By: Ismael Kasooha

MASINDI

The Prime Minister of Uganda Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah has asked residents of Masindi District and Bunyoro region in general to embrace the four-acre model as advocated for by President Yoweri Museveni.

“The president loves us and that is the reason he wrote how we can create wealth through the four-acre model by engaging in high value crops that can give you money even if you have small pieces of land,” said Nabbanja.

This initiative of the four-acre model was born out of the regional tours undertaken by H.E the President in May 2019, with the main focus on skills development and capacity building in mainly commercial Agriculture, Manufacturing, ICT and services.

The ultimate objective of the initiative is to identify ways of creating wealth and jobs to foster growth in household income and promotion of industrialization as a key driver of growth in the economy.

The Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah with other leaders from Masindi District after inspecting Biizi Catholic church that is due for completion

Nabbanja made the remarks while presiding over a fundraising drive for Biizi Uganda Martyrs Catholic Church in Masindi District on Sunday.

“The population is increasing at a faster rate but the land is fixed and in-elastic so we need to adopt farming methods that can yield more in small pieces of land. We need to move away from low value crops such as maize, sugarcane, rice and Tobacco because our land is increasingly getting scarce whereas the population is increasing,” said Nabbanja.

Nabbanja noted that this can be done effectively by embracing the four-acre- model being championed by President Yoweri Museveni who says one can partition the four acres to grow coffee, bananas, and pasture and do zero grazing, with each of the enterprises taking one acre.

The Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah poses for a group photo with servants (Children) in the church at Biizi Catholic Church in Masindi District

Nabbanja appealed to the public not to dare and engage in crops such as sugarcane, maize, tea, and tobacco if they don’t have 10 acres and above.

“Embrace crops like coffee, fruits, onions, tomatoes, and bananas among others because they are highly paying, and they require small pieces of land,” Nabbanja advised.

Nabbanja encouraged the people of Masindi to embrace the Parish Development Model (PDM) because it provides affordable capital which has no strings attached.

She assured the people that the government is committed to injecting more money in PDM which targets to move 39% of the Ugandan population from subsistence to the money economy.

Nabbanja also appealed to the people of Bunyoro to support the NRM government come 2026 elections and also vote for President Yoweri Museveni.
Meanwhile the Minister of State for Public Service Mary Grace Mugasa warned political leaders to desist from corruption in the recruitment process.

Mugasa said that job seekers who give out money are equally culpable and warned the public to desist from such tendencies.

“Jobs are not given on streets or in drawers but they are advertised and they are supposed to be given on merit. The one buying and the one selling jobs are all culpable,” said Mugasa.

Msgr. Joseph Birungi, the Parish Priest of Nyamigisa Catholic Parish commended the government for tarmacking the roads leading to the Parish headquarters, although he said the locals now face the challenge of lack of power.

At the fundraising drive, over 55m shillings was collected in cash and pledges.

End