UPS suspends activities for massive food production over land dispute
PADER– Uganda Prison Services [ UPS ] has temporarily suspended activities for massive food and seed production in Pader district. This is after the locals occupying part of the land to be used for this purpose were given two months to harvest their crops and vacate.
Government recently allocated UPS 30,000 hectares of land stretching the three sub-counties of Angagura, Ajan, and Laguti for production of beans, soybeans, and maize respectively.
The land is part of Aswa Ranch and Acholi government ranches that government wants to utilise for massive food and seed production to ensure food security in the country under the food security project.
The Aswa Regional Police Commander, Margret Orik said that the food production activities in the area were suspended as the prison authorities sought talks with the residents to embrace the project.
Addressing a joint security meeting on Thursday, Orik explained that the temporary suspension of the activities in the area by UPS is to enable those who have already planted their crops to harvest them.
Orik however noted that though the community opposes the project, the initiative would help the country address the current food insecurity through massive agricultural production.
The councilor five for Laguti Sub-county, Dickson Ojok told this reporter in a telephone interview there is a need for negotiation with the affected populations before food production activities resume.
The Acholi Paramount Chief Rwot David Onen Acana II recently petitioned President Museveni over encroachments into the people’s land which he said is likely to displace thousands of his subjects.
Following complaints from the locals, the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank and Pader District Local Government have embarked on fresh demarcation of the two ranches to ascertain their boundaries.
The boundary demarcation is expected to conclude in the next three weeks and this according to Ojok will establish how much of the people’s land the project has encroached on.
The government agencies allocated land in the area include UPS would cultivate 50,000 acres, Uganda People’s Defence Force [UPDF] 10,000 acres, National Enterprise Corporation [NEC] 5,280 acres, veterans 4,707 acres, and National Agricultural Research Organization [NARO] 10,000 acres.
Others include the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank [NAGRC & DB] 30,000 acres, and large-scale farmers 314,000 acres. These government agencies will get grants meanwhile large-scale private farmers will receive interest fee loans.
The ambitious food security project in the region was approved on August 1, 2022, in a Cabinet meeting at State House Entebbe chaired by Museveni to boost food security in the country.
The resolution followed unpredictable weather, drought, pests and disease outbreaks, the effect of Covid-19, limited supply and availability of fertilizers due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and limited access to irrigation facilities.
https://thecooperator.news/rwot-acana-writes-to-museveni-over-eviction-in-pader-residents/
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