Compensation woes hamper oil palm project in Buvuma

The oil palm growing project in Buvuma District has suffered a setback after some residents blocked the exercise, claiming it was being carried out on their private land without compensation.

Although the government agreed to pay for private land to expand the project, a section of residents fear that they may not get their money due to delayed compensation.

According to the government plan, oil palm growing, which kicked off in the island district last year, was supposed to cover 89 villages.

However, the project has so far been embraced in only 23 villages scattered in the sub-counties of Busamuzi, Buwooya, Nairambi and Buvuma Town Council.

Compensation issue
Mr Salim Iruba Maiso, the chairperson of Buvuma Oil Palm Growers Cooperative Company, said some residents are still reluctant to allow the government to grow oil palm trees on their land, insisting that they have to first receive their compensation packages.

“Many project-affected persons surrendered their land willingly after being promised compensation six years ago. They opened up bank accounts but the money is not forthcoming,” he told Saturday Monitor in an interview on Thursday.

Mr Adrian Ddungu, the Buvuma District chairperson, said although some residents have refused to vacate land earmarked for the nucleus estate, the outgrowers have embraced the project. 

“But it is good that on the outgrowers side, things are moving on smoothly. I appeal to government to expedite the compensation process.” he said 

Last year, outgrowers had a target of planting 500 hectares of oil palm, which was fulfilled, but on the nucleus estate, only 700 hectares were planted out of 2,000 hectares which were cleared during the same year.

Mr Moses Chuna Kapolon, the Buvuma District Chief Administrative Officer, partly attributed the delay in compensation to internal wrangles between tenants and landlords.

“In some villages such as Kibondwe, Bwiri, Maye and Mwito, there are still conflicts between tenants and landlords. In some cases, relatives [sharing the land] have not yet agreed on who will receive the compensation money,” he said.

He added that a total of 15,014 residents have since been compensated.
While inspecting young oil palm plantations in the district last month, State Minister for Agriculture, Mr Fred Bwino Kyakulaga, tasked the district leaders to compile a list of remaining claimants so that the ministry can assess them and process their payments.

“We want this project to move faster as planned and compensation shouldn’t be a stumbling block,” the minister said then.

According to the government plan, oil palm tree planting in Buvuma is going to continue until 2025 when they expect to hit their total target of 1,944,000 oil palm trees.

Oil palm in Uganda

The plan to grow oil palm on Buvuma Island is part of the government’s wider plan to expand the edible oil industry in the country.

Oil palm growing in Buvuma is implemented by National Oil Palm Project (NOPP), which also manages oil palm plantations on Bugala Islands in Kalangala District.

Since the advent of oil palm growing in the country in 2005, Kalangala has been enjoying the monopoly of cultivating oil palm, where more than 10,000 hectares of oil palm trees have been planted, with 6,500 hectares operated by NOPP while 3,500 hectares belong to outgrowers.

Second phase
Under the second phase of the project, which covers Buvuma islands, the government also plans to extend oil palm cultivation to other districts, including Masaka, Kyotera, Buikwe and Mukono.

The government has secured $210m (about Shs743b) from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to fund the second phase of the project.