Kitgum cotton farmers worried as seeds fail to germinate

KITGUM-Cotton growers in Kitgum district are worried about growing the crop again after some of the seeds planted failed to germinate in the first season of planting.

Last season farmers registered only 60 percent germination rate something that forced them to abandon the cotton growing and opted for other crop enterprises in the new season.

Chairperson Mucwini United Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Odongto Odur Constantine, told this reporter that the growth rate of cotton in the first season discouraged most of the cooperators to extent that they opted for the growing of soybean, sunflower, and maize.

“The growth was not well, the village agents duped the farmers and gave out old cotton seeds stock that did not germinate well. They sold to farmers old seeds that were for last year and they were not kept well thus affecting the germination rate,” he said.

Meanwhile, at East Acholi Cooperative Union, the umbrella that brings all primary cooperatives in East Acholi, officials said farmers planted cotton after agents promised to get the market for the produce.

One of the cotton farmers, Omara Kilama, reported that he was forced to do re-planting after most seeds failed to germinate.

“Imagine the 10 acres of cotton that I planted but the germination rate was too poor that I had to do replanting where I had to inject in more resources,” he said.

To him, the village agents have to be checked otherwise they will fail the farmers who are already troubled with the unpredictable weather.

To us, farming is where we derive our livelihoods and no one should play around with the inputs that we use in the gardens, he said.

The issue of poor germination of seeds cut across other cooperatives that ventured into cotton growing last season.

District agriculture officer, Denis Ocira, however, said dealing with oil seeds is so challenging, especially when it comes to storage.

“Due to the high-quality content of oil in the oil seeds, they tend to lose their viability easily, coupled with poor storage among the farming communities thus affecting germination rate,” he said.

That is why we recommend that oil seeds should not be planted when one season has passed since the germination will be affected, he said.

Ocira said his office has not received any complaints from the farmers but advised them to always report such cases so that suppliers are asked to compensate them by giving more seeds.

Most cooperators in Kitgum district grow cotton, soybean, sunflower, and sim-sim.

Mucwini United Multipurpose Cooperative Society has a total of 426 members, it was established in 1998.

https://thecooperator.news/lango-cooperative-union-to-switch-from-cotton-to-dairy-fish-farming/

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