A cotton field in Mubuku. The low lands here were covered by water following heavy rains from the surrounding mountainous areas
Substandard seeds are adversely affecting the production of cotton in Kasese district, according to the local farmers. They also say that the unprecedented heavy rains led to flooding in the lowland areas mostly in Mubuku, which is likely to affect cotton production this season.
Information from the Coffee Development Organisation-CDO Western Region field office shows that in the last season farmers produced 11 million Kilograms of cotton, much lower compared to the last three seasons.
Due to the low production, CDO secured more cotton seeds from the Pader district to meet the local demand this planting season.
Joshua Ayebale, a farmer in Mubuku says that if the government had ensured quality the supply of quality cotton seeds to the farmers and provided the necessary incentives like pesticides, there wouldn’t be a need to buy cotton seeds from elsewhere.
He says this planting season, they have bought cotton seeds between 4000 to 5000 Shillings per bag compared to 3000 to 3500 Shillings previously.
“ …because seeds were scarce, so now you find people selling a bag at 5000 shillings, others 10,000 shillings but because we have no choice, you have to buy it…..”
Susan Atuhairwe, another farmer says some of the seeds she planted failed to germinate forcing her to buy more seeds for replanting. The farmer also decries the lack of extension services noting that no person from the district agriculture department is reaching out to them to assess the performance of their gardens.
“…it’s my third time that is replanting this field, we don’t know whether it’s the seeds or low rains, we are just confused, unfortunately, we haven’t seen anyone coming to know how our gardens are performing, we haven’t seen anyone.”
Adidas Bwambala, a cotton farmer n Kinyamaseke Town, says that farmers need to get value for their hard work by getting quality seeds that eventually lead to good pricing of their products. “Definitely if we can’t get good seeds at a fair price, as farmers we shall be farming for the sake of survival like now the cost of seeds was high and we doubt if the prices of cotton will be higher at the end of the season,” Bwambale noted.
Olive Kateba, another farmer says her cotton has germinated ununiformly and it has been invaded by pests at an early stage, which she attributes to poor quality seeds supplied by CDO. She says there is a need by CDO to test the seeds before they are supplied to farmers adding that they expect production to drop further this season.
Basemera Sephas Banura, another farmer wants the government to regulate the high rate of imports of such inputs and ensure the high-priced inputs are subsidized if farmers are to benefit from agriculture.
“The moment leaves begin to fold, we must start spraying but this depends on the kind of pests that has invaded your gardens, it’s true sometimes you see that you have put enough seeds in the holes but you find in one seed has germinated and in the other, they didn’t,” Banura said.
Adrian Katwetegyeke, the CDO Western Region coordinator attributes the poor germination of seeds to farmers who rush to plant before there is enough moisture in the soils but he is optimistic that production will be bettered with the ongoing rains.
Katwetegyeke however says they might need to establish f seeds from outside the district that didn’t perform well for other specific reasons.
-URN
