Due to climate change which has affected the country, mostly farmers, the government has come out to support farmers buy irrigation equipment at a subsidized price, the senior agricultural officer at the agriculture ministry has said.
Alex Semakula, also a specialist in Agronomy at the agriculture Ministry, said farmers will purchase the irrigation equipment at 25%, and the 75% will be paid by the government.
He added that this will help farmers buy the equipment to save their produce from drying up during this hot season.
‘‘In 2020, the government launched the micro-scale irrigation program supported by the World Bank and Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer (UGIFT) program to enable farmers to purchase and use irrigation equipment, aiming to scale up agricultural production. The government has continued to support it so that farmers don’t lose their crops in this dry season,’’ Semakula said.
State Minister for Agriculture Fred Bwino Kyakulaga asked farmers to add value to their produce to earn more money which also contributes to the country’s export earnings.
‘‘When farmers sell their produce in their raw form to the export market when they haven’t added value to it, they get little money from it and the country at large,” Kyakulaga said.
This was at the official close-out of the Dynamic Markets for Farmers (DMF) project and the launching of the Horti- markets Dynamic Uganda( HMD) project which took place at Mestil Hotel and Residence recently.
