Ngetta zonal agricultural research and development institute in Lira city has asked the agriculture ministry for an irrigation facility and tractor to facilitate seed production in the facility.
“This area is prone to drought, and it is the centre of seeds. If we are able to get 50-60 acres under irrigation, it will support us to have the best seeds for the farmers because the 12 acres we have is too little,” said Dr Laban Turyegenda, the director of the institute.
He also said there is a lot of insecurity in the area, adding that thugs have vandalised and made off with some spare parts of irrigation facilities, though they managed to recover.
Turyegenda said they are now forced to keep the sprinklers in the stores and only fix them when they are going to use them for irrigation.
The Lira district chairperson, Richard Coxson Okello Orik, asked the ministry to upgrade the institute into a seed certification centre so that the seeds are tested, packed and distributed from Ngetta.
