In a national budget proposal released earlier this month, the Ugandangovernment pledged to assist the country's poor subsistence farmers. The budget promises farmers greater access to low-interest loans,equipment and disease-resistant seeds. But farmers say they areskeptical that their lives will improve.
Two days a week,Ssenkiko Twaha squeezes into a shared taxi and travels two hours fromhis 80-acre corn plantation in the Masaka district to Kampala.
Hedoes not make the trip to sell crops. Instead, the subsistence farmerhawks shoes from a rusty stand in the bustling New Taxi ParkMarketplace. Twaha says he has no choice but to take on a second jobsince he cannot sustain nine family members on the $300 he earns incorn profits each season.
"In Uganda, we are poor. We do not gettools. You may find somebody who has energy to work, but has no tool,has no money to buy hoe, has no seeds. So, that's the problem," he said.
Twahasays a couple of years ago, the government delivered corn seeds to hisdistrict. But the seeds were expired and did not germinate. Similarsetbacks have occurred in other parts of the country.
Uganda'sagricultural sector last year managed to grow two-and-a-half percent,but not always to the benefit of farmers. They cite coffee as anexample. Coffee exports increased this past year, but they were paidless for their crop because of reduced global demand.
Ugandaaims to ride out the global recession by increasing agriculturalexports to foreign markets to reduce the budget deficit. Earlier thismonth, the Ugandan government showed a willingness to follow thatagenda, introducing measures to strengthen the country's agriculturalsector.
Uganda's new national budget dedicates five percent ofthe total budget to agriculture, a huge jump from the one percentallocation five years ago. The budget promises subsistence farmersgreater access to competitive loans, capped at 10 percent interest,disease-resistant seeds, and modern farm equipment.
But Uganda'ssubsistence farmers and others are expressing skepticism about themeasures. Many say they fear that this effort, like many before it,will never go beyond the planning stage.
Shoeless children, asyoung as five years-old, pace through the fields in Central Uganda'sMukono District. Most are using their bare hands to uproot crops. They are the faces of the 10 million Ugandans who live in poverty, thepoorest of which are rural subsistence farmers.
Nevertheless, it is estimated that subsistence farmers contribute as much as 15 percent to the country's gross national product.
TophaKiwala grows corn, coffee, and bananas in the Mukono District. He sayslow-interest loan packages would greatly help poor farmers in hisdistrict increase their yields. But he says he doubts any funds willever reach his village.
Kiwala says the government has liedseveral times and has never acted on anything it has promised. Thesubsistence farmer adds his community has not received any assistance,but funds have been widely distributed to districts like Mbarara, wherefamilies of politicians reside.
This criticism is echoed byseveral other farmers in the same district. It comes against thebackdrop of government pledges to squash corruption and keep closertabs on budget allocations.
Kiwala says that if the governmentwas serious about improving the plight of farmers, it would helpdevelop a more effective local lending system. He suggests thegovernment work with existing farmers' cooperatives to distribute grouploans.
Kiwala says it is important to unite and be a cooperativebecause one individual may not feel inspired to return a loan. Thesubsistence farmer says the group would hold each other accountable tore-pay the bank money.
The national budget also details plansfor 30,000 model farmers to be instructed in modern farming techniquesthrough the country's National Advisory Agriculture Services Program.
MatovuMichael Joseph, who serves as a middleman between farmers and cropwholesalers in the Mukono district, says teaching farmers newtechniques will prove futile unless subsistence farmers are given fundsto implement the prescribed practices. He notes that most farmersprofits go towards paying off high-interest rates from previous loans.
"You know the problem of farmers, the farmers they are not educated, somehow, eh?" he said.
Josephgoes on to say most farmers take out loans without fully understandingthe terms of those loans. He says lenders often deceive the farmersand take all of their profits.
Back in Kampala's New Taxi market, Twaha makes a sale, selling a pair of flip-flops to a gum-chewing teenager.