The State Minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs, Huda Oleru, has appealed for a US$8.15mn supplementary for the ministry to implement the Food and Animal Feeds Security Project
The project aims at scaling up food and animal feeds security to avert the emerging shortages in the country. According to Oleru, her ministry was tasked to set aside funds from its budget to execute the project. The lead agencies implementing the project include the Chieftaincy of Production and Welfare (CPW), National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) and veterans cluster.
Sam Kiwanuka who heads the project under CPW, said 6,542 acres of maize, sorghum and soybean were planted in the previous season, with a goal of 10,000 acres anticipated for the 2023 planting season. “Part of the land targeted has not been harvested and we urgently require a combined harvester to facilitate quick harvest and mechanisation equipment to open up land for the new planting season,” Kiwanuka said.
Simon Terwane, managing director of the National Enterprise Corporation, said they utilised US$1.15mn out of the US$2.26mn that they had received, to execute land preparation, harvesting, post-harvesting and farm storage. He added that a total of 2,084 acres were planted with maize, beans and soy beans with a total expected crop yield of 4,568 metric tonnes from farms in Katonga and Kyankwanzi.
The deputy committee chairperson, Agnes Atim, tasked the agencies to present information on a clear exit plan to ensure food security in the country, after its mass production, while Stella Isodo, FDC, Ngora District Woman MP, emphasised the need to incorporate appropriate technologies into the project, which in turn can be accessed by the communities to improve farming.
