Uganda: How Bunyoro Farmers Will Reap From the Oil Project (Video)

How Bunyoro farmers will reap from the Oil project

In this Oil Report, we look at some of the efforts put in place to support farmers in the Bunyoro subregion.

Among other things, they are being engaged in improved farming practices and how to negotiate better deals with contractors in the oil and gas sector.

This expanse of cassava farm covering nineteen acres of land in Kasinyi, Buliisa district, belongs to fifty-year-old Milton Onencan.

Elated by his bumper harvest last year, Onencan took the bold step to expand his cassava garden this season in order to maximise output.

He is just one of the project-affected persons from the Tilenga industrial area who were compensated by Total Energies E&P.

As part of the package, he was offered training in a livelihood activity of his choice. The options were fruit growing, cassava farming, and animal husbandry. Onencan opted for cassava farming.

Onencan says the training he received has transformed his farming practice for the better, and his earnings as well.

With the compensation money and the knowledge acquired, Onencan has been able to scale up his farm from his original small plot to now nineteen acres of land.

However, it is not yet Uhuru for the now ambitious farmer.

Onencan is disappointed that the Oil Company's promise of value addition has been slow in coming, a fact he believes is holding him back from his full farming potential.

The issue of product quality is a long-standing challenge for local farmers eyeing opportunities to supply the oil and gas market. This is where entities like the Stanbic Business Incubator come in.

The Incubator's office in Hoima has specialised in supporting farmers to meet the standards specified by the oil and gas sector.

The emphasis under the incubator system is the one-acre practical model that helps farmers become more efficient with their land use.

The incubator helps farmers negotiate better deals with contractors in the oil and gas sector, in addition to running model farms, cold houses and standard facilities for storage, cleaning, and sorting of farm produce before it is taken to the oil and gas camps.

With the oil camps alone expected to host more than 150,000 people at the height of the development stage, the prospects for farmers like Onencan are seemingly endless. One can only hope that with the right training on value addition they will be empowered to make the most of the available opportunities while they last.

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