By Julius Mugaga Tukacungurwa, Umoja Standard.
NEBBI: The West Nile District which boasts of being one of the food baskets in Uganda ranging from onions, tomatoes, Irish potatoes, green paper and others has been deprived of road access to markets.
Even with farmers being trained by Uganda Agribusiness Alliance (UAA) about value chain foods, roads continue to be a big hindrance to farmers.
In the three selected districts, 1388 farmers (665 female and 623 males) have been trained under Power of Voices Partnership Project, a consortium with other partners like Agents for Community Empowerment, Oxfam, SEATINI and ESAFF Uganda.
This project is funded by Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Oxfam Uganda to promote horticulture and coffee value chains, poor roads however continue to demean farmers from accessing markets.
Ezekiel Onyuthi, a beneficiary who earned 800,000shillings from selling onions in his first season from Acwera village, Padola Parish, Nyonikumi Group- Gwonyubendo Micro Station in Erusi Sub County still cries out for bad roads.
“However from this money, I bought One female pig that gave birth to 5 piglets, which are 2 months old now. I also bought 1 tin of tomatoes planted on 0.25 acre of land and earned 250,000 shillings and again hired 0.25 acres of land at 100,000 shillings. The money helped me to pay school fees and feed my family,” Ezekiel revealed.
“We are passionate about growing crops but the problem is that by the time we reach the market, our goods are already perished because of the poor roads,” said Ezekiel.
“We also have a problem of Middlemen who take advantage of bad roads to cheat us in prices imagine selling a basin at 20,000shillings yet we invest a lot,” added Ezekiel.
Another farmer, Alex Okwera who has been growing Onion since 2023 cries of the same regardless of the prices, limited access to water and other things that sabotage them from getting good yields, road access to markets remains the biggest limiting factor.
As evidenced by the roads in Eruusi S/County where the terrain is not favorable, their women end up carrying food on the head to market in foot.
“Because of the bad roads, we cannot ride bicycles , motorcycles even trucks can’t reach us. Our women carry food to the market and perish on the way, ” Okwera revealed.
However these farmers have also reported benefits, Ezekiel mentioned, they were trained on how to manage pests and diseases, working together as a family, has enabled him boost household income. He managed to save money and buy goats and chicken as while integrated Irish potatoes, tomatoes and onions.
Okwera also boosts of sending his child to school in Kampala.
“Am happy because these onions have helped me to educate my child who is studying in Kampala right now,” says Okwera.
In addition, the Consortium organizations have trained women to leadership roles like Rachael who does quality assurance for the coffee value chain which was not there before but still re-echoes road access hurdles.
“Our welfare has since improved, educated children, built iron sheets houses but we call on government to rectify the issues of bad roads to enable us get better earnings from our works,” Rachael appealed.
On the other hand Onencan Gilbert, Assistant Principal Chief Administrative Officer Nebbi District acknowledged the poor state of some roads noting that they will be prioritized in the next financial budget.
Mariam Akiror, Head of Programmes Development and Quality Assurance at Uganda Agribusiness Alliance called for synergized efforts between Civil Society Organizations and government noting, the Consortium has labored to link farmers to the market, provided seedlings and global Good Agronomic Practices but the issue is, road infrastructure and agricultural policy environment remains a government obligation.
“I appeal to government to work on the roads so that farmers can freely access markets in real-time so that agribusiness in the area thrives,” stated Mariam.
It is therefore viable for Ugandan government to prioritize road infrastructure development as it is the only way the country can transition from subsistence farming to Agri-industrialization as has been the President’s agenda.
