By: Ismael Kasooha

Kampala

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has unveiled a new campaign to facilitate the
transformation of the agricultural sector. The campaign, which will involve holding
agricultural expos in various villages around the country, comes weeks after
President Yoweri Museveni wrote to Nabbanja, outlining six policy proposals that
should be pursued to develop the agricultural sector.

The six policy proposals include production, multiplication, distribution, and
certification of seeds and stocking materials; disease control; agricultural
mechanisation and irrigation; and farmer education and mobilisation.

The others are partnerships with “big landowners” and Interventions in the fisheries
sector. “If we put emphasis on these issues, I’m sure that the farmers will benefit
from their sweat,” Nabbanja said as she launched the new campaign designed to
implement the President’s proposals at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala
last week.
The campaign, Nabbanja said, will focus on increasing agricultural production,
productivity, and profitability.
“Colleagues, I plan to organise eight farmer interaction events, or expos, across the
country in the next 2023-2024 financial year, commencing with greater Mubende,
which includes the districts of Mubende, Mityana, Kyankwanzi, and Kassanda,” the
Prime Minister added. “The expos will take place in the villages to enable us to reach
as many people involved in agriculture as possible.”

Nabbanja said that these expos will bring together small-holder farmers, large-scale
farmers, farmer associations, agricultural researchers, and agri-business companies,
among others, to exchange ideas on how best to improve production, productivity,
and profitability.

“The shows will focus on promoting agriculture through the sharing of knowledge and
ideas that can improve the farmers’ production, productivity, and profitability,”
Nabbanja explained. “Through this campaign, we will also address three major
challenges faced by farmers that include protecting farmers from fake inputs, hiking
the prices of inputs, and a lack of information.”

She noted that this campaign will facilitate the implementation of the Parish
Development Model, the current National Development Plan, and the NRM
Manifesto 2021-2026.
Nabbanja called upon all stakeholders, including government and non-governmental
organisations, to join hands to transform the lives of Ugandans through agricultural
transformation.

“The companies involved in value addition will showcase processing and value
addition technologies at the expos or during the mobilisation campaign,” she added.
“All the participants, including the farmers, will be able to see how products like
coffee, tea, cocoa, and milk are processed,”

Godfrey Kiwanda Suubi, the NRM vice chairman in charge of Central Uganda, noted
that the new campaign is timely and will address challenges that are hindering the
development of the agricultural sector and effective service delivery.

The minister for Local government, Raphael Magyezi, implored leaders at all levels
to always monitor government programmes, adding that the success of wealth
creation interventions heavily depends on the leaders’ “vigilance”.
End