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Zombo's Shs10b tea project stalls
A member of the Zombo tea cooperative, Mr Richard Jakernga, at his tea plantation in Zombo District on August 5, 2024. PHOTO /PATRICK OKABA
What you need to know:
- Farmers express frustration, citing financial losses, lack of market, and inadequate support for maintaining their tea plantations.
About 1,000 tea farmers in Zombo District will have to wait longer to benefit from the Shs10 billion tea project.
Speaking to Monitor on Monday, Mr Richard Jakernga, a member of Zombo Tea Cooperative Society and farmer of Agawa Village in Abanga Parish, said his colleagues have abandoned it because they saw no future in the crop.
He said of 364 registered members, at least 300 have lost interest in maintaining their tea plantations, which are now covered by wild vegetables.
“The feasibility study on the tea factory was done in 2017 and this made communities offer their land for the factory. But since then no factories have been established. How can we be promised air,” he said.
And since the project has not taken off since 2015, some farmers uprooted the crop in anger in favour of short term crops.
The tea project was re-introduced by the government for economic transformation and wealth creation.
Another tea grower, Mr Robert Opokdhogwu, 73, with four acres of tea plantations, lamented his financial struggles despite heavy investment in tea.
Before tea, he earned at least Shs2 million annually from short-term crops such as beans, onions, and maize.
“I regret planting the tea. For the last eight years, maintaining the tea plantation has been difficult. I regret getting into this venture. There is no proper market and we are not taught on issues of value-addition,” he said.
While concurring with the farmers, the district production officer, Dr Walter Kumakech, , acknowledged the farmers’ challenges, stating that mobilising them to maintain their tea plantations has been difficult due to their financial losses.
“By now, farmers would be getting the returns of about Shs700,000 per acre from tea leaves because a kilo of tea fresh leaves is sold at Shs300. If the factory was put in place in 2015, farmers would reap from it,” Mr Kumakech said.
Kumakech noted that, out of 1,500 hectares of tea that were planted, only 800 acres are being maintained while 700 acres of tea are abandoned.
The first tea estate was set up in Abanga in Aka Sub-county in the 1960s by the former President Milton Obote.
About Zombo tea project
The Zombo tea project originated from a presidential pledge dedicated to the Alur Kingdom and facilitated by the Ministry of Agriculture through the National Agriculture Advisory Service to provide tea seedlings and capacity building for farmers.
Trouble started when seedlings were improperly distributed in some sub-counties, such as Erussi in Nebbi District, where they were dumped in a football field without notifying farmers.
The Executive Director of Alur Kingdom, Mr Vincent Ochaya, noted that the absence of a tea factory has severely impacted farmers, leading some to uproot their tea plants out of frustration.
“Some farmers become impatient to the extent of uprooting their tea, predicting failure. We are informed that procurement of machines for the factory is at procurement level. So, there is some hope,” he said.
“We gave 3,000 hectares of land to farmers for tea growing but they are frustrated. We need economic transformation,” Mr Ochaya said.
Failed projects
A Shs400 million mulberry project has also been disowned by farmers in Zombo, citing lack of awareness and capacity building.
The district Agricultural officer, Mr Patrick Anen-Iwu, said: “We have no control over our farmers because they have wasted a lot of money in maintaining their tea to improve their livelihood, but things have failed.”
