PS BIGIRIMANA EXPANDS INTO AGRICULTURE, STRIKES AGAIN WITH SONGHAI MODEL FARM

By John V Sserwaniko

In line with his ministry mandate which is basically to uplift youth, women and children as well as other disadvantaged groups like PWDs, Gender PS Pius Bigirimana has once again come up with something very innovative. Bigirimana, who currently easily ranks among the most senior Permanent Secretaries, is the brain behind something called the Songhai Model which the President will launch on Sunday 12^th August as part of the activities to mark the International Youth Day. In our possession is an official government document detailing how the Songhai Model will work. With strong funding commitment of the UNDP, whose Almaz Gebru and Richard Musinguzi have been very enthusiastic in ensuring the thing succeeds, the Songhai Model will be piloted on some of the vast land attached to Kampiringisa Rehabilitation Center in Mpigi district. The initiative,which Gender political leader Minister Janat Mukwaya has religiously been popularizing among cabinet colleagues, seeks to revolutionarize agriculture by putting emphasis on organic farming that seeks to diminish application of chemical inputs in food production processes. Songhai Model is also an effort to compliment the Green Jobs the Gender PS has been promising for the women and youth that may not adequately benefit or be impacted upon by the other two flagship programs namely YLP and UWE.

HOW DOES IT WORK?      

The idea is carrying out commercial farming in an integrated way as will be demonstrated at the Kampiringisa Songhai Model farm whose establishment process has enjoyed tremendous technical support of Alex Asiimwe who is the Assistant Commissioner Occupational Safety at the Gender Ministry. Integrating farming activities will require that crops like say fruits will be organically produced and processed right there in the same place where you have agricultural production and processing or any other value addition activities occurring in that same place. Produce will be harvested and processed within the same complex and thereby overcoming transport expenses and time that would have been lost. Some of the easily cashable crops being piloted at Bigirimana’s Kampiringisa pilot project include paw paws, okra for oil production, French beans, eggplants, cabbages, pepper, tomatoes and others. The concept paper profiling the Kampiringisa project reveals much more highlighting how the integrated model achieves many things in one go. Once it takes root, it will reawaken farmers in our communities by way of being able to increase food production andenhance food security while preserving and protecting the environment at the same time. This leads to farming combined with efficiency in production and sustainability of the agro-related activities in the entire production chain.

REACHING VULNERABLE PERSONS;

As food security and environmental preservation are being achieved, unemployment and poverty especially are simultaneously being diminished among would-be jobless (formally unemployable) youths, women and PWDs. And for Bigirimana this is critically important because these categories of people directly fall under the vulnerable groups whose well-being is clearly part of his Ministry’s broad mandate. These groups of vulnerable persons will be mobilized across the country and encouraged to regularly visit the Kampiringisa Songhai Model farm to learn best organic integrated farming practices. In return they will be supported to replicate the same farming approach in their respective communities. The ambitious PS rightly believes this gradually will result into an agricultural revolution that directly enhances his “green jobs” initiative that seeks to economically empower and uplift more youths and women groups in their respective communities. As the vision bearer Bigirimana rightly knows that, even when billions of money continue to be sunk into Youth Livelihood Program (YLP) and Uganda Women Entrepreneurship (UWE) program, not everybody will be immediately impacted by these two flagship programs. There are always youths and women that will always miss out for one reason or another-and these are the guys he wants to be reached and impacted upon through the Songhai Model and the resultant green jobs. The Songhai Model further envisages building the capacity of youths, women and PWDs at the community level to actively participate in integrated farming aimed at increasing quality and quantity of food produced without wounding the environment.

