Museveni rallies Tooro on commercial farming

KYENJOJO- President Museveni has rallied Ugandans to start practicing commercial agriculture to fight poverty at household level.
The President said majority Ugandans have remained poor because of practicing subsistence farming where they live from hand to mouth.

“What causes poverty among Ugandans is practicing subsistence agriculture where people work for consumption only while others who try to practice commercial agriculture don’t think through their calculations,” Mr Museveni said while addressing residents of Kyenjojo District at Nyarukoma Primary School playground on Friday.

He said government has built many roads in all corners of the country but it is unfortunate that some people who live near them are still poor, advising that people need to start embracing commercial agricultural and practice it on a large scale.

Appeal
“Those with big acres of land need to start growing maize, cotton, sugarcane, keep cattle and grow tobacco while those with small pieces of land can also prioritise fruits, coffee, fish farming and poultry. All these will help fight poverty at household level,” Mr Museveni said.

He said if the household income is to be increased, people should not wait for the government to extend services closer to them.
The President further cautioned people to stop fragmenting their land, saying it has made people lose land for cultivation. He instead advised parents to start giving shares of their property to children so that they do not fragment land.
The district chairperson, Mr William Kaija, urged Mr Museveni to help fight land grabbers threatening to evict many residents in the area.

Eviction threats
Mr Kaija said in Matiri, Ganyinayo, residents in about 30 villages face eviction. “Mr President, we need special attention on the issue of land grabbing because our people have failed to get justice in courts as it requires money. People who live in Matiri are being guarded by police to stay on their land” Kaija said. The Justice Catherine Bamugemereire- led Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters last year investigated the Matiri land issues but no official ruling has been made on the matter.

The President had earlier been in Tooro sub-region where he held a closed meeting with area leaders in Fort Portal Town and later commissioned road projects.

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