KAMPALA-The Ministry of Finance has released Shs 264 billion towards the Parish Development Model [ PDM ] to boost agricultural production in the country, according to the Secretary to the Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi.
Ggoobi disclosed the release of the PDM funds on Wednesday while communicating details of the release of Shs 6.4 trillion to government ministries, departments and agencies for the third quarter of the current 2022/2033 financial year running on Shs 48.1 budget.
He said each of the 10, 595 parishes would have received the Shs 100 million government promised to deliver to the accounts of PDM SACCOs.
Under the PDM government wants to move 3.5 million households still in subsistence farming to the money economy, with some households expected to earn an income of at least Shs 20mln annually.
However, Ggoobi disclosed that out of the 10.595, parishes in the country, only 8,931 are implementing the PDM, saying that the remaining 1,664 are not ready to implement the programme.
“We have kept their money…We are careful not to release money for PDM when people are not ready to use it well,” Ggoobi said, adding the PDM will be a game changer in the socio-economic transformation of citizens.
He said the PDM money is strictly for production in the country. “It is a transformational programme which will get people into the money economy,” he said.
In the current financial year, government has earmarked about Shs 1trn in which of the parishes in the country will receive Shs 100mln as a revolving fund, especially under the two pillars of Agricultural Value Chain Development [production, processing and marketing] and Financial Inclusion.
Government will implement this programme for five financial years where money will be sent directly from the treasury to the PDM SACCOs, with the beneficiaries accessing it at 5 percent per annum to resolve around the parish, not to be returned to the treasury.
By 2026, government expects that the PDM should have resulted in; sustainable institutions at parish, district and national levels, traceability and full accountability of all funds, increased household incomes, increased value and volumes of savings and credit.
It also expects increased financial inclusion for women and youth, increased insurance usage, attainment of middle-income status and realisation of the NRM Manifesto 2021-26.
https://thecooperator.news/utilise-pdm-to-embrace-urban-farming-lira-city-residents-urged/
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