GULU CITY, March 8, 2025 – Gulu City Woman Member of Parliament, Betty Aol Ocan, has donated 2,500 chicks to 37 different groups of widows in the city to boost their poultry projects and enhance their livelihoods.
The delivery of the exotic chicks took place days ago at Onang Cell in Pageya Ward, Bardege-Layibi Division, Gulu City, where a total of 1,500 individual members from various widow groups benefited.
In addition to the chicks, the MP pledged to donate 5,000 coffee seedlings to the widows in Gulu City, encouraging them to embrace coffee farming. Coffee continues to fetch good prices globally, and Aol believes that its cultivation can significantly improve household incomes of the widows.
She also expressed her commitment to helping the widows join coffee cooperative societies, highlighting the numerous opportunities that cooperatives provide for their members.
“I will ensure they join cooperatives, which will empower them to earn significantly from coffee farming and help fight poverty at the household level,” Aol said.
Aol, who is also a widow, revealed that she had set up a coffee farm this year as an example for other widows in Gulu City. “I am one of the widows in Gulu City, and this year I decided to plant 15 acres of coffee to serve as an example and motivate other widows in the Acholi Sub-region to take the lead in coffee farming,” Aol said in an interview with this reporter.
On her part, the Agness Amito, Chairperson of the Library Ward Widows’ Association, told theCooperator News that the chicks received by the members would help expand their poultry projects and enhance their household incomes.
Hellen Acan, the Chairperson of the Onang Widows’ Group in Onang B Cell, Pageya Ward, Pece-Laroo Division, Gulu City, thanked MP Aol for her continued support for vulnerable groups in the city. She added that the widows face significant challenges in caring for their children.
“We thank Honourable Aol for her support, but the government needs to do more to help widows, as we are among the most vulnerable people in Uganda who require financial assistance to care for our children,” she said.
For his part, Geoffrey Otim, the Division Mayor of Pece-Laroo Division, Gulu City, told The Cooperator News that the local government is encouraging widows to embrace commercial farming as a means of sustaining their families through the sale of agricultural produce.
“Many widows in Gulu City need to focus on commercial farming to support their families,” he said, urging the widows not to send their children to the streets to beg. He also emphasised that involving widows in farming enterprises, such as poultry and coffee, could significantly help in eradicating poverty across the wider Acholi Sub-region.
https://thecooperator.news/gulu-pdm-beneficiaries-suffer-losses-following-death-of-pigs/
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