The National Agricultural Research and Development Organization has appealed to GIZ [Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit] and partner organisations to train farmers in post-harvest handling, storage, modern farming methods, and strengthen cooperatives.
Dr. Laban Turyagenda, the director of Ngetta Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute [ZARDI], said post-harvest losses account for 30 percent while traditional farming methods account for 50 percent of the total losses that farmers in Uganda incur.
Turyagyenda was speaking to farmer groups, cooperatives and other stakeholders at Ngetta ZARDI in Lira City East Division, Lira City in a Business Linkage event organised by GIZ under the theme; “Unlocking regional Agricultural growth through Farmer Organizations.”
The event was part of the GIZ Rural Development Programme [PRUDEV] which is funded by German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development [BMZ]. It brought together over 200 actors in the agriculture value chain including farmers, input providers, processors, exporters, agri-technology companies, private sector, and officials from local government.
The linkages event is a business-to-business capacity building and collaboration initiative, and as such, it is crucial for actors are building business relationships that can help rural farmers and agricultural enterprises to grow and contribute to national development by way of paying taxes, creating jobs and ensuring food security.
The business linkage platform targets to increase the market and entrepreneurial focus of agricultural producers and micro, small and medium- sized enterprises and strengthening of farmer-based organisations [cooperatives and associations].
PRUDEV is being implemented in the districts of Oyam, Lira, Amolatar, Dokolo, Agago, Kitgum, Napak, Gulu, Otuke and Pader.
Turyagyenda said farmers inject a lot of money in inputs, labour among others but during the harvest, they reap losses, which he said is the reason behind food insecurity in Northern Uganda.
“In Uganda alone over eight million people are hungry according to the Food and Agriculture Organization and in northern Uganda malnutrition is 25 percent,” he said.
According to the Team Leader, Local Economic Development – one of PRUDEV’s interventions, GIZ is supporting districts to strengthen utilization of local resources to create more employment opportunities and revenue.
He said Agriculture also suffers from limited institutional and individual capacity, inadequate cooperation between the public and private sector including limited resources.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Uhuru Institute for Social Development [TUI], Leonard Okello said a number of cooperatives’ reports submitted to the district commercial officers, donors and partners are falsified to appease them and attract funding.
“Most of us formed a cooperative society with a target to attract and solicit funding from development partners but not with a heart of cooperative principles,” Okello said.
“Therefore, if we are to move forward and generate income for members and pay tax to the government, we should preach the gospel of cooperative principles and ethical values,” he added.
He noted that cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. “Cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.”
He urged cooperatives in Uganda to work hard and contribute to national development. “Cooperatives in Kenya contribute 45 percent to the GDP while in Uganda cooperatives contribute only 2.5 percent to GDP, which means we still have a lot to do,” he added.
He urged the cooperative members to be more focused and work hard towards strengthening the cooperative if the fight against poverty is to be realised.
Angella Ocen Ogwal, the Chairperson of Dokolo Oyee Medo Ngeca Local Seed Growers Cooperative said as a result of the partnership with GIZ, they have started to get higher prices for their produce.
She added: “At one time we had a very strong cooperative for Lango and Acholi but it collapsed. We are now telling people the benefits of togetherness because we are now able to get a better market for our produce.”
https://thecooperator.news/desist-from-use-of-chemicals-farmers-urged/
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