NFA orders farmers to vacate Kyankwanzi forest reserves
A garden of cassava inside Luwuunga Central Forest Reserve in Kiboga District. PHOTO | EDISON NDYASIIMA
What you need to know:
- Close to 5,000 residents have gardens inside forest reserves such as Luwuunga, which stretches to both districts, and Taala and Kikonda reserves in Kyankwanzi. Majority of the gardens have sweet potatoes, cassava and beans.
The National Forestry Authority (NFA) has ordered farmers with gardens in forest reserves in the districts of Kiboga and Kyankwanzi to vacate and pave the way for reforestation.
Close to 5,000 residents have gardens inside forest reserves such as Luwuunga, which stretches to both districts, and Taala and Kikonda reserves in Kyankwanzi. Majority of the gardens have sweet potatoes, cassava and beans.
According to Mr Tom Obong Okello, the NFA executive director, apart from planting trees, no other activity should be carried out in the forest reserves.
“Other things we see in forests which are not trees are considered to be weeds and we have to destroy them by spraying,” he said while meeting local leaders in Kiboga District last week.
Mr Okello warned that individuals planting trees in the forest reserves should be guided by NFA and must acquire licenses.
Mr Ivan Male, the Kiboga District assistant forest officer, revealed that 27 square miles of Luwuunga Forest Reserve had been earmarked for reforestation, but some had been turned into gardens.
“We are asking these people to voluntarily leave before we forcefully flush them out,” Mr Male said.
Recently, Mr Robert Yamani, the Kiboga District deputy speaker, who is also the councillor representing Nkandwa Sub-county, said they had held several meetings to encourage cultivators to leave, but many were still reluctant.
“We hear some encroachers are conniving with some NFA staff to acquire pieces of land for cultivation in forests. If this is true, it defeats our efforts to restore the destroyed forests in our areas,” he said
Many of the latest encroachers on forests in both Kiboga and Kyankwanzi were first evicted in 2007 and NFA contracted New Forest Company to plant Eucalyptus and Pine trees, according to Mr Yamani.
About reserves
Like in neighbouring Mubende, Kiboga and Kyankwanzi are among the few remaining districts in central Uganda with vast arable land and the area has been the scene of intense land wrangles for many years.
Some of the wrangles are between citizens, the State and refugees and hosting communities.
