John Bosco Akore, the Secretary of Kotido Elders Council said they resolved to acquire 200 acres of land from the fourteen clans within Kotido district for joint farming. He says that they are optimistic that they will reap big from the harvest.
According to some farmers, most of them are waiting for rainfall to resume after ceasing in mid-may. Farmers are hoping to return to their farms despite having gone halfway into the season. They are yearning to grow crops like sorghum, maize and beans among others.
The State Minister for Agriculture Henry Aggrey Bagiire says some farmers were found to have replanted their crops soon after the floods that hit several areas in the region.
Ronald Duncan Mugume, a resident of the area, says they face a huge challenge to transport their farm produce to markets due to the poor state of the road.
Unlike, other districts of Karamoja, Nakapiripirit experiences two planting seasons in a year. Farmers in the district mainly grow beans, maize, cassava and other crops while most districts in Karamoja majorly grow sorghum.
Ivan Mugisa, a farmer in Kakyanga village in Busamuzi Sub County also says he is equally worried over the diseases and the dry season, which have negatively affected their plantations.
Bugereka village in Kimenyedde Sub County is where over 250 youths set up to learn modern farming techniques with the hope of fighting poverty and conserving the environment. One of the techniques is the Permanent Planting Basins, which involves digging up basin-shaped holes in which the plants grow.
Veterinary authorities in the districts of Kabale and Rukiga are on the spot for charging farmers before vaccinating their animals against Ovine rinderpest disease. The farmers say veterinary officers charge two thousand shillings for each animal vaccinated. Lawrence Boonabana, another concerned farmer from Kangondo in Rwamucucu sub county, Rukiga district, says he paid forty thousand shillings to a veterinary officer before vaccinating his twenty goats.
