Young Ugandans Reluctant about Agriculture

Experts argue that Africa’s potential to feed the globe is huge, but the economic importance of this, has not yet sunk in the minds of many young people in the African continent. Important to note, interventions to integrate the youth into agriculture, is little, compared to the need to do so.

A growing concern that must be checked is the dreadful attitudes of the youth in Africa towards agriculture. It is regrettable that as a continent in this 21st century, such misconception does exist!
It is a fact that young and energetic people in Africa are generally reluctant to engage in agriculture anytime the call is made, experts say.
Byte Bashaasha on attitude.
(I think this is an attitude, it is an attitude and you know you can trace it from where many of us come from, many of us come from the rural areas, and its like well when u r doing agriculture you are poor, so after you've gone to school why should u be doing agriculture,and that kind of stuff. The other aspect I think is the school, you know in some schools they still use agriculture as punishment, u come late u go digging, u didn't answer a question right in class you go digging, you know those kind of reinforce that agriculture is not that productive)
ME: Yes indeed, Africa’s youth do have a strong belief that agriculture is a slow sector – a dead-end path in their quest to get rich quickly. A sample of views taken from some Ugandan youth in Kampala confirmed that when confronted with the choice of investing in agriculture or other sectors, the majority of them would opt for other areas of the economy.
Byte 2.youth pop edit stagnant
(no I'd rather invest in the information sector)
3.youth pop boutique edit
( now I've just finished school, so if I had money, I would not invest it in agriculture coz I want something that will bring me quick money, like a boutique!)
4. Youth pop edit yes
(ofcourse I would, umm..my interest in agriculture is because my parents are farmers and right now agriculture would be a very profitable business, so I'd definitely invest in agriculture)
5.youth pop edit not really
(not really, because agriculture is first of all connected to the weather, you must wait for a certain weather so that you grow your crop and the returns of agriculture take long so I wouldn't)
7. Youth pop fashion edit
(no coz agriculture is not really my thing I think I'd go in for another business more like fashion)
ME: A recent conference in Kampala aimed at bringing the farming and banking sectors closer together noted the lack of expertise in agricultural finance as a rising challenge for the Ugandan economy.
ME: Bashaasha blames the poor performance of agricultural finance on policies and plans that ignore labour requirements.
8.Byte inadequate human resource
(the whole planning process doesn’t take into consideration the required human resource capacity you know to deliver. You can have these nice documents, nice plans and even money but you need people, the human resource people to be able to deliver, I think aah the level of training in terms of agricultural finance both I think at undergraduate, even at graduate and even lower levels of diplomas, they are not there, they are inadequate. )
ME: Echoing this, Robert Richards an agricultural economist from New Zealand notes that training programs in Uganda are too few and far between.
9.Byte Richard Roberts
(This country needs good technicians and I look for the technical training opportunities, they exist! question is are there enough of them, I am not so sure about them)
ME: Ushering in a new argument, Francesca Akello from Young Ambassadors for Rural Development states that any interventions for agricultural finance to succeed will certainly require the active involvement of the youth.
10.Byte Akello on strong participation
(we can not begin deliberating issues around agricultural finance for africa in general and uganda in particular without a good and strong representation of the youth and for anything to succeed will need their strong participation)
ME: Akello says inadequate training opportunities are complicating efforts to get Africa's youth interested in the agricultural sector. Bernard Bashaasha from Makarere University agrees…
12.Byte bashasha bite 1
( I’d be happy to see youth targeted programs, in terms of training them really not only in agricultural finance but generally in agriculture. There people we train in Makerere university or other universities, when these people leave there expectations is not to go and practice agriculture, there expectations is to go and get white collar job and may be join a bank or a non governmental organizations)
ME: As commercial farmers complain that their crops are rotting in fields because they can’t find enough laborers to complete the harvest, Bashaasha thinks government should start programs to encourage early school-leavers to find work on farms.
13. Byte Bashaasha bite 2
(there are youth may be some of them have dropped out at senior 4, others have dropped out at senior 5, some of these you can see them in petty business, the boda-bodas and whatever. I mean those youth, are a resource that could be mobilized. And again the programs to mobile them anyway and assist them and support them do not exist, so I think that's an opportunity that we are not capturing. )
ME: The 2010 development strategy and investment plan of the Ministry of Agriculture observed that the capacity of young people in Uganda to effectively engage in agriculture was limited by a lack of access to resources. So what is the Government of Uganda currently doing about this dilemma? The Minister of state in charge of investment, Aston Kajara, explains that 44.5 billion shillings have been extended to young entrepreneurs to encourage investment in the agricultural value chain.
16.Byte minister on youth fund not target agric
(this money is not targeting agriculture per-say it is targeting income generation for the youth, the best areas today there not only trading or boutiques, but we shall encourage the youth to identify projects such as juice extraction and other agricultural produce)
ME: The importance of Agriculture in Uganda is unquestionable. Agriculture employs 80 percent of the population and accounts for almost a quarter of the country’s total economic output. Despite this critical role, the future of agriculture remains uncertain as long as the youth consider the sector unattractive.
Juliet Mabisi, UBC Radio!