Desire to feed a growing population and increase the per capita food consumption has globally pushed many farmers to apply chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other farming inputs to increase production and cash in on the money without paying adequate attention to the sustainability of the agro-ecosystem forming the environment around which this cultivation is being carried out. Increased chemicals’ application is a bad practice that has led to damage and depletion of the agro-ecosystem and thereby increasing the globe’s exposure to environmental risks manifested in greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution among others. Bigirimana’s Songhai Model seeks to mitigate against negative consequences to environment by prioritizing organic farming and “real greening”as a way to agriculturally support crop and animal growth-without environment being endangered. The increased application of chemicals in agricultural processes in the short term increases food production but,detrimentally, hunger continues to rampage. It remains a problem for over 870m people globally today. Bigirimana’s paper stresses that “the Songhai Model enables farmers to produce better and more with less”without harm to environment. The Songhai Model Farm at Kampiringisa will also demonstrate how those doing integrated farming can apply the principles of synergy andcomplementarity at their farms.It puts emphasis on the community members producing to qualitatively serve nutritional needs of their respective households (and some excess for sale). Emphasis is also put on mitigating waste and pollution. In order to harness regenerative forces of nature in agriculture, the Model also seeks to develop agriculture that is multi-dimensional andmulti-functional.Farmers in their respective communities must target increasing food production in sufficient quantities and qualities in a manner that promotes healthy living, healthy aging and disease prevention. The soil structure too must be preserved as farming activities take place. The document shows this is important for sustainability and bio-diversity. The Gender PS believes that in the long term, the integrated farming approach will see individual farming units operate in a way that enhances industrialization and value addition because of the resultant agro-industries for the processing of would-be primary produce in its raw form. Bigirimana sees an opportunity for a farmer to simultaneously provide feed stock for renewable energy at the same integrated farm. He also sees income inequalities, which even the Kabaka decried in his silver jubilee coronation speech last week, being diminished because the Songhai Model has something for all categories of youths, women and PWDs-educated and uneducated. The resultant progress, Bigirimana believes, will enhance agricultural tourism in Uganda as the rest of the world makes benchmarking visits here once we pull it off successfully. The veteran PS also sees the Kampiringisa Songhai Model Farm as an opportunity to rehabilitate and give hands- on skills to the young people “who have conflicted with the law” resulting into their confinement there (Kampiringisa).

SONGHAI ORGANIC PRODUCTS GLOBALLY;

Bigirimana draws from global experience to illustratively make his case in the concept paper clarifying on the Songhai Model Farm which the President will launch at Kampiringisa this Sunday. Firstly organic food, whose production the Model seeks to increase, is globally of high demand. And Bigirimana elaborately makes this case in his paper. The World of Organic Agricultural Statistics & Emerging Trends 2017 report shows that in total,50.9m hectares are globally under cultivation for organic agriculture.  It’s lowest in Africa which hasjust 1.7m hectares under organic cultivation. In comparison, North America has 3m; Asia 4m; Latin America 6.7m; Europe 12.7m and Oceania 22.8m. In the same report, Uganda is shown to haveonly 241,150 hectares under organic agriculture. Kenya has 150,479 hectares. China produces highest quantity of organic products followed by India, Indonesia, Sri- Lanka and Israel. And most importantly, the market for organic food products is rapidly growing, according to Bigirimana’s paper. As of last year, the world organic market was worth $59.1bn. And theOrganic Food Development Center (OFDC) estimates that in China, domestic sales of organic products stood at $500m inside China alone as of last year.

SONGHAI PRODUCTIVITY RATES;

Bigirimana’s paper also makes comparison in productivity levels showing the extent by which cereals and other cash crops cultivated under the integrated system exceed the yields registered under the conventional farming system. Whereas maize cultivated under conventional will on average yield between 0.5 and 1 ton per hectare; that grown under integrated system (the Songhai Model) yields between 3 and 9 tons per hectare. Under the integrated Songhai Model, 12-15 tons of sweet corn will be harvested per hectare compared to much less under conventional farming. For sorghum the Songhai Model yields between 6 and 9 tons per hectare per year compared to mere 0.6-0.8 tons under the conventional system. For soya beans, the integrated Songhai Model yields between 2 and 2.5 tons per hectare every 6 months compared to 0.5-1 tons under the conventional system. When it comes to rice, Songhai delivers 5-7 tons per hectare per 6 months compared to mere 0.3-0.8 tons under the conventional system. For cassava, Songhai Model delivers 50-65 tons per hectare per planting period as opposed to mere 3-15 tons under the conventional system. For the yams, Songhai delivers 30-35 tons per hectare annually as opposed to mere 3-10 tons under conventional farming. For tomatoes, Bigirimana’s Songhai Model yields 35-50 tons per hectare every 6 months as opposed to 8-10 tons under the other conventional system. For pepper, its 10-12 tons for Songhai vs. 3-5 tons; cucumber its 25-40 tons vs. 4-6 tons; cabbages its 40-55 tons vs. 10-15 tons; water melon (cantaloupe honey dew) its 12-15 tons vs. 4-7 tons; lettuce its 45-60 tons every 4 months vs. 5-10 tons; okra its 25-30 tons vs. 6-10 tons; carrot its 40-50 tons vs. 10-25 tons; oranges average at 50-60 tons per hectare vs. 5-15 tons; pineapple its 50-60 tons vs. 25-30 tons; plantain/bananas average at 30-50 tons per hectare per year vs. 10-15 tons; paw paws average at 80-92 tons per hectare under the integrated Songhai Model; jute its 3-4 tons of fiber and 600kgs-1 tons per hectare for Artemisia planted under the integrated Songhai Model. The Songhai integrated Model is also applicable on poultry and fish farming and the Gender PS captures some details regarding the yields per year. The same is applicable for piggery.For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.