MASINDI– Residents of Masindi district are dissatisfied with the inadequate extension services rendered by different officers of the district local government.
The residents expressed their concerns on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ meeting meant to discuss findings of a survey on sexual gender-based violence [SGBV] by Forum for Women in Democracy [FOWODE] at Country Inn in Masindi town.
Presenting the findings of the study conducted from different sub-counties in the district, FOWODE’s Elly Kirya explained that most residents complained about the inadequate extension services being rendered to the farmers in the district.
“Extension workers are invisible in villages. They are always in offices. The residents are finding it hard to get their services. Some of them are at the sub-county level but they’re not known in the villages,” Kirya explained.
Sunday Fred Kapinpin, a resident of Kibaaali village in Miirya Sub-county said that district extension workers have not helped to improve productivity in agriculture.
“Extension workers are being paid using taxpayers’ money but no service delivered. Our farms have suffered from the armyworm infestation but we didn’t see them [extesnsion workers] coming to us to give us advice on how to handle it. They were given new motorcycles but no visibility. When do they work?” he asked.
He added that they want their superiors at the district level to prevail over them such that they’re able to work.
“As men, we are supposed to work hard and provide for our families but this can be achieved if we are getting adequate agriculture advisory services. When there’s high productivity there will be no gender-based violence in families,” said Kapinpin.
Kirya said that the farmers also decried the high prices of agro-in-puts products like herbicides, fertilizers, and others like pesticides.
“They want the government to reduce taxes on these products such that they’re able to buy them.”
Last week, Masindi sugarcane farmers while meeting the state minister for Trade Industry and Cooperatives [MTIC] David Bahati requested government to intervene and reduce taxes on agro-in-put products.
“We want the government to handle the issue of fake agro-inputs and the high cost of these products. As farmers, we are choking on fake agro-inputs, and yet we are spending a lot of money on them,” they said, urging the government to subsidize the prices of such chemicals.
Commenting on the issue of extension workers, the principal assistant secretary to the chief administrative officer [CAO]acknowledged the issues raised by the residents and promised to provide a solution.
He added that they have few extension workers compared to the number of sub-counties and the town councils.
“We had nine sub-counties but now we received nine new administrative units. These people cannot be everywhere. They may not be available at the time you want them. Some of them are working in three sub-counties,” he explained.
He however noted that extension services are demand-driven, advising that whenever they need them they should always call the officials.
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