Busoga gets 50,000 hoes, youth urged on productivity

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Busoga region youth have been urged to engage in active agricultural productivity that will enable them to raise their household incomes.  

Luwero Triangle state minister Alice Kaboyo made the call while handing over 52,746 hoes worth sh580m. 

She also warned the youth against producing many children and alcoholism on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, during a function at Busoga Square in Jinja city.

The event was attended by district chairpersons, Resident district commissioners (RDC), chief administrative officers (CAO), veterans and the Busoga Parliamentary Caucus from the 12 districts which make up the region.

“Busoga is very fertile and has a good environment, use the hand hoes and your age group which is energetic to be agriculturally productive,” Kaboyo said.

She added that saying Busoga is poor and lives in absolute poverty should be in the past. She noted that communities surrounded by swamps should be guided on how best to use and maintain them without being degraded.

Alice Kaboyo the state minister Luwero triangle centre with veterans, RDCS, LC5 and veterans during the launch of the hoe project. (Credit: Doreen Musingo)

For the waterlogged districts of Mayuge and Bugiri with Island districts like Namanyingo, she urged them to embrace palm oil tree growing.

“Cultivate your gardens well and embrace growing of oil palm trees a government programme where one keeps harvesting for 15 years,” Kaboyou said.

She noted that oil palm trees can replace pine trees that are causing environmental degradation.  

According to Kaboyo, her ministry is working closely with the Busoga Consortium with its patron Rebecca Kadaga, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Affairs, to see that the region gets a special government programme.

“Our annual budget for Busoga region affairs in the ministry was sh20b but we received only sh4b, which is also never fully released. My appeal is let’s combine efforts and engage the Government to increase the Busoga affairs budget with all the ministers from the region,” she said.

Idi Isabirye, the chairperson of the Busoga parliamentary caucus, called for a special affirmative action programme to address the unique demands and unfunded priorities of the region.

He urged the concerned authorities to distribute the hoes to the registered owners in a transparent manner.

Elijah Kagoda, the chairperson of the region's chairpersons, said youth who make up 70% of the population are migrating to urban centres but once empowered with the hoes, they will divert to productive agriculture.

Jinja Resident District Commissioner Richard Gulume said they are going to receive 4,300 hoes which will be distributed at the various sub-counties in the district.

Gulume urged communities to cultivate fast-maturing food crops to fight food insecurity and also regain its lost glory of being the food basket of the country.

He cautioned people against land fragmentation, hiring out their land for sugarcane growing, which has caused food insecurity.

Peter Okeyah, the Sigulu islands MP, which is majorly a fishing community, called for the ministry to also have a special arrangement of providing the legal fishing gear for them to resume fishing sustainably.