By Wakibi Iddi
BUYENDE| President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has urged leaders and communities in Busoga to make better use of increasingly smaller landholdings, saying land fragmentation is limiting agricultural productivity and household incomes.
President Museveni said shrinking plots make it increasingly difficult for families to depend on conventional farming and urged communities to adopt productive enterprises suited to the size of their land.
He made the remarks while officiating at the thanksgiving ceremony of Budiope West Member of Parliament and Minister for the Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda, at Iringa Township Primary School in Nkondo Sub-county, Buyende District.
President Museveni said leaders had spent too much time in internal disagreements instead of helping communities make better economic decisions about their land.
He also criticised excessive reliance on sugarcane, urging farmers with smaller plots to consider more intensive and income-generating enterprises, including dairy farming.
“Sugarcane growing was a mistake but leaders were not honest to you. Every time, sugarcane, sugarcane,” President Museveni said.
He urged communities to choose enterprises capable of generating higher returns from limited land while also exploring opportunities beyond agriculture, including ICT and other productive sectors.
Iganga District NRM Chairperson Hajji Abubakar Walubi told the President that Busoga needed interventions tailored to the region’s land situation.
Walubi said limited landholdings remained a major challenge to household incomes and called for community-based irrigation projects to support agricultural production.
President Museveni also addressed concerns over fishing and the regulation of activities on Uganda’s lakes. He said the lakes are public resources that should benefit Ugandans and that Government would continue regulating fishing while supporting communities to engage in productive activities such as fish farming.
Third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio Rukia Isanga Nakadama raised concerns over the South Busoga Forest Reserve and reminded the President about a Shs1 billion pledge made in Jinja.
Nakadama also raised concerns about the delayed resolution of issues surrounding the forest reserve.
During the ceremony, Minister Babalanda asked President Museveni to prioritise the Amba Coat, Kamuli and Bukungu road, saying Buyende still needed improved road connectivity.
She also called for the upgrading of Bukungu Health Centre III to a Health Centre IV and raised concerns over the planned nuclear power project.
Babalanda said uncertainty over possible displacement had affected some residents’ willingness to make long-term investments in their land.
She also highlighted interventions supporting agricultural production, including hand tractors provided to SACCOs in different sub-counties, and donated motorcycles to religious leaders in Buyende to support their pastoral work.
The thanksgiving service was led by the Archbishop of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Uganda, Pastor Samuel Kajoba, who urged the public to remain thankful to God and called for stronger efforts against corruption.
Babalanda presented President Museveni with two cows and led the gathering in a birthday song for the President.
President Museveni later committed to providing refrigerators and a milk-cooling tank to support dairy farmers in Buyende District.
