Lwengo residents angry over failed irrigation project

Lwengo. A section of residents in Kyassonko Village, Kisekka Sub-county in Lwengo District have criticised government for failing to operationalise an irrigation scheme established in the area two years ago.

The solar–powered irrigation system draws water from Kyoja Swamp on the Masaka-Ndagwe Road.
Established in November 2016, the project has failed to benefit the 45 targeted farming households under Kyassonko Small Scale Irrigation Farmers Association (KSSIA).
The farmers under the group grow crops such as cabbages, hot pepper and watermelon on shared hired gardens.

“In the beginning, there was insufficient water in the two main tanks. When we complained the ministry of Agriculture sent a technical person, Mr Kizza Matovu, who discovered that there was a problem with the stopper at the tanks,” said Mr Paskale Gasaaka, the chairperson KSSIA, during an interview with Daily Monitor on Sunday.
He added: “The stopper would block water from getting into the tanks. Mr Matovu worked on it and the water started flowing into the tanks.”

Complaint
Mr Gasaaka said for several months now the tanks have been overflowing and spilling the water into people’s houses.
“This happens during the day and it stops at night. The smaller distribution tanks get filled but water does not flow out to the drip irrigation pipes in our gardens,” he said.
Mr George Matovu Saitoti, the speaker of Lwengo District Council, said the district lobbied for the irrigation project under the Water for Production Programme in the Agriculture ministry.

Lwengo and Isingiro are the pilot districts for the project.
“A contractor was engaged to set it up at a cost of Shs280m. This project was a response to the farmers’ demand for a solution to the long droughts and water shortage which often resulted in poor harvests and food insecurity,” Mr Saitoti said in an interview However, Mr Matovu said he was surprised that KSSIA leaders had not contacted him over the issue.

He revealed that before government handed over the project to beneficiaries, the ministry trained three residents to carry out simple repairs.
“In fact, the water should not be overflowing because we had told them to control it manually right at the pump. In regard to the water not getting into the drip irrigation pipe, I think it is due to the impurities in the water since it is pumped directly from the swamp. They will need water filters,” he said.

Background

Last month, the Agriculture minister, Mr Vincent Ssempijja, said government is committed to establish more small-scale irrigation schemes as a way of improving agricultural production. Small –scale informal irrigation has been practised in Uganda since the 1940s. Formal irrigation development in the country commenced in the 1960s with the establishment of irrigation schemes such as Mubuku in Kasese District and Olweny Irrigation Scheme in Lira District which later collapsed due to poor management. Uganda has irrigation potential of 3.03 million hectares. Out of that, the current irrigation coverage is 0.5 per cent. The total land under irrigation is around 15,000 hectares.

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