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Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF) has distributed 15,000 wilt-resistant coffee seedlings to more than 60 farmers.
The seedlings are expected to be planted on 33 hectares of land, in a bid to revitalise the coffee industry in the region.
According to Julius Lakareber, Agricultural Extension Officer with MAAIF, the department of Coffee, the seedlings are part of the ministry’s efforts to promote coffee production in the district. “This is the second time we are providing coffee seedlings to farmers in Kitgum,” Lakareber said. “Early this year, we provided 10,000 coffee seedlings to over 30 farmers in the district.”
He further stressed that the farmers who received the seedlings had already prepared their gardens, dug holes, and applied manure, making them ready for planting. Each hectare of garden is expected to have 450 coffee seedlings.
Lakareber expressed optimism that the initiative will not only increase coffee production in the district but also improve the livelihoods of the farmers.
He said that the distribution of coffee seedlings is part of MAAIF’s efforts to promote coffee production in the district and improve the livelihoods of farmers. “With the right support and resources, coffee farming can be a lucrative venture for farmers in Kitgum, and the ministry’s initiative is a step in the right direction”. Lakareber mentioned.
One of the farmers who received 450 coffee seedlings is 74-year-old Constantine Odongtoo Odur from Laboti Olwonga village in Mucwini Sub-county. Odur said he was inspired to plant coffee after one of his fellow members of the Mucwini Coffee Growers Cooperative Society harvested one hectare of coffee and earned 6 million Shillings last year.
“I have already prepared my one-hectare garden and planted about 60 seedlings,” Odur said.
According to Odur, in the next three years to come, he will be in a position to begin getting that amount of money or more from the coffee harvest, and that will make him tempted to abandon other farming since money will be made through coffee.
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