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PDM cash spikes prices of livestock
President Museveni launches the Parish Development Model programme in Kibuku District in March 2022. Many Local Government officials have been arrested for misappropriation of the fund.
The availability of Parish Development Model (PDM) cash in circulation has enticed residents in rural Teso into rushing to cattle markets to buy sheep and goats.
The government’s latest poverty alleviation scheme, PDM sets out to change the livelihoods of 39 percent of Ugandans who are living outside the money economy. Up to Shs100 million is made available to each parish in the country annually.
At Otuboi Cattle Market in Kalaki District, the asking rate for a sheep, which three months ago cost Shs100,000, has doubled.
“The fellow rural folks, especially mothers who have received PDM cash from their parishes, are all rushing in for either sheep or goats which multiply at a faster rate,” Mr Joshua Emetu, a dealer in livestock business based in Anyara-Moru, Kalaki District, told this paper last Saturday.
He further revealed that they have had to go to the northern and southern Karamoja markets to look for sheep and goats to meet the demand in Teso.
Mr Emetu said a heifer that previously was at Shs600,000 currently goes for Shs800,000 because of the demand.
Ms Grace Ayado, a resident of Alwa Sub-county in Kaberamaido District, said: “We can’t keep the money in cash because it may end up being misused.”
The situation is the same for Kapelebyong District, which has already disbursed Shs7 billion to its parishes.
Mr Michael Eladu, a resident of Oditel in Kapelebyong Sub-county, revealed that sheep and goats in animal markets are few and far between.
“I have had to settle for three sheep and one goat from the Shs1 million I got from our parish,” Mr Eladu disclosed.
Ms Jennifer Akajo, who got her Shs1 million from Kaberamaido Town Council, bought four goats before using what was left to boost her silverfish business.
“My four goats are like money deposited in the bank and accumulating interests because for us in Teso, we have a belief that wealth is in livestock,” she explained, adding that she expects the four female goats to multiply to eight by next year.
The area LC5 chairperson, Mr Vector Rex Ekesu, said this is the best utilisation of the money.
