By Wilson Asiimwe
The prime minister of Bunyoro kingdom, Andrew Byakutaga, has urged the people of Bunyoro sub-region to embrace modern agricultural practices, saying that is the only way people can improve their livelihoods.
Byakutaga said the kingdom, working with other development partners, is helping farmers to get modern tools to promote large-scale farming and urban farming.
He said the kingdom had trained farmers from all the districts of Bunyoro in urban farming in preparation for supply to the oil and gas sector.
“As a kingdom, we have started preparing our farmers to benefit from the oil and gas sector through urban farming. We already have a demonstration farm in Hoima, where farmers are being trained from,” Byakutaga said.
He made the remarks on Saturday while presiding over the Abayonza-Abaisanza clan general meeting in Kikuube town council, Kikuube district.
Byakutaga added that the kingdom, in partnership with Uganda National Oil Company, had already laid strategies on how local farmers can directly supply food to the oil companies to earn money.
Byakutaga said the kingdom trained over 150 farmers’ groups last year and that selected farmers were trained in modern urban farming.
“The training will lead to increased food production and enable people to tap into markets around them,” Byakutaga said.
He said farmers should engage in poultry, livestock production and urban and peri-urban agriculture to produce food for consumption and income generation. Byakutaga appreciated the Abayonga-Abaisanza clan for getting together and devising strategies for developing their clan. He said the kingdom is mobilising and strengthening clans, which are its pillars.
“We want to see every clan and its members registered with the kingdom administration so that we can easily work together for development,” Byakutaga said.
Clovis Byakagaba, the clan elder, warned the members against the increasing cases of gender-based violence, which he said have threatened many families.
“In our clan, you would not find youths who are drunkards and men who beat women. But the situation is now worse. Some of our young girls even want to strip naked in public,’’ Clovis said.
Ibrahim Mugenyi, the chairperson for Kikuube town council, said with funding from the agriculture ministry, they are constructing a mini irrigation scheme to provide water for farmers.
“We have started the construction of small solar-powered irrigation schemes, which will provide water for farmers so that they are able to produce food throughout the year, hence increase their earnings,” Mugenyi said.