Depression, A disease that is killing many silently! Its even made worse now that the world moves too fast. everybody is so busy running here and there, chasing the bus. catching a taxi, making that money- yes everyone is too damm busy to notice that we have a disease that is amidst us.Interestingly this disease does not segregate. Paul Summergrad the president of the American Psychiatric Association, says it affects people across the spectrum.

Lets give it some thought before we dismiss it lightly. A new vision article published in May 12th 2012 indicated that 20 per cent of Ugandans have some degree of mental illness ranging from depression to severe madness.A world renowned actor Robin Williams popular for his role in Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Morning America battled with this disease. This clearly shows us that no one is exempt from this disease. Lets wake up and pay close attention to depression, a disease that is silently killing many in today's fast world.

Scientist claim they have now discovered a water reservoir beneath the african continent!

I find it funny that scientist did not know this before, Africa's riches is beyond description and a lot more is stored in this poor continent!
For the christians God may be telling us not to despise what seems ugly or simple coz it can turn out to be something so great.
Now the discovery reveals that the water below 'the notorious' dry continent africa is 100 times more than the one on the surface.
wow God you are a amazing, i am glad this discovery has been made because talk about the scarcity of water in this years celebration of world water day was the order of the day!

Faith in the Judiciary system of Uganda is on the verge of collapsing

The Judiciary department of the Ugandan government has decided to increase the number of judges and magistrates in an attempt to clear the current case backlog in the law courts of the country. The chief Justice Benjamin Odoki told members of parliament who paid him a visit at his chambers on 18th of august 2009 that there is need for increments at various court levels. The supreme court is expected to add 5 judges to the current 7 to make it 12 in total, court of appeal needs an additional 7 to the current 8 to make it 15 in total, High court of Uganda requires additional 32 to the current 50 to make it 82. This follows a series of mob justices that has taken toll of Uganda and complaints about the case backlog in courts. Whether this new attempt of the judiciary will yield fruits can not be ascertained now, but the reality on the ground indicates that many Ugandans have lost faith in the judicial system of this country.
There have been claims by a number of ordinary Ugandans and opposition members who have expressed that the Ugandan judiciary is very corrupt. And although chief justice Odoki, insist and shifts the blame to the police and Director of Public Prosecution who delay due process in courts, many Ugandans are convinced that judicial officers are to blame for the case backlog in this country. Examples demonstrating the corruption in the judiciary is not farfetched because not too long ago Moses Ndifuna a grade one magistrate of Mbarara district in Uganda was arrested for receiving a bribe of 2oo,ooo shillings to alter he’s judgment in favour of an accused person who was appearing before him. The case is before the anti-corruption court of Uganda and investigations into the case is still going on.
And although Odoki insists on telling us that there is reduced growth of case backlog from a 13% growth in financial year 2007/2008 to 4.0 during the current financial year, the increasing number of mob justices in the country suggests otherwise. This is because the rising crime level and mob justices indicate the loss of trust by the people of Uganda in judicial services of this country. People prefer to take matters of the law in their own hands because they are skeptical that the judiciary will fail them.

