Grow coffee to fight poverty, minister Ssempijja urges PDM beneficiaries

MASAKA – The Minister for Defence and Veterans Affairs, Vincent Ssempijja has advised the beneficiaries of the Parish Development Model [PDM] in Masaka City to embrace coffee growing, saying the cash crop would quickly help them to fight poverty and move to the money economy.

“If the beneficiary PDM households engage in coffee farming whose commodity price is very high, their incomes will increase and their welfare will quickly improve,” Ssempijja said.

The PDM, launched in February 2022, is a government programme that aims to move 3.5 million households in Uganda from the subsistence economy to the money economy within five years, beginning with the current financial year 2022/2023.

Government has earmarked over Shs 1 trillion each year for the residents in 10,594 parishes to engage in commercial production, especially in enterprises such as coffee, poultry keeping, fish farming, dairy farming, as well as growing cereals and grains, among others.

Minister Ssempijja asked parish chiefs in Masaka City to guide the PDM beneficiaries to at least plant one acre of coffee, saying the crop has an international market. Uganda is one of the leading exporters of coffee in the world.

He was speaking during the launch for the disbursement of Shs 802 million to the PDM beneficiaries in the 25 parishes/wards that makeup Masaka City. Masaka City with an estimated land area of more than 89, 554 acres is considered to be an agricultural city.

Masaka city PDM focal person, Sheila Akello said the peri-urban communities in the city have embraced the PDM more than those living in the urban centres.

She said about 277 peri-urban households have selected for the coffee agricultural enterprise, 160 households chose piggery, and 158 households took on poultry keeping.

A few urban households have opted for high-density farming to utilise their small pieces of land.  They chose to engage in goat, rabbit, and dairy cattle rearing, cage fish farming and growing of vegetables, tomatoes, maize, passion fruit, and banana for food and household incomes,” she said.

She noted that the number of youths, elderly, and people living with disabilities [PWDs] mobilised into the PDM is still very low. She advised the parish chiefs to ensure that all the marginalised groups are brought on board so that they can also improve their welfare.

According to the PDM guidelines, the youth are entitled to 30 percent of the Shs 100 million that government intends to send to the parishes annually. The PWDs and the elderly are entitled to 30 percent of the Parish Revolving Fund [PRF] managed by the PDM SACCOs.

Other the other hand, Women, older persons, and men/general community are entitled to 30 percent, 10 percent, and 10 percent of the PRF, respectively.

The chairperson of Masaka coffee farmers, Joseph Ssebatta welcomed the minister Ssempijja’s advice on coffee growing, saying the households in the area need to grow the cash crop if they are to fight household poverty.

According to Uganda Coffee Development Authority [UCDA], Masaka area has more than 400,000 households fully involved in coffee production and it is estimated to produce 2 million bags of Robusta coffee every year.

PDM senior policy analyst, Patrick Mutoni who doubles as PDM regional coordinator for Greater Masaka asked the beneficiary households to utilise the funds as guided in the fight against poverty.

“These are revolving funds and you as beneficiaries should know that it is supposed to be paid back so that other people who are also subsisting can benefit,” he said.

He also urged the PDM partner banks to give technical assistance to all the beneficiaries, especially on bookkeeping, policy advocacy, marketing strategies, and other related services.

Meanwhile, the Masaka resident city commissioner, Hussein Hudu said nobody would be spared if they fail to pay back the PDM money.

He asked the parish chiefs to monitor the PDM activities and ensure that the funds are utilised for commercial production.

At least 367 PDM SACCOs have been established in the Greater Masaka region and capitalised with Shs 22 billion.

https://thecooperator.news/global-coffee-exports-drop-9-6-percent-in-march-2023/

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