Each Busoga family to rear chicken in new campaign

A new campaign aimed at compelling every family in Busoga Sub-region to rear local chicken got underway in Buwenge Town Council, Jinja District on Sunday.

The campaign, which targets all 11 districts in the sub-region, and aims at revamping the culture of bird-keeping in every household, is being championed by the government and Son Team. 

Col Okei Rukogota, the security mobiliser to counter radicalisation, says when a family is poor and lacks what brings them income on a daily basis, it is very easy to be lured to join terrorist groups with the hope of getting a better life.

“They are deceived that they are going to be taken to the Democratic Republic of Congo or any other foreign country to get jobs. So, poverty is a critical element in their ability or that helps people to be vulnerable to extremism,” Col Rukogota added.

 Busoga Sub-region has consistently been ranked the poorest region in the country by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).

Despite a significant reduction in poverty levels countrywide, the region still contributes the largest percentage of poor people (14 percent) in the country compared to other regions, Ubos said in its 2019/2020 report released in June 2021.

“We have grown up seeing people in most homes keeping local birds for subsistence consumption and as a source of income, which is no longer the case; we now think it is high time we brought this culture back,” Son Team progrmammes manager David Magumba added.

 According to Magumba, in regions like Mbarara, one may earn daily from milk, while in Buganda, one may depend on coffee, but in Busoga, there is nothing as sugarcanes can’t be sold on a daily basis.

But Magumba says they have spent over Shs150m in three years training people in eight districts of Busoga Sub-region on how to keep local birds.

The Executive Director Son Team, Charity Ninsiima, said for Uganda to reduce its dependence on foreign aid, every citizen must do something at home, including owning a local bird in the compound.

The development comes after National Agricultural Research Authority (Naro) and Busoga Kingdom last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding to reduce poverty levels in the Sub-region and transform agricultural practices from subsistence to commercial.

During the ceremony at Busoga Kingdom headquarters in Bugembe, Jinja North City Division, Busoga Kingdom Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Alex Luganda, said families in Busoga had “fundamentals and must-haves”, which included a chicken, goat, cow, and granary.