President Museveni has pledged to establish a special government fund to boost tea enterprises in the Kigezi Sub-region. He said the fund would stabilise the tea sector and enable farmers to receive subsidised fertilisers, among others.
‘It’s me that launched tea growing in this area after visiting the Bwindi area, where I found people in Kayonza planting tea in the lowlands, then I called Rt Hon Amama Mbabazi and asked him why the people in the highlands were not involved in tea growing. He intervened, and we boosted the tea enterprise in this area,’ the President said.
Speaking during a rally at Rwere Playground in Kirima Sub-county, Kanungu District, the Mr Museveni shared his successful tea campaign in Kigezi, where he mobilised farmers to embrace good farming practices and to grow tea.
‘It’s the NRM government that boosted the tea enterprise in Uganda,’ President Museveni said. He added that the special fund would operate like the Parish Development Model to support tea farmers and their colleagues who grow crops such as cocoa and coffee.
Farmers have long called on the government to establish a special fund where they can acquire loans at low interest rates to purchase fertilisers for their tea and pay after selling their produce.
Mr Museveni said if re-elected, his government would continue giving tea farmers and factories support, adding that tea is one of the key foreign exchange earners of the country.
He said the standard of living of people who embraced tea farming in the sub-region had improved. The President promised to rehabilitate the Ntungamo-Rukunguri road, tarmac the Hamurwa-Kerere-Kanungu-Buhoma-Butogota-Ikumba road (149km) and the Ishasha-Katunguru road.
President Museveni asked the people of Kanungu to explain to other Ugandans the importance of peace and security in the country since they live next to the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
‘1.3 million people are now employed in the new factories established by the NRM government, and this is three times the government jobs available in the country, which are just 480,000 jobs. You must embrace the link between wealth and job creation. Poor roads are a result of a lack of discipline during the budgeting process,’ President Museveni added.
The Kanungu District NRM party Chairman, Mr Caleb Kipande, commended President Museveni for ensuring peace and security in the district despite the armed conflict in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and asked the people in the area to vote for him massively in the forthcoming election.
‘We are grateful for the 80 million tea seedlings and five million coffee seedlings you have given to us in Kanungu District. We thank you for supporting the Kayonza Tea Processing Factory, our district farm at Katete, and the Matanda irrigation scheme,’ Mr Kipande said.
Mr Kipande also asked Mr Museveni to fulfil the pledges he made.