MPs strategise for agricultural transformation

A fortnight ago, the government admitted that endeavours to fight poverty in northern Uganda were yet to yield substantial results.

There is, however, a popular belief that farming can bail out the region with a number of changes implemented.

But it all starts with education of masses which can be done through their leaders. That is why the government has taken a major step by taking 50 MPs from northern Uganda on a learning tour at the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI). They legislators were led by the State minister for Northern Uganda Grace Kwiyucwiny.

Training

“As leaders we have to be examples, I called upon MPs from northern Uganda to come and learn to show the way. We are here to learn and transfer the knowledge to our respective communities. We have been challenged to chase poverty out of northern Uganda and we can no longer do it the subsistence way but through extensive farming and commercial agriculture,” Kwiyucwiny said as she challenged the MPs to strategise by introducing the latest practices into their communities.

Field tour  

During the four-hour tour, the legislators were taken through practices that can help northern Uganda rise from subsistence to commercial agriculture as a tool of fighting poverty in the region.

A session led by head of vaccine research Moses Dhikusooka centered on how the use of vaccines can help control ticks.

Embryologist Dr Timothy Kasule took the group through some of the latest fertilisation techniques that can bring more calves in a shorter period of time, including the use of surrogate others.

Entomologist Dr Patrice Kasangaki gave a lecture on bee farming and how a few supplements can turn into a cash cow for the people of northern Uganda. The MPs where further trained how to deal with post-harvest.

Animal nutrition

Animal nutrition with different recipes and pastures on display was a big discussion as feeding animals is a key factor.

How an animal is fed determines what it can produce. A good example is how farmers were advised that feeding cows with grass alone is not enough to give them good quality and quantities of milk. The pasture can be supplemented with legumes that give proteins.

One of the most interesting sessions of the visit came when the group was enlightened on how cow dung is raw material to soap, bio briquettes for cooking and also used to produce power through a bio gas plant at the facility.

In the end, questions were asked and one that kept coming back was how the local farmer back home in northern Uganda could implement some of the observed methods of farming on a large scale.

It came down to the funding issue that has held back a number of farming projects meant to facilitate the transformation.  There was however renewed hope after the education tour.

“This visit is very critical for the enhancement of agricultural productivity in my district. What I have seen being explained here in terms of getting our livestock industry to a higher notch has been very plausible and it should have started a long time ago. As leaders of northern Uganda we are looking at post conflict recovery. If what we saw today can be put into practice, it will be satisfactory,” said Tony Awany, MP Nwoya County.