By George Murumba

18^th June 2012:

President Yoweri Museveni has called on leaders to sensitize the people about the priority of zonal projects that promote both food and income security, saying it is only through modernizing agriculture that households can fight poverty.

The President made the remarks last week at an impromptu citizens rally at the Cricket ground in Mbale district during his two day official tour in the region.

“The problem of poverty revolves around not having enough income at home and not having enough food. The answer to that is to use agriculture in a modern way to fight poverty, especially in the rural areas. In Bugisu there has been a lot of land fragmentation and there are small pieces of land. Your leaders should sensitize you on how to exploit them profitably through identifying the right enterprises,” Museveni said.

In March, the president held agricultural conferences for leaders in all zones in Uganda with the aim of identifying viable enterprises that farmers in the rural areas can practice to improve their agriculture production.  He called on leaders to create awareness among the people and empower them to access information that can help them make the right choices to improve production.

“In the villages, the solution is to use land maximally for both incomes and food security. For the people in the town centres, especially in peri-urban areas, the important thing is for them to get involved in enterprises such as rearing poultry for eggs, mushroom growing etc.

The youth should be encouraged to acquire skills in carpentry, metal fabrication, brick laying, tailoring and trade in the markets and shops. Government has money to support you with all this but when we send it, it does not reach the people, we will find a solution to this,” said the president.

From FDC to NRM

According to a statement from State House, which Uganda Correspondent could not independently verify, over 160 former supporters of FDC allegedly crossed to the ruling National Resistance Movement [NRM] and professed their allegiance to the party for its development programmes.

The President is said to have welcomed the defectors to the party and called on NRM supporters to embrace the new comers.  He also called on the people to join SACCOs, saying if the money invested into SACCOs is not ‘eaten’, it can multiply and help more people.  END.  Login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories mid-week for our updates.

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