By THE OBSERVER UG
Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo
The chief justice Alfonse Chigamoi Owiny-Dollo has urged farmers in the Acholi sub-region to switch to growing perennial crops that are profitable instead of engaging in growing cotton.
Owiny-Dollo says the majority of farmers in the sub-region grow cotton whose market price is so low and can never salvage them from the poverty situation they are currently facing. He said that a cotton farmer earns only between Shs 500,000 and Shs 700,000 from an acre of land yet another farmer who is growing coffee on the same size of land earns about Shs 15 million.
Owiny-Dollo was speaking during a radio talk show on Rupiny FM in Gulu city on their current initiative of restoring the lost glory of Acholi. He said there is a need for farmers to embrace perennial crops like coffee which are planted once but harvested for several years and sold at high prices in the market.
He said that through their initiative, they are introducing highly valued perennial crops such as macadamia, cashew nut, banana, avocado, and cocoa among others in the sub-region.
“I want to tell the Acholi to move away from cotton, but am not saying you shouldn’t grow cotton. At least put one acre with macadamia and coffee,” he said.
He added that while other areas like Buganda had earlier been growing cotton, farmers abandoned it after realizing its market value was so low.
“We must open our eyes and engage in such kind of farming. The Bantu used to grow cotton more than us, but they abandoned it because it was not valuable. Coffee came later but they had started with cotton. if you go to Ankole, you will not find cotton, but it’s us engaging in cotton,” said Owiny-Dollo.
Owiny-Dollo said in a bid to promote the farming of high-valued perennial crops in the sub-region, over 50,000 macadamia seedlings have so far been distributed to farmers in the districts of Agago, Gulu city, Amuru and Nwoya last year. In Agago district alone, a total of 4,200 farmers in 12 sub-counties have already embraced growing macadamia.
Critics however noted that Owiny-Dollo’s suggestion is not in synch with the region’s weather which makes it hard to embrace farming other perennial crops like coffee and banana among others.
Ronald Fred Kidega, a cotton farmer in Tultul village in Katwotwo parish says the environment in his area favours the growing of cotton more than other perennial crops. Kidega who has been growing cotton for the last 10 years notes that while it’s a good idea to engage in the growing of coffee, cotton farming too is a profitable venture.
Last farming season, Kidega says he planted cotton on three acres of land and harvested one and a half tons of cotton from which he anticipates earning about Shs 5.4 million after selling.
“I have been able to buy land, build a house, and pay my children out of proceeds I got from cotton. It’s not a bad crop although we face challenges with fluctuation in prices,” Kidega told URN.
Currently, farmers like Kidega are selling a kilogram of their cotton between Shs 1,500 and Shs 1,800. Douglas Bhosopo, a seeds inspector at Uganda Cotton Ginners and Exporters Association acknowledges the fluctuating prices of cotton this season and blames it on the current insecurity on the Red Sea which has affected the cost of export.
He notes that while Owiny-Dollo’s initiative and ideas to promote the growing of perennial crops are welcome, cotton growing has equally supported several farmers and households to overcome poverty.
“Cotton has changed East Acholi, farmers now have animals, good homes and their children are studying. Perennial crops are good but before these farmers start growing such crops, what do they (leaders) have for the farmers whom they want to abandon cotton,” he said.
Bhosopo also noted that cotton remains among the crops that are adaptable to the weather in the sub-region. Several farmers have been growing cotