Over 500 youth leaders to receive heifers

MBARARA – Preparations are in high gear for the youth leaders across Uganda to receive in-calf heifers as part of the government’s efforts to make the young people participate in the country’s economic activities and create wealth.

According to Dr. Samuel Mugasi, Executive Director, National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), the delivery of 540 heifers to youth leaders in the country is a fulfillment of the presidential pledge in 2021.

Mugasi said on Wednesday that President Yoweri Museveni, through the heifer project, wants to support and economically empower the country’s youth to develop themselves, but also that the heifer project would partly sort out the issue of searching for white-collar jobs, which are currently scarce.

He said that it is a deliberate move to start with youth leaders as a way to show other youth in the country that they can also benefit from such projects aimed at increased production and income generation.

The official made the remarks in Mbarara City while meeting beneficiaries from Kigezi and Ankole sub-region as they were undergoing a series of trainings in livestock management at Mbarara Zonal Agricultural Research And Development Institute (MbZARDI). The training was held to prepare the selected youth leaders to receive heifers from NAADS secretariat.

However, the NAADS boss challenged those who have crossed the youthful age to pave way for others to benefit.

“You find the faces that benefited in 2016 are the same youth who are receiving heifers today yet it should be a test of leadership to pave way for the other,” Mugasi said.

Meanwhile, Grace Kazigati, the Agribusiness Development Officer NAADS secretariat said the training focused on mind-set change to stimulate the youth leaders’ thoughts towards diary production.

“We are conducting similar workshops in seven other regions. In Ankole and Kigezi sub regions, we have targeted 68 youth leaders to receive the heifers in the first disbursement. We are showing them the way of doing things in as far as family and business is concerned, and teaching them about the profitability in dairy production,” Kazigati said.

“They should know that every action taken and done will affect the level of profitability that they expect from their heifers,” she added.

Kazigati promised to deliver 75 percent of the in-calf heifers in the next two weeks when the beneficiaries will be ready to receive the animals.

“For us we are ready but we just started with the training to equip them (Youth leaders) with skills and knowledge because we don’t want to bring the animals when they don’t have feeds and water and then the animals start suffocating. We have agreed that in the next two weeks after the trainings, we can now start delivering the animals,” Kazigati said.

She appealed to the youth leaders to ensure proper management of the heifers if they are to reap optimal benefits.

“The youth should make optimal use of this opportunity because if the government is giving each one heifer and they put in their best they can easily start a kraal in the next few years.”

The official said youth leaders who are still students and cannot manage the heifers could select other types of animal enterprises such as pigs, poultry or goats.

However, some youth who have repeatedly been receiving training since 2018 urged NAADS officials to immediately deliver the heifers, saying they have waited for a long time.

Tadeo Taremwa, youth chairperson Kigezi sub region challenged the secretariat to always expedite the youth projects, saying random deliveries of the animals in districts would be bad, given that some areas have unique physical features that cannot support the rearing of certain animals.

“They are giving us Frisian cattle with a high end of 75% but in our district, Kabale such breed cannot be grazed from there because of the bad terrain. So we ask the government to first consult us before planning to give us such animals,” he said

He also suggested that government can give the youth animals free-range animals instead of exotic breeds, saying the latter require grazing systems like zero-grazing that are expensive to maintain. “For instance, putting up a shelter is money which most of us don’t have,” Taremwa said.

He said this is not the first time the government is giving out heifers, which die because of poor farm practices.

“It is on record that the president pledged cattle in 2016 to the youths, many received but the majority never celebrated their first month birthday because some got sick and others lacked feeds and they all died,” said Taremwa.

Edward Kasagara, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Mbarara urged the youth to have discipline and patience when benefiting from government projects, saying the government does its work at its own pace.

“You can be ready when the government is not ready because it works at its own pace. So I am appealing to all of you, keep calm and don’t pressurise the government because it is in charge and it will do whatever it takes to ensure that you all benefit,” he said.

Since 2018, the NAADS secretariat has so far given out a total of 2286 heifers to youth leaders in Uganda.

“We started way back in the 2017/18 financial year and we were giving to 16 youth leaders per district including KCCA but this time around we are giving to three youth leaders per district but funds allowing we would support more youth leaders after all we’ve been supporting many other special interest categories of the youths,” Kazigati said.

The youth constitute more than 75 percent of Uganda’s population. The national unemployment rate is 9.2 percent, while the unemployment rate for youth aged 18-30 is 13.3 percent.

https://thecooperator.news/naads-trains-youth-leaders-on-dairy-farming/

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