ayweri Village, Paibona Parish, Awach Sub-county in Gulu District, offered the land for the establishment of an irrigation scheme.
“I appreciate development so much; that is why I have offered the land to government to have such kind of project implemented in our area,” he said. Mr Lukwiya has about 100 hectares of land he inherited from his forefathers.
He was kidnapped and his three children killed by the LRA rebels.
“When we returned from the camp in 2009, there was nothing left apart from land, which some people had already even started encroaching on,” Mr Lukwiya said.
The irrigation scheme, which is now benefiting 72 farmers, was constructed by the Ministry of Water and Environment through Water for Production Regional Centre – North.
Daily Monitor last week toured the project and found dozens of farmers preparing their gardens for the next planting season.
“We target to get Shs100m from the harvest sales,” Mr Ben Oling, a group leader, said.
“In the first season, we had challenges of water because of the prolonged dry spell. This time round, we have reliable rainfall and the irrigation pump is very good. The water is enough for all our plots, even farming activities have started on well,” he added.

Ministry pledge
Mr Henry Kizito, the principal engineer in-charge of planning and quality assurance at the Ministry of Water and Environment, said government is committed to improving the livelihood of all Ugandans.
“Our objective as government is to support the farmers to increase household income and we are not going to do that by giving out handouts. You can get this income by engaging in productive activities,” he said.