President Yoweri K Museveni has after dining with religious leaders under their umbrella organisation, the Inter Religious Council of Uganda at his country home in Rwakitura, Kiruhura District, urged them to use the church platform to teach people how to create wealth even with small land holdings.
The luncheon started with the President leading invited Clergy; Archbishop Cyprian Lwanga, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, Bishop Joshua Lwere, Pr Daniel Matte, His Eminence Sheikh Shaban R. Mubaje among others around farms in Ibanda and Kiruhura districts.
According to a statement from State House, the President said it is sinful to live among poor people, and let them remain poor, “when you have the knowledge to help them transform.”
“When I finished Senior Six in 1966, I was inspired by what I had studied about the Industrial Revolution to start a campaign in this area (Western Uganda) to discourage nomadisim because it was not economically viable,” Mr Museveni said. “What we did here was to teach people to keep a few cattle that have high milk yields instead of keeping a large herd of the indigenous Ankole cows that had low milk yields.”
“Not only are people able to get more milk from cross-bred cattle but it has also reduced pressure on land. Even those with small pieces of land are able to benefit from dairy farming. That is how we have been able to transform these nomads into commercial dairy farmers, and from your tour, you can testify that there has been economic transformation in this area. People generate income from the sale of milk, which is now a lucrative venture,” he added.
Mr Museveni said he has extended this campaign to agriculturalists, teaching them to use the four acre model, which he says discourages subsistence agriculture and encourages farmers to engage in enterprises that generate income.
“Now I appeal to the church to join hands with government to spread this gospel. Use the church platform to teach people how to create wealth even with small land holdings. I also request that you join me in the crusade to stamp out land fragmentation. The practice of bequeathing land to family members and it is subdivided must stop,” he said.
Adding, “Working with you (church), we shall transform the countryside and improve our peoples income, even as we continue to deal with those in urban centres who have no jobs and no land.”
By Paul Wasswa Dennis.
