Amuru Woman MP Lucy Akello has launched a campaign to encourage more farmers in the Acholi sub-region to grow coffee, saying the region has the potential to become one of Uganda’s leading coffee-producing areas.
Speaking to Bbeg Media at Parliament, Akello said it was time to prove wrong those who believe that Acholi is unsuitable for coffee farming.
“We want to disprove all those who think Acholi land is not suitable for coffee growing,” she said.
Akello said she recently led members of a women’s SACCO from Northern Uganda on a visit to the coffee and poultry farm of fellow member Flora Alingi in Gulu City.
The visit was intended to encourage more women to invest in coffee farming and poultry keeping as reliable sources of income.
She said more than 100 women coffee farmers attended the meeting, where they were encouraged to increase coffee production to improve household incomes and create jobs for women and young people.
Akello said the group wants farmers from the Acholi sub-region to contribute to Uganda’s national coffee export targets by increasing production.
She also advised poultry farmers to use chicken manure in their coffee gardens, saying it improves soil fertility and boosts crop yields.
According to Akello, the initiative will also strengthen poultry farming and help Northern Uganda become a leading supplier of eggs to domestic and regional markets, including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other neighbouring countries.
On the prolonged dry spell affecting many farmers, Akello welcomed the government’s efforts to expand irrigation.
She said financing recently secured to support irrigation projects would help farmers produce throughout the year and complement President Yoweri Museveni’s Four-Acre Model programme.
She urged farmers to embrace irrigation, modern farming methods and commercial agriculture to increase production and improve their livelihoods.
