Archive for year: 2021

GULU – The knowledge gaps on artificial insemination is painfully affecting livestock farmers in Gulu as a number of their animals have reportedly taken years without conception.

Some of the farmers who spoke to theCooperator have described the situation as costly and burdensome to maintain the animals.

Artificial insemination is the process of introducing semen collected from a bull into the reproductive tract of a cow for the occurrence of pregnancy without physical mating.

The technology which was adopted years ago and extensively used on many species of animals in the world still faces challenges as most of the farmers have limited knowledge of the practice.

Agnes Oyella, a dairy farmer from Koro in Gulu City told theCooperator in a recent interview that her two cows have taken nearly two years without conception.

Oyella explained that she has been spending close to Shs 200,000 monthly to feed the animals and to maintain them in good health but the cows have failed to conceive.

Besides the monthly cost of feeding and maintenance, Oyella disclosed that she had attempted to inseminate the cows more than five times but has been unsuccessful.

Oyella said she has been paying Shs 90,000 to the Veterinary technicians for each of the insemination processes. She described the practice as costly and burdensome.

Just like Oyella, Betty Apiyo, another dairy farmer in the area says she had kept her two cows for a year without conception, besides three unsuccessful attempts to conduct artificial insemination.

Joska Otto, a founder member of Gulu Community Cooperative Society similarly noted that most of the members are experiencing the same problem which she says is affecting milk production.

“Dairy farming isn’t like any other farming which can be directly affected by floods but this involves technicalities which most farmers are yet to embrace,” Otto told.

theCooperator in an interview.

Alfred Opiyo, the Gulu District Veterinary Officer says, farmers need to understand the heat signs in animals and to have proper timing for successful artificial insemination.

The cow on heat is noticed by signs of loss of appetite, mooing, restlessness, and swelling of the valve which changes to red among others.

Meanwhile, the livestock farmer or a caretaker should recognize these changes within three days for successful artificial insemination without which the cow will fail to conceive.

The heat signs last for twelve hours a day and according to Opiyo, if a cow shows signs in the morning, it should undergo insemination in the evening but if it occurs in the evening, then the cow should be inseminated in the next morning when chances are high for conception.

He further explained that poor nutrition in animals is one of the factors affecting artificial insemination in the district where animals of that nature tend to go on silent heat.

The technicalities in the practice should have been majorly handled by the extension workers but Opiyo revealed that the district only has two veterinary officers to handle about 800,000 animals.

The district lacks 6 veterinary officers adding that each Sub County should have had four veterinary officers but only one is operating the entire village.

The underlined factors according to him are not only affecting animal breeding but the animal health and production, value addition, and the development of the livestock industry in the district.

“The ratio to farmers is much and yet each of the veterinary officers is to handle only 500 animals but look at the number of animals we have and this is the area the government has failed to invest in” Opiyo explained.

His counterpart, Junior Rwotomiya, a Veterinary Doctor with Countryside Harvester also revealed that the region is battling with the scarcity of semen for insemination adding that low-quality liquid nitrogen for keeping the semen alive is yet another factor affecting the services.

Nitrogen liquid is a desirable condition for keeping the semen alive which functions like testis for the manufacturing of sperm cells.

He however revealed that their Organisation has procured 1,000 straws of semen for supporting the livestock farmers in the 17 districts of Lango, Acholi, and West Nile regions.

The support according to him is part of the Shs 5.1 billion that the UK government has allocated to the region for improving animal and poultry farming for a period of five years which kicked off in June this year.

Dr. Issac Ngole, the Project Coordinator Community-Based Breeding Program under the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal and Fisheries revealed that the government has recently launched community animal breeding.

The National animal breeding program according to him is aimed at improving the high-quality breeds in the Country which is already being clustered under the Operation Wealth Creation [OWC].

He further revealed that the Program from the North is being piloted in both Aswa ranch in Pader district and Maruzi in Apac district which has more than 4,000 quality breeds for supply to the farmers adding that 99 percent of the cattle in the northern part of the Country are indigenous breeds.

