Tumwebaze hands over tractors to the C.O.U
The Kotido District Elders council has asked the government to provide them with tractors for opening up the farmlands in order to promote food security in the region.
Recently, the eleven clans in the Kotido district offered 2,200 acres of land to the Elders council for commercial farming. The elders say they intend to start opening up the farmland in January and over 4,000 youth will be recruited to do garden work.
John Bosco Akore, the secretary of the Kotido Elder’s Council says that they are in need of four tractors to help them start commercial farming in the next year. He said the project also seeks to address the challenges of unemployment among the youth who are idle and thinking of cattle raids as the only means of survival.
Akore said they successfully acquired land from the clan leaders but now they are stuck because there is a lack of farm tools to enable them to start cultivation.
According to Akore, they shall start planting sorghum, cassava, maize, and fruits growing. He added that since President Museveni had early on promised tractors for farmers, this is now the time for him to deliver because they are ready and determined to embark on commercial farming.
Robert Kennedy Okuda, the district productions officer, says the government donates tractors to only groups that are registered and certified to be eligible for government support.
Okuda says getting land alone is not enough but instead the Elders should consider registering their land and have a consent form for the land acquired to avoid other complications that may arise.
Ambrose Onoria, the Resident District Commissioner for Kotido says that there is no need to ask for more tractors and yet the district has failed to maintain the existing ones that were given by the government.
Onoria also said he is skeptical about the Elders’ initiative to start commercial farming and yet the energetic youth who would help them are unbothered.
Onoria said he will only support the initiative after understanding the Elder’s work plan and also establishing that there will be people who will responsible for the farm tools if they are given.
Karamoja sub-regions have for long been trapped in a food crisis despite the abundance of uncultivated farmland. The survey on food insecurity from the Agriculture Ministry shows that the Karamoja sub-region is the most food insecure with almost 50% of the population facing a food crisis.
-URN
