Turn Naads into an authority, says Gen Saleh

Gen Salim Saleh, the coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), has tasked government to elevate the current National Agricultural Advisory Services (Naads) to an authority with powers to make critical decisions.
The elevation is part of changes, which officials from both Naads secretariat and OWC, say will achieve the set targets.

Lt Gen Charles Angina, the deputy coordinator of OWC, during the annual review on Friday, said Gen Saleh tasked government not to think of disbanding Naads but elevate it to an authority.

“Our senior [Gen Salim Saleh] said he would want to see Naads transformed to an authority which will be able to address issues of logistics. He said he does not support repealing of the Naads act because doing so will take us to a disadvantaged position,” Gen Angina said.
He said the elevation of Naads would enable the secretariat to deal with logistic issues which have been a challenge in the implementation of OWC.

Government last year tasked the Ministry of Public Service to reorganise government structures with merger of a number of government agencies in a bid to cut down costs. Many of the agencies are supposed to be reverted to the parent ministries. The changes are supposed to be effected in 2023.
However, the proposal by Gen Saleh is a direct slap in the face of the government and it is not clear if it will be implemented.

Gen Angina said their focus now lies on Agri-Led, a new approach which puts districts and farmers at the centre of planning. He said under the Agri-Led process, groups will be formed both in urban and rural areas with clear governance structures.

“This will make it easier for us to account for how many communities we have transformed instead of households which was the case with the first phase. Now in doing this, it will require us to ensure that we know everybody in the group,” he said.

Dr Samuel Mugasi, the executive director of Naads, said over the years, their budget has continued to dwindle. However, he said more attention should be put to providing inputs to farmers.

He said during 2018/2019 Financial Year, the secretariat was able to provide planting and stocking materials for the key strategic crops and livestock for family income and address food security concerns in the affected parts of the country.

Naads budget
Funding. The Naads ceiling approved by Parliament for 2019/2020 Financial Year has reduced to Shs145.9b from Shs250b for the 2018/2019 Financial Year. This represents a reduction of Shs104.1b (41.7 per cent).

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