President Yoweri Museveni has pledged a donation of one million coffee seedlings to further enhance coffee growing efforts in Kalungu district in Masaka Sub-Region. He again reiterated the commitment of the NRM Government to household poverty eradication in the country.
The President was launching The Coffee Cultivation Campaign that was held yesterday at Nunda Primary School, in Lwabenge Sub-County in Kalungu district.
“Embark on coffee cultivation as part of the efforts to ensure prosperity in your homes”, the President said. He, therefore, urged wananchi who have 4 acres of land to dedicate one acre to the cultivation of coffee, bananas, fruits and elephant grass as part of the strategy to enhance household income. He also advised them to engage in the rearing of pigs and poultry. He handed out part of the ten thousand coffee seedlings provided by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority to farmers in the area.
Earlier, the President toured the coffee farm of Mr. Paulo Mutagwaba in Lukenke B village in Lwabenge Sub-County, who demonstrated the profitability of the coffee venture. Mr. Museveni donated a motor-cycle to him to ease his transport requirements on top of a pledge to donate to him 1 exotic cow.
Mr. Museveni also visited the farm of Ms. Percy Nanyombi in the same area and expressed his high impression with her coffee plantation. He, too, donated to her 1 exotic cow valued at Shs. 2.5million.
Kalungu District LC5 Chairman, Mr. Emmanuel Musoke, saluted the President for spearheading the Prosperity for All (PFA) programme for the benefit of wananchi. He also expressed the district’s gratitude to Mr. Museveni and the NRM Government for the provision of new road construction equipment.
Kalungu East MP, Hon. Vincent Ssempijja, pledged a donation of 500,000 coffee seedlings to the farmers of the area saying that Uganda is aiming at producing 10 million 60-kilogramme coffee bags per year by 2015 from the current 3 million bags.
Mr. Sulait Mutebi Mukasa, who is Lwabenge LC3 Chairman, expressed his gratitude to President Museveni for supporting the Sub-County in agro-related activities, especially through the National Agricultural and Advisory Services (NAADS) programme.
During his visit, President Museveni toured the elite and clonal coffee beds, run by Hon. Ssempijja, in Lukaya Town Council. He thanked the MP for a job well done. He informed the people in and around Lukaya that income cannot be enhanced without a foundation saying “peace is fundamental in the promotion of prosperity in the country.” He also stressed the crucial role of roads as a major factor in development and transformation of society because with good roads, producers are able to quickly evacuate their products from farms and deliver them to the respective markets.
He called on the people to utilize the numerous infrastructure the NRM government has established to enable all homesteads and the private sector create more wealth.
“I came to Kalungu District to promote coffee cultivation as one of the measures to promote household income”, he emphasized. He commended the development efforts exhibited by the people of Lwabenge Sub-County and said the strategy of the NRM Government is to provide more coffee seedlings to Kalungu District to ensure that the 30,000 or so homes in the area can plant at least one acre of coffee per family saying that it had been established that one acre of coffee can generate over Shs.6 million per annum. He challenged the people to utilize the wealth from their land to address their domestic chores such as educating their children to school.
The President pledged to help Kalungu District veterans to utilize the Army land in the area on lease basis in order to enhance their incomes.
Turning to issues of health, the President strongly called on the people to guard against the deadly HIV/AIDS scourge and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) by shunning promiscuous relations, pre-marital sex and to stick to faithfulness among married couples. He stressed that good health is crucial to the family welfare and advancement. He asked them to have matrimony and avoid promiscuity.
Speaking at the same occasion, Kalungu East MP, Hon. SSempijja lauded President Museveni’s commitment to promoting education in the country in general and in Lukaya Town Council in particular where the Government has established 12 State-aided secondary schools.
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