Posted on November, 2, 2022 at 01:19 am
The government has stopped the free distribution of agricultural inputs by the army under Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) programme, the Monitor has learnt.
The pronouncement was made on Thursday in Gulu City by Mr Julius Kapwepwe, the PDM Technical Adviser in the Ministry of Local Government, at a regional dialogue organised by Advocates for Research in Development (ARiD) on the performance of PDM in the region.
Mr Kapwepwe said whereas OWC will not hand over their operational funds to the Parish Development Model (PDM), it will avail the same budget to the PDM structures (parish Saccos) from where farmers can directly borrow the money and buy their inputs without the OWC (army) factor.
“There is no more distribution of free inputs, they will wire their money to the development Saccos at the parishes so that the people in those parishes can manage their own money and be able to purchase exactly what they want at their own pace but not through a third party such as OWC.”
Under the new arrangement, Mr Kapwepwe said that farmers will have to apply for the funds to purchase the same agricultural inputs under the parish Saccos instead of waiting for free supplies under OWC.
“This time, people who may wish to have those inputs can do it through borrowing money from their PDM parish Sacco’s and buying them. In other words, there is no longer going to be free delivery or distribution of inputs by OWC as it has been going on,” Mr Kapwepwe said.
He said the move is intended to ensure that OWC creates more impact, especially using properly established local (parish) structures of the PDM, aimed at eradicating poverty.
“The OWC’s new mode of operation is about realigning their strategies and actions aimed at eradicating poverty. When farmers walk to the parish Saccos and borrow the money, ownership, management and care will be given to such enterprises and this will adequately boost impact and productivity,” Mr Kapwepwe said.
Dr Otto Adol, a policy analyst, said the move is bound to bear significant fruits and change the livelihoods of thousands of farmers in communities across the country in the short run.
“This means the inputs are going to be nearer to farmers. Initially, OWC would not deliver the inputs in time and most times forced enterprises on farmers but this time a farmer or group chooses exactly the enterprise that thrives in their areas,” Mr Otto said.
“Things such as extension services had died already but I think PDM will sort out that and be able to buy exactly the type of input they need at the right time unlike in the past when there were concerns that the OWC delivered inputs past the right seasons,” he added.
Mr Kapwepwe also said the different agencies and ministries of government are currently engaging to harmonise the challenge of conflicting operation guidelines that he said have resulted in numerous arrests of public servants and misappropriation.
Repeated attempts to seek comments from OWC authorities over the new dimension the programme is taking were futile by press time. The known telephone contact of Maj Tabaro Kiconco, the OWC spokesperson, was unavailable while Ms Sylvia Owori, the OWC director of operations, could not pick up our repeated calls.
Background
OWC was established by President Museveni in July 2013 with a view to facilitating growth of households’ income, mainly through agriculture. The UPDF was later drawn in to ensure proper distribution of inputs. But the programme has been marred by poor coordination and poor quality services, among others.
Source: The Monitor