By Our Reporter
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni over the weekend handed over a consignment of value addition equipment to farmers in a bid to boost agriculture across the country.
Shortly after the handover ceremony that was held in Wakiso District and attended by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, the President stated thus;
“I officiated at the handover of value addition equipment and grants to beneficiary farmer organizations at Namalere Agricultural Referral Mechanization Centre in Wakiso.
This equipment will go to the villages. This project is aimed at reminding farmers that agriculture is a business and they should earn from it, and it is just the beginning, we are going to do more for the farmers.
Meanwhile, these machines are made here in Uganda by companies like Musa Body limited and the other companies.”
He added that; “I am happy that we are moving in the right direction as far as transforming Agriculture from subsistence to commercial is concerned. We started the Palm oil project in Kalangala. The people on the island have become very rich now because of that project.”
The President also noted that; “We are building for you a leather processing plant at Kawumu and we are also going to put up an industry to make paper out of banana fibers. This is because we are spending about $300m importing paper.”
Museveni also called upon stakeholders in the agricultural to ensure that they stop the exploitation of farmers by dealers who sell them fake seeds.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to warn the people of NAADs and the Ministry of Agriculture to save our people from these fake imported seeds. We have very good local seeds.
For months now, I have boycotted onions because we no longer have ‘serious onions’. We are losing our original seeds with real flavor like onions, tomatoes oranges, and others just because some outsiders said we should lose them. They must be restored.
I remember when I went to the USA for the first time in 1987 and they gave me a pineapple, it tasted ‘strange’. I am therefore protesting our people from using imported fake seeds, we need to keep our foods with their natural flavor.”