“We have a target of 600 high-quality breeds of animals to be supplied to the farmers each year but what is coming next is the establishment of a regional nitrogen liquid laboratory in Gulu for safe storage of semen to improve the artificial insemination in the region” Ngole further disclosed.

He also noted that the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries has already procured 1,000 straws of semen for supporting the farmers under the national animal breeding program in collaboration with Operation Wealth Creation.

While most of the livestock farmers are yet to appreciate animal breeding, less than 10 percent of the animals in the Country are of high quality according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries which have reportedly affected production in the industry.

The report indicates that agricultural contribution to the economy has stagnated at only 23 percent for the last five years though there has been some increase in the production of coffee which rose from 4.6 million bags from the financial year 2015/2016 to 8.1 million bags in 2020/2020 financial year.

Fish catches increased from 449,000 tons in the same year to 600,000 tons in the 2020/2021 financial year while milk production rose from 2.1 billion liters to 2.6 billion liters.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has also reported an increase in the domestic investments at 13 percent from $385.3 to $433.8 US but recommended industrialization for accelerated growth in the agricultural sector which employs 74 percent of Ugandans. End.

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KIKUUBE – Researchers from Makerere University have recommended modern farming to Agricultural Officers from the districts of Kikuube and Hoima.

They further urged Agricultural Officers of these districts to sensitize farmers to embrace modern farming after they found out that the soil in the area was exhausted from traditional farming.

The call was sounded by Dr. Patrick Musinguzi, the Principal Investigator for Makerere University Research Innovation Fund Project, last Friday at Buhimba Sub County Head Office in Kikuube district as he was disseminating research findings that were conducted to develop a fertilizer provisional rate on some crops such as Maize, Upland Rice, and Bananas.

The research which was conducted between July 2020 and July 2021 was carried out in Kikuube, Hoima, Namutumba, Mukono Bwikwe, and Wakiso districts after the government funded the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science to conduct research on how farmers can be helped to have better markets and production.

In Kikuube and Hoima districts, the researchers conducted soil testing and plant testing for Maize and Upland Rice and it was found that the soils in these two areas had issues.

He says that soil nitrogen and organic carbon are still modulating whilepotassium, zink, and phosphorus were very low in the soils.

Musinguzi added that soils in some areas such as Buhimba, Kiziranfumbi in Kikuube district, and Butebere in Buhanika Sub-County were found with low and high iron content.

The research findings indicate soils in different parts of the two districts were found with a lot of gravels and stone environment with shallow depths making such soils favorable for grazing and forestry.

According to Musinguzi, such a challenge calls for improved soil nutrients management if the soils are to continue to be productive.

In his research, Dr. Musinguzi recommended that there is a need for farmers in their current state to apply interim or provisional fertilizer as a response to the trials and to keep a record of all input costs so as to compute the profitability associated with fertilizer use.

He also recommended that policy action is needed to consider fertilizer costs and optimized fertilizer use amidst climate change challenges.

He further added that there is a need to help farmers market, conduct weather research, and carry out soil testing before engaging in any productivity of any crop.

He also noted that the challenge faced in Agriculture is that many people are engaging in farming as a last resort and they end up not benefiting.

“People are still practicing subsistence farming and this method is keeping many farmers in poverty,” he said, adding that there is a need to sensitize farmers to undertake agriculture as a business.

As the country heads to implement the parish model of development, there is a need for farmers to embrace research and soil testing; adding these two factors are key in improving Agriculture productivity.

“Without prioritizing research and soil testing, farmers end up applying fertilizers where it is not required and they grow crops on unfavorable soil and they end up making loses, when you do soil and farm test you can be able to estimate the fertilizers to use”

Dr. Musinguzi also called leaders and Agricultural Officials to help maize farmers get alternative crops adding that research described maize as a crop that is not economically viable given the nature of the soils.

According to him, maize is a deep-rooted crop yet different areas such as Buhimba Sub County, Kikuube district have soils with shallow depth that make it unfavorable for maize growing. He noted that the soils need crops that are shallow-rooted such as Rice, Millet, and Sim-sim among others.

He noted that such soil needs a lot of feeding [fertilize application] which makes it very expensive compared to the market price of maize. He advised farmers to engage in maize production for food security but not for commercial purposes.

“We do recommend that some crops that we are planting, let us plant them mindful of the rooting environment of these crops; we recommend crops with shallow roots because we have a very different environment here, but also if you look at the areas that have deep soils like if you go towards Butembere in Buhanika Sub-County and Bulindi in Kyabigambire Sub-County in Hoima district; the soil in those areas look to be deep and they could favor crops that are deep-rooted. So as a farmer, you need to be careful and select the crops in these soils” he said.

Suleiman Mulindwa, the Agricultural Officer for Kyangwali Sub-County says, the research was long overdue adding that the findings are a wake-up call to all farmers to adopt modern farming to ensure productivity on their land.

He noted that most farmers are in agriculture but they do not mind about the issue of soil nutrient management and this has made soil unproductive adding that it’s high time farmers started seeking services of extension workers to help them in the management of their soils if they are to benefit from farming.

He added that farming in the area is becoming tricky due to changing seasons as a result of climate change. He noted that there is a need for the government to support farmers with irrigation and subsidized fertilizers in an effort to promote agriculture.

David Onyita and Vicente Barongo, the Agriculture Officers of Kabwoya Sub County in Kikuube district and Buseruka Sub County in Hoima district respectively said that there is a need for government to come up with stringent policies to fight against bush and garbage burning which they said is increasingly affecting soils.

They noted that soil organic carbon which helps plants to consume fertilizers from the soils is mostly lost through bush and garbage burning.

According to them, the habit of bush burning and garbage [grass] burning in gardens by farmers is rampant in the region and called for government intervention.

“Any soil without organic carbon is wasted soil; even if you apply fertilizer on such land that fertilizer cannot work, so we need to have measures to protect our soils from losing such ingredients.

End.

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SOROTI – Teso regional leaders have been tasked to focus on human resource development if they are to compete and benefit equally like other regions of the country.

The call was made by Nobert Mao, the President General of the Democratic Party during his routine party visits to Soroti district.

Mao said that Teso is blessed with many human resource development institutions, citing examples of Arapai Agricultural College, now Busitema University, Teso University, Soroti Fruit Factory, and many more.

He further urged that if Teso does not focus on human resource development, they will not get a better share of the jobs in these same institutions in their region since they will not have the qualifications required to get jobs.

“Other people with qualifications will take up the jobs available in these institutions at the expense of Teso people because they lack the competence,” Mao further said.

Mao also advised the leadership of Teso to put together a lot of efforts and help lobby for quality education but not accessible education for the development of Teso.

Corruption of Covid-19 Taskforce Funds in Teso

Meanwhile, the Soroti City West Member of Parliament, Jonathan Ebwalu says, the best parents in Teso can do; is to take their children to better schools so they can access quality education.

According to him, Teso College Aloet which was one of the giant schools built using loans their fathers accessed from Bugishu Cooperative Union can again access loans for the development of the school.

He added that Teso had, Teso Education Fund [TEF] that focused on helping vulnerable children who were unable to continue with further studies. This must be revived, he said.

“It’s the only way that we can improve education in the region and soon we will revive it,” Ebwalu said.

Simon Okanya, the Human Resource Officer of Soroti district, admitted that a lot needs to be done in Teso region in terms of education. He further says Teso has not invested in the people, to give them the necessary skills for the jobs.

“Other regions have skills in abundance compared to what Teso has,” he said.

Okanya said that if only Teso leaders could look at skilling the people in the region, to take on the jobs that their institutions offer; that’s when they can realize meaningful employment and benefit as a region.

Fred Akol, the Workers Representative for Soroti City Council says the district has funds allocated for capacity building but not sufficient enough.

He adds that Teso as a region has bright brains but most of them prefer looking for greener pastures elsewhere.

He cited an example that the district hasn’t found yet a District Engineer not because they are less educated but the local persons here do not have the qualification for the job.

“We would have loved for our local people to take on most of the jobs but the position may require qualifications that our local people don’t have,” Akol said.

He, therefore, appealed to the government to look into this so that the district can develop the local capacity to fit into the areas that are created.

End.

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