Counterfeits are indeed a serious problem that can no longer be ignored!

Counterfeits are a predicament that has put our countries in a complex dilemma as counterfeits continue to take toll of our entire social- economic development. In Uganda massive fake products have inflated our markets without any prohibition, raising both safety and health concerns throughout the country. The recent fake four hundred bags of cement impounded by Uganda Revenue Authority is a case in point.

The hazardous consequences of counterfeits are very clear and it beats my understanding that there are some people in this country who have no conscience. They go ahead and trade counterfeits in the markets knowing very well that what they are selling to the public could harm their lives.

Early this year there were rampant collapse of buildings under construction in the city, at that time we only concentrated on blaming the engineers at the building site. we did not stop to think that these buildings could have possibly collapsed because the cement used for their construction was perhaps not genuine. Uganda's treasury is also losing vast amounts of revenue to the unpaid taxes of counterfeits which usually doge taxes. This creates a very awkward situation and pushes a way the genuine products from the market, creating a catastrophic situation.


This situation encourages the genuine investors and manufacturers to forfeit investing in our country. investors are thus pushed a way from the market because they continue to incur loses and compete unfavourably with fake products which are usually sold at convincing low prices. whatever happened to the phrase that cheap things are expensive in the long run? These cheap products turnout to be ineffective for the purposes for which they are meant for and at the worse stage it can cost us our lives. We need to embrase this phrase and shun fake products but this is complex. yes, it's complex in the sense that many of us lack the sense of decernment to establish whether agiven product is fake or genuine.


Therefore even as we fight the nuisance of counterfeits whiich is eating us up like a cid consuming a person's skin, we must understand what constitutes counterfeits for various products. the commonly counterfeited products include drugs, shoes, soap and detergents although Ugandans have added construction products like cement. So my appeal to Ugandans is that they should be sober and observant when purchasing products. And they should also report people selling counterfeits to authorities because the fight against counterfeits needs a combine effort.

Counterfeits are indeed a serious problem that can no longer be ignored or allowed to continune any more. It must be put to an end immediately if we are to curb economic loss in our country.

Managers and employers should be sensetive when relaying bad news to their employees!

The Story about the Mwiri teacher(Mwiri is a single sex secondary school in eastern Uganda in Jinja district.)who commited suicide over his transfer’ is a clear indication that the increasing number people depressed in Uganda should be cause for alarm to the entire public of Uganda.In a study conducted by world vision in 2001, it was found that 21% of adults surveyed in selected HIV and AIDS-affected communities in south-western Uganda were clinically depressed in this country. This study concentrated on HIV/AIDS affected communities but it can work as a pilot test to show us that there are quite a number of people who are depressed.The previous reports of the media about a man who murdered he’s family and the recent one about the Mwiri teacher is an indication that the levels of depression are rising not only as a result of HIV/AIDS but also because of the existing high levels of poverty and other related problems.According to World Health Organization depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. These problems can become chronic or recurrent and lead to substantial impairments in an individual's ability to take care of his or her everyday responsibilities. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide, a tragic fatality associated with the loss of about 850 000 thousand lives every year.In light of the article that was published in the daily monitor of February 2009, one would assume that life is worthless. The diseased David Kaggwa’s suicidal death clearly indicates that some people in Uganda do not treasure the sacredness of life and thus ignorantly devalue it in preference of what exists around us such as our jobs, houses, cars which we assume are a better bargain than our pressures lives!Therefore while some people strife to exercise, eat well, do regular check ups, pray and protect their lives, some ignorant ones just commit suicide. The paradox here is whom I’m I angry with? Is it those who commit suicide? Or those who ignore depressed people? and trample over them making them less hopeful and helpless. In this particular case my pointing figure is accusing the Head teacher of Mwri who did not pay attention to the emotional weakness of Mr. Kaggwa because he was busy cruelly relaying the transfer details to Mr. Kaggwa without putting into consideration he’s emotional state before giving him the bad news of he’s referral to the Ministry for posting elsewhere.This brings to light the negligence of poor managers who luck the skill to council and prepare stuff for the bad news that awaits them. Bad news of any sort has never been an easy thing to digest. I’m sure that all of you out there know that catastrophic news can send anyone in their right senses to become crazy enough to attempt to or take their own life. One requires emotional backup from an understanding person in order to absorb and digest bad news. Cooperate leaders, Directors, Managers and employers should know that we entrust them with lives of our loved ones. If you are a boss out there, Know that you have a responsibility of looking out for your subjects. Device a more appropriate means of relaying bad news to your subjects in a less traumatic manner. The reasons that acted as a catalysts drive for Mr. Kaggwa to commit suicide was the short notice announcement from the School head teacher. He’s depressed state caused by overwhelming financial problems could not enable him bear the news of being unemployed.

love the children don't abuse them

Issues concerning child abuse have been popular in the local media and it seems to be fading away so soon. Protests and campaigns against violence and child abuse of children should become more proactive. This is because numerous forms of abuses go on and on and we sit back and look on.

Evils such as child trafficking, child sacrifice, child soldiers, defilement, child battering, child labour, domestic violence, and child prostitution are some of the abuses children have had to live with through out their lives. We have tremendously sinned against the innocent children in so many ways and the list is endless.

The motherly heart of a woman has disappeared, because if we look at most of the evils that happen to children it has its genesis with the cruelty of a woman. Some kinds of child abuses start early. For instance, with every puff of cigarette, your baby absorbs growth-retarding diseases of nicotine, carbon monoxide, ammonia and hydrogen chloride. Mothers who are supposed to love care and protect children start destroying them with bad habits such as smoking, alcoholism and ‘indiscipline’ acts during their pregnancies. As if the torture given to them is not enough during pregnancy then comes, the physical and psychological neglect of a child after birth. For useless purposes such as looking young, little headed mothers refuse to breast feed their babies and deny them the natural nutrients God prepared for children in their breast!


In a recent documentary on BBC, it was repoted that lots of children especially the girl child were being shipped to the west to be used as child prostitutes. The documentary talked about a teenage Nigerian girl who left her Home in search for greener pastures only to be deceived by a selfish cruel woman who helped her crossover to western Europe, only to use her as a money making tool in prostitution. The girl was found by one of the BBC reporter who took the responsibility of returning her the right authorities who returned her safely back to Nigeria. On return several medical check ups were done and she was found with the deadly disease. The poor girl will now live with the nightmare of the disease. This reminds me of the issue of cross generational sex. Big pot bellied men old enough to be grand parents have no shame in luring young children into sex. So many cases have been reported in the print media about a father who used his own daughter. The sodomy way of life has captured the world and when God pours down his wrath, we should not be surprised. But it is not too late for us to change and pray to God for forgiveness.


We should realize that a lot of evils are going on in the world and it should not chock us. The financial credit systems are failing, terrorist attacks are rampant, high crime rate and leaders with virtue are no more. All this is because we have neglected the word of God which commands us to love and bless the little ones. In Matthew 18:10 God warns us not to despise and abuse children because they are a blessing.
Indeed increasing crime rate such as cases of defilement, burning of schools and the magnitude of street children show how greatly we have wronged the innocent children. We have innocent blood shading in our hands and these children are crying aloud to God. If we want to avoid curses and the wrath of God, let us stop