Kiwanda (L) during with President Museveni (R) at the launch of the Kisoboka initiative
State Minister for Tourism, Hon. Kiwanda Geoffrey Ssuubi has unveiled a new agricultural initiative aimed at encouraging Ugandans especially those in his constituency to embrace commercial agriculture as a means of kicking poverty out of their households.
President Yoweri Museveni launched the new agricultural Programme known as ‘Kisoboka’ – [it is possible] – in Mityana District yesterday.
The Programme, a mindset change agricultural initiative, is the brainchild of Mityana North Constituency MP and State Minister for Tourism, Hon. Kiwanda Geoffrey Ssuubi together with Mityana District Women MP, Hon. Judith Nabakooba.
The initiative seeks to encourage local farmers appreciate that it is possible for them to improve their life and earn more household income through improved agriculture. It targets 7,000 Mityana farmers, as a drive to help them adopt the best agricultural practices in order to increase their productivity and shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture.
The launching of the initiative took place on Saturday during the thanksgiving ceremony of Hon. Kiwanda Geoffrey Ssuubi in Kikandwa Sub-County in Mityana North Constituency, Mityana District.
The President, who toured the agricultural exhibitions showcasing different value-added agricultural products and Hon. Kiwanda’s model plantation showing the modern methods of farming, stressed the need for Ugandans to shift from subsitence to commercial farming as a means of increasing their household income.
“It is not right for people to live in poverty. Most of the families are still stuck in subsistence farming and these are the carriers of poverty. Ugandans must embrace the transformation from subsistence to commercial farming,” he said.
The President congratulated Hon. Kiwanda for having put the NRM wealth creation gospel into action adding that the initiative should be taken to other constituencies and embraced by the country at large.
“Just like the parable of the sower, some seeds fell on good soil like that of Kiwanda and that is why he has brought you to see that it is possible to earn well through agriculture,” he emphasized.
He told the people of the area in particular and Ugandans at large, to desist from waiting for government development programmes before they can think of developing themselves. He reiterated that it is crucial for wananchi to engage in activities that increase their wealth and household income.
President Museveni accepted to be the patron of the ‘Kisoboka’ drive and pledged Shs50 million to the Kisoboka Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO).
He also commended the veterans at the ceremony and said that despite the fact that the Movement patriots had only 27 guns at the start of the protracted armed people’s liberation struggle, it was possible for the veterans to win the bush war and liberate the country because of their unqualified commitment.
The President promised to organise a veterans’ retreat at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi District where they would discuss the challenges affecting them with a view to getting possible solutions to those challenges.
Hon. Kiwanda Geoffrey Ssuubi, on his part, requested the President to lend them a hand in the drive to change the mindset of all other farmers in the different constituencies in Mityana District.
“People think that they are not able to change their lives. You said that in Otuke, the problem of the people there was the mindset. If they do change, then farmers will surely change from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture,” he noted.