Daniel Edyegu And John Omoding
13 May 2008
Kampala — THE National Agricultural Advisory Services has allocated sh5.8b to Teso sub-region to fund the second phase of the project. The executive director, Dr. Silim Nahdy, said the phase that starts next financial year and will last five years, would focus on the commercialisation of agriculture, improving household incomes and food security.
"Most farmers still grow crops on subsistence scale. In the next phase, our main focus will be to integrate agro-processing with the advisory services to minimise farmers selling primary products that fetch low prices in the market."
Nahdy was last week speaking during a consultative meeting to review the performance of the programme in the region with resident district commissioners, MPs, district chairpersons, NAADS coordinators and district secretaries of production.
He urged the leaders to closely monitor the projects in their areas to eliminate problems like corruption that affected the first phase.
"NAADS faced many shortfalls that will require a correction process. Political leaders must get involved in monitoring the activities. Excluding them would be a recipe for failure."
The Government, noted the state minister for disaster preparedness, Musa Ecweru, would not tolerate corruption.
"We need to realise complete transformation of our local farmers through NAADS. Anybody who misappropriates the funds will be arrested and justice takes its course."
Bukedea Woman MP Rose Akol asked the Government to restore railway transport in Teso to enable farmers cheaply ferry their produce to Kampala markets and abroad.
The Government was reminded by the retired bishop of Soroti Anglican diocese, Geresom Ilukor, to fulfil its promise of constructing a juice factory in the region to process the abundant oranges and mangoes, all of which could not be consumed by residents.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
