LIRA -Beekeepers in Lira district have been asked to form saving and credit cooperative organizations [SACCOs] to benefit from the Parish Development model [ PDM ].
The district entomology officer, John Bosco Okello, said beekeeping is one of the enterprises that has been picked under the PDM for financing.
“I want to urge you to be cooperative and also under work under farmers’ groups, then our extension staff will come and enroll you,” Okello said days ago during the celebration of World Bee Day in Lira City.
Other commodities prioritised under PDM include coffee, cotton, tea, cocoa, cassava, vegetable oil, maize, rice, sugar cane, fish, dairy, beef, bananas, beans, avocado, shea nut, cashew nut, and macadamia.
PDM is a development approach conceived under the third development plan [NDPIII] and prescribed by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) manifesto of 2021-2026.
It has seven pillars which include, production, storage, processing and marketing, infrastructures and economic services, financial inclusion, social services, mindset change, and cross-cutting issues [gender, environment, and disability].
Other important pillars are parish-based management information systems then also governance and administration.
Okello said the registration for PDM is free and that in the financial year 2021/22 government provided Shs 200bln targeting every parish to access an initial Shs 17 million as a revolving fund for members of the village SACCO.
Starting with the financial year 2022/23, each of 10,594 parishes will be receiving Shs 100mln per year for five years to fund PDM SACCO activities.
The Chief Executive Officer of Wimrob Bee Company, Robert Okodia urged people to take bees as a source of livelihood, income generation, and source of employment.
He said the enterprise is employing two million people in the country and the government should take the advantage to boost it to eradicate poverty in the household.
Uganda has a production potential of over 500,000 tonnes of honey annually, but it produces only 5,000 metric tonnes.
Okodia, who exports honey and beeswax to Netherlands, the United Kingdom among other European countries, says the country consumes more honey than what is being produced.
https://thecooperator.news/amudat-bee-farmers-appeal-for-honey-processing-plant/
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