New market offers hope to farmers  

Farmers in Adjumani District, including refugees, have been urged to take advantage of the multibillion market that has been constructed under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) in Kiraba Parish, Ukusijoni Sub-county, Adjumani District.

The Dzaipi Sub-county agriculture officer, Mr James Lowgenya, said on Monday that the Ukusijoni market has potential to become a regional market due to its strategic location.
He appealed to farmers in the area to take advantage of the new market to empower themselves economically.

“Most times, farmers are cheated by the middlemen who end up getting a lot of profits. This is the time for farmers to take advantage of this market so that they avoid the middlemen,” he said on Monday.
He said most of the farmers in Adjumani grow maize, simsim, rice and soya beans, but lack market for their produce.

Initially, traders were struggling under dilapidated structures, sheltering under trees and during rainy seasons, the market was suspended. The traders also lost their goods to rain and theft because there were no secure places to keep them. 
 Mr Mansur Alumai, a farmer in Bekeri Village, Ayiri Parish in Ukusijoni Sub-county, said: “This market is going to help us because we don’t have stores to keep our produce, and the market has some stores. We are happy that we shall start selling our produce at better prices.”  

 For Mr Alumai, who deals in cassava and rice, said: “I have been producing cassava and rice each year and I have been getting about Shs4m from sale of cassava and Shs3.5m from rice. With a proper market in place, I expect to earn more because I know the buyers will also increase.”
 The Ukusijoni Sub-county chairperson, Mr Dominic Arambe, said they are lucky to have been allocated this market, saying it is the only sub-county benefiting from a market project under the USMID programme.

“This market will attract a lot of farmers and produce dealers from the whole of West Nile and Acholi sub-regions and it will be a link to Juba due to its strategic location,” Arambe said.
The market is funded by the World Bank at a cost of Shs2.6b, has capacity to accommodate more than 1,000 traders. The project is expected to be completed next month.