Prime
Museveni warns Sebei farmers off maize crop
Campaign. President Museveni receives a traditional calabash from women at Tesheni Village in Kamet Sub-county, Bukwo District after addressing a rally on June 20, 2019. PPU PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The President also cautioned residents against fragmenting land and sharing it as an inheritance, saying this, in the long run, results in unproductive yields, which leads to poverty.
- The Bukwo District council chairman, Mr Micheal Chebet Chebron, applauded the NRM government for fostering economic growth in the area.
President Museveni has urged residents in Sebei Sub-region to abandon maize growing because the crop takes long to mature in the area, asking them to concentrate on crops that thrive in semi-temperate climate.
The President was addressing hundreds of people at Kamet Primary School in Bukwo District on Thursday.
“In Sebei, I have discouraged the growing of maize. This is a cold area, it takes maize up to nine months to mature. You can grow other crops like wheat, barley that fetch you better money in a shorter time,” Mr Museveni said.
He added that failure by majority of Ugandan farmers to move from subsistence to commercial farming is one of the main factors Ugandans are still poor.
“Majority of our people are still stuck in subsistence farming. In the past it was okay but with advances in economies, it is no longer tenable since it cannot earn them enough money to meet the needs of this era of modernity,” Mr Museveni said.
The President also cautioned residents against fragmenting land and sharing it as an inheritance, saying this, in the long run, results in unproductive yields, which leads to poverty.
“Families should jointly own land and only share proceeds from the land based on an agreed shareholding formula. People should desist from land fragmentation because this causes a serious problem in terms of productivity,” he said.
Mr Museveni said the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party differs from other parties, because they have taken time to study Uganda’s problems and offered correct solutions.
“Take the case of our insistence on stabilising the country and other interventions like free immunisation for children. This has ensured our population grows rapidly. In 1979, when I was minister of defence, I visited Sebei, which had just about 20,000 people. Today, its population is about 500, 000,” he said.
The President’s visit was part of his regional campaign to foster wealth creation at the household level for economic development.
The Bukwo District council chairman, Mr Micheal Chebet Chebron, applauded the NRM government for fostering economic growth in the area.
“Under the NRM government, the district has registered tremendous achievements, especially the tarmacking of Kapchorwa-Suam road,” he said.
Mr Chebron, however, said despite the achievements, some sub-counties still face challenges of access to education and health services.
