No need to state the obvious. The fact is that under a corrupt military dictatotrial regime ,such as that of the NRM , nothing really works. High sounding projects like the so called PMA intended to "up lift our people from poverty" , only becomes a means for some corrupt NRM sycophants to to "twalire"
MK
Farmers Declares PMA a Flop
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The Monitor (Kampala)
November 4, 2004
Posted to the web November 4, 2004
Martin Luther Oketch
Kampala
Critics say the Shs533 billion a year Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture had largely flopped because it overlooks the people who should be most involved - farmers.
But officials implementing the programme say PMA would take time to fully work. Critics maintain that despite big expenditures for PMA, farmers are not benefiting and are not directly involved in implementation activities.
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The treasurer of the Uganda National Farmers Federation, Mr Charles Ogang, told The Monitor on October 28 that money for PMA activities at the sub-county level is not having an impact and farmers. He alleged that non-agriculturalists based in Kampala, were monopolising the money.
"This is one of the reasons why most farmers down in the villages have not understood PMA up to date. Those in the implementation process of the programme are using the money to fulfill pledges they made when they were campaigning for political posts," he said.
But the Director PMA Secretariat, Dr Willie O.
Odwongo, told The Monitor that PMA was designed for medium and long-term transformation of agriculture and was never meant to be a quick- fix.
"The benefits of PMA will be realised after the transformation process being undertaken is completed. Let people hold on for some more time. The impact will come to pass. It is still too early to judge whether PMA has failed," Odwongo said.
"PMA as a process is not something that is going to make things change overnight. This is a strategic policy designed to develop the sector in a holistic way which will have to under go many stages in all the 56 districts," he said.
Critics have accused the government for sidelining farmers' organisations that are better placed to do the mobilisation need to make PMA work.
"PMA is the best-ever programme government has undertaken to transform agriculture in this country. The programme is really very good for poverty eradication in this country because it lays emphasis on productivity and marketability of the produced," Ogang said.
Government officials, on the other hand, tell The Monitor that carrying out plans to modernise farming in Uganda is difficult because the sector is so complex and entwined with every thing from education to finance.
PMA, introduced in the financial year 2000/2001 as a policy framework for reforming agriculture, has seven key objectives. Those are agricultural and technological development, agricultural advisory services, rural financial services, agro-processing and marketing, agricultural education, sustainable use and management of natural resources and supportive physical infrastructures.
Officials maintain that it could take years to show real results under the program simply because of the difficulty of coordinating efforts by many programs.
The Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development is involved with budgeting and provision of rural micro finance to the farmers and the Ministry of Works Housing and Communications is involved with building roads important to connecting farmers with district and regional markets.
The Education Ministry is charged, in the PMA plan, with getting young people interested early in farming and setting up effective training for them.
Getting all these different organisations working together is slowing down progress, officials say. The permanent secretary in the ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries, Mr David Obong, said it will not be possible to spread PMA components into all the 56 districts in short term as some people and politicians have wanted.
As one example, the National Agricultural Advisory Services NAADS, which offers extension services in areas of field training, has reached only 24 districts since PMA went into effect.
"This policy of PMA is a holistic approach government is using to transform agriculture from subsistence-oriented to commercial," Obong said. "By changing all the traditional way of farming into a modern type,"
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Obong called for patience, saying "One thing people should understand is there are always challenges in policies and project implementation the world over. Be it a government or private sector projects they have got challenges."
He said another big stumbling block to PMA is that Ugandans do not think of agriculture as business. "Due to bad attitudes towards PMA and agriculture as a whole some people do things which are contrary to what they should be doing," he said.
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