BoU urges farmers to attend Farm Clinic

Kampala.

Bank of Uganda (BoU) has urged farmers to attend the 11th Seeds of Gold Farm Clinic set for Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute Kabanyolo (MUARIK) on Saturday.
According to the BoU head of Agricultural Credit Facility, Ms Rosette Bamwine, the Seeds of Gold Farm Clinic is the ultimate platform for them to link up with active and prospective farmers.
Speaking at the press conference at Monitor Publications Limited (MPL) offices in Namuwongo yesterday, Ms Bamwine revealed that they got value for money in the last two editions of the Farm Clinic, and they have thus injected Shs20m into this weekend’s agriculture learning session that seeks to improve the livelihoods of farmers.
“We were happy with the feedback we got from the recent Farm Clinics in Mbarara and Hoima as farmers got to know about the Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF) service,” Ms Bamwine revealed.
“Access to finance is not the only problem but also skilling the farmers and getting extension services. Most financial institutions have not been helping the farmers because of the inherent risks related to agricultural production but through the Farm Clinic, the farmers get the skills and know which lines to follow,” she added.
BoU anticipates better yields, expanded markets and improved income that can attract the banks into investing more in agribusiness after the Farm Clinic.
According to the Nation Media Group (NMG) Uganda managing director, Mr Tony Glencross, the session will for the umpteenth time put particular emphasis on climate change.
“We are going to focus on climate change because in dry times such as these, farmers need to learn when to plant and how to plant,” he said.
“I have been very unsuccessful farmer but I will be there on Saturday to learn. This is one way of giving back to community. We need a growing and pros-perous community and we look forward to seeing many farmers because the success of the Farm Clinic session is guaranteed like it has always been,” Mr Glencross said.
Experienced MUARIK farm manager Chris Tweyambe has reiterated the agricultural institution’s mandate to train and enhance farmers with updated information which they are to base on this weekend.
“We shall extensively handle dairy, delving into latest feeding, breeding and pasture trends. While teaching about bananas, we shall look at the planting of biosafety plants that can tolerate all weather conditions and give high yields,” he promised.
The agronomist added that the goat rearing enterprise is a step to lift the Farm Clinic to another level as farmers will learn more about its multidimensional facet. Fish farming, green house management and backyard farming plus farm economics are to form their other pertinent enterprises to be taught.