Hass Avocado is a commercially popular and nutritious fruit and one of the 19 crops that the Ministry of Agriculture is promoting under the Agricultural value chain development strategy. The others are cashew nuts, banana, cassava, beans, fish, cocoa, cotton, coffee and others.
Agriculture Minister Frank Tumwebaze has proposed the
introduction of Hass Avocado in Busoga to replace sugarcane growing.
Hass Avocado is a
commercially popular and nutritious fruit and one of
the 19 crops that the Ministry of Agriculture is promoting under the
Agricultural value chain development strategy. The others are cashew nuts, banana, cassava, beans, fish, cocoa, cotton, coffee and others.
This came up when Tumwebaze, together
with the Minister of State for Fisheries, Hellen Adoa appeared
before Parliament’s Agriculture Committee to present the Ministry’s budget
estimates for the financial year 2022/2023.
Tumwebaze is optimistic that the priority crops will change the agriculture
sector and help regions that do not have perennial
crops by introducing new crops for cash. He said that Busoga for instance as a region can benefit from Hass Avocado growing instead
of sugarcane.
//Cue in; “we would
like…
Cue out…of the
country.”//
But the proposal to replace sugarcane with Hass
Avocado was challenged by a section of MPs who said that the problem
was not enterprise selection, but rather the lack of support for enterprises
that people are already engaged in. Kagoma
County MP Moses Walyomu said that there is no need to impose the Hass Avocado on the people
of Busoga because they only need the provision of a market for the existing sugarcane.
//Cue in; “but I think…
Cue out…can be
transformed.”//
Maj. Gen Sam Kavuma, the
Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) representative in Parliament and Deputy Chief
Coordinator Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) defended the proposal to
have Hass Avocado introduced to Busoga, saying the Hass Avocado is tested and proven.
“We need to introduce
these new crops to Busoga. Because if we say Busoga must continue with this
crop that they have been engaging in for the past 100 years even if it does not
benefit them, I think it is wrong,” Kavuma said. He added that there is a need to move agriculture
from traditional feelings to science and research.
//Cue in; “it is also…
Cue out…those they
lead.”//
However, Walyomu said
that Sugarcane needs to also be included on the list of the priority crops and that government needs to support the people of Busoga with the market for
Sugarcane.
Janet Okorie-moe, the Agriculture
Committee Chairperson said that Hass Avocado was well researched by the
committee and Parliament before the crop was listed among the 19 priority crops. She said that the
committee should see how Hass can be added to Busoga since sugarcane alone will
not get Busoga out of poverty.
//Cue in; “I remember
the…
Cue out…out of
poverty.”//
The Ministry has been
allocated 1.534 trillion for the financial year 2022/2023. However, the Ministry
has a funding gap of 280 billion Shillings meant to scale up disease control
interventions, set up fisheries aquaculture ponds, hand hoes, scale up
the acquisition of mechanization technologies, purchase of ox-ploughs and
accessories, and other forms of mechanization among others.
The Minister also told
MPs that while Uganda has 44 per cent of arable land, only 34.4 per cent is under
agricultural use, and they hope to move it to 50 per cent by 2026
through the promotion of the Agricultural value chain development strategy.
