By Our Reporters
Sometime back, Beti Kamya promised to ensure NRM wins 80% in Kampala and it seems she meant business in what she said back then. The outspoken Kampala Minister has commenced efforts to mobilize support for the ruling NRM party by using mostly elected women leaders holding positions in National Women Councils. Her strategic intervention is coming through peri-urban farming whereby women are being put into groups which Kamya will be giving poultry chicks and relevant feeds. These are mostly high-yielding kuroiler and rainbow rooster chicks. Kamya yesterday addressed a press conference at her Ministry Board room where she was joined by NAGRIC ED Dr. Charles Lagul and KENTIM University’s Aggrey Kyobuguzi. She announced that effective July this year, women groups are going to be accessing government/NAGRIC support in form of kuroiler and rainbow chicks, chicken feeds and vaccines in the different divisions of the city. This, she says, is meant to enable them have income generation activities and keep poverty out of their homes as part of the President’s broader wealth creation strategy. “We are tired of this song ‘we are poor; we have no money.’ Yes how can you expect not to be poor and have zero money when you aren’t engaged in any economic activity apart from just being a house wife? We want every woman to have something to sell. On average each three months kuroiler chicken can fetch you between Shs30,000 and Shs50,000 depending on its weight and if you have more than 100 of them, that is some decent income for the house hold and that is what we want to be piloting in Kampala with our good partners from NAGRIC,” Kamya explained as women cheered her on. They were led by women councils Kampala veteran leader Grace Kanyike who thanked Kamya for the initiative. Kamya’s Community-Based Organization (CBO) LUNDA is among the many community groups that NAGRIC has chosen to partner with as a strategy to reach ordinary women in Kampala. And Lagul, the NAGRIC big man, says they have just started with Kampala for piloting purposes before soon expanding in Wakiso, Mukono and other districts. In full National Animal Genetics Resources Center, NAGRIC is mandated to come up with high-yielding breeds of livestock including cattle, goats, piggery and poultry or chicken. Under Lagul’s leadership, NAGRIC (which had become a moribund organization) has become a very assertive government entity determined to complement the President’s efforts to make Ugandans richer through agriculture and farming programs. NAGRIC is an autonomous entity created by an Act of Parliament and MAAIF is their mother ministry.
LAGUL EXPLAINS
Lagul says that the chicks they are going to give to Kampala women and youths groups aren’t only for income generation but also part of efforts to improve children nutrition and welfare by ensuring that every child in the household at least eats one egg daily. “We aren’t just doing this because we want you to earn some money but it’s part of our broader strategy as NAGRIC to support nutrition programs in the homes to ensure children are fed well for a healthier population,” Lagul emphasized at the press conference as Kamya nodded in approval. In total Lagul said NAGRIC has earmarked 1.5m kuroiler and rainbow (free scavenging) chicks to be distributed to women groups in Kampala. Combined with chicken feeds and the all very important vaccines, this will cost NAGRIC close to Shs4bn which Lagul says is an intervention aimed at bolstering the President’s wealth creation initiatives. Even when they are allowed to scavenge and live freely without being confined (which is expensive as it requires feeding them 24/7), the kuroiler birds can on average lay 25 organic eggs a month. NAGRIC will also be conducting trainings for the Kampala women groups to make them understand how to become successful poultry farmers. The women leaders liked the idea of kuroilers being capable of laying eggs without being confined 24/7 in a chicken house but expressed fear that this could make them susceptible to being stolen. They pleaded with NAGRIC to bring chicken on the schedules stipulated so that they don’t suffer the NAADS experience when they could prepare everything and wait for the government package (the chicks, feeds and vaccines) for an eternity. Indeed Lagul came with some experts who gave basic training to the women leaders with Kamya announcing that such training sessions will be regularly conducted by the NAGRIC teams in the communities where the women beneficiaries live and operate from. Beti Kamya urged KCCA to embrace the NAGRIC intervention because it’s building on the modest efforts they have been undertaking to support women groups. She explained that whereas NAGRIC will be giving the 1.5m chicks for free (in phases beginning with July’s 100,000), her organization LUNDA will be charging women a small fee to meet the administrative expenses involved. LUNDA CEO Alpha Watson explained that having operating in the community for so many years, they have all the necessary network to reach the community NAGRIC wants to economically empower in the entire Kampala. Lagul explained to journalists that their intervention is aimed at consolidating on what the President seeks to achieve through programs like OWC. Watson explained that even when its founder Kamya is a political leader, LUNDA is a non-partisan organization working for economic transformation of the communities they serve.
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