Buikwe Woman member of Parliament Judith Babirye says she is to back up her constituency which insists that agriculture deserves more funding than is currently accorded.
She has promised to persuade fellow legislators to increase funds to the sector in the forthcoming budget allocation.
Speaking at the launch of One Acre Fund in Uganda in Buikwe district on February 21, Babirye is quoted as saying the funds allocated to agriculture are very inadequate, considering the sector’s significance to the economy.
“Agriculture is the backbone of this economy, but we should also keep in mind that our revenues are still meager,” said Babirye, according to the Observer newspaper. “But I believe as our incomes and taxes increase, even the budget allocation will increase.”
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Her remarks were raised when Dr Patience Rwamigisa, the commissioner for agricultural extension services in department of agricultural extension and skills management in the ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries said that as the country concentrates on building factories, there is need to invest in agriculture to provide raw materials.
Dr Patience Rwamigisa further insisted that agricultural transformation cannot be achieved “as long as government continues to allocate three per cent of the budget to agriculture when you have 80 per cent of your people in the sector”.
“Our agricultural policy is focusing on causing an agricultural revolution in Uganda, and one of the tools for causing that transformation is agriculture transformation,” said Rwamigisa, according to the Observer newspaper. “My request to honorable Babirye is that she should form a coalition in parliament to advocate for a budget increase for agriculture.”
Babirye reacted, “He [Rwamigisa] has sent me; I am a messenger, and I will take the message to parliament and more so to the committee on agriculture and the budget committee and see whatsoever happens because in parliament we work as a team, not as an individual,” she said.
According to the Budget Framework Paper for the 2018/19 financial year, Shs 831.659 has been proposed to be allocated to the sector, compared to Shs Shs 828.515 billion which was allocated in the current financial year. By September 2017, Shs 169.101 of the approved budget had been spent.
Additional Reporting by the Observer.
