Kampala — ABOUT 700 families, whose crops were recently destroyed by a hailstorm in Kagoma county, Jinja district, have received planting items from various companies for planting.

The items that included a lorry of cassava cuttings, 1,000kg of beans and 1,000 banana suckers, were distributed to the hailstorm victims at the county headquarters recently by the Jinja resident district commissioner, Christopher Bagonza, and the area MP, Fredrick Mbagadhi Nkaayi.

Nkaayi said the donation was a response to the letters he wrote to various companies and to the disaster preparedness ministry seeking help for the victims.

A hailstorm recently destroyed houses, banana plantations and other crops in Igombe, Kagoma, Butagaya, Muguluka and Magamaga villages.

Bagonza urged the farmers to make use of the rains by growing more crops to avert famine and to store some in preparation for such calamities.

He also warned farmers against selling farm inputs distributed to them through the National Agricultural Advisory Service (NAADS) programme.

BIDCO Oil Company, Nile Ply, Kakira Sugar Works and Youth Alive Development Foundation, are some of the companies that donated the planting items.