The Government has resolved to utilise idle land belonging to the agriculture ministry for massive production of food that can help fight hunger, which has posed a threat to the country.
For many years now, the country has faced the challenge of hunger, that has left some people dead, while other survivors are battling kwashiorkor.
Identifying land
Ministry of Agriculture officials have embarked on identifying land that has been lying idle before it is handed to government agencies, such as prisons, for cultivating.
“We are starting with the Uganda Prisons so that they produce crops that will benefit the country. Each region will benefit from seeds produced and the grain will be sold to the community at low prices,” the undersecretary in the agriculture ministry, Segawa Gyagenda, said.
Other government institutions that will be considered to use the land after prisons shall be the Police and army. With that, the Government is optimistic that the hunger challenge will become history as Uganda Prisons Service and other sister institutions shall produce big quantities of grain that will be supplied to the people.
“Currently we are buying grain at a high price because we import it, yet we have idle land that we can use for producing for our own,” Gyagenda explained.
He made the remarks during the inspection of government land in Serere and Soroti districts, measuring over 3,000 acres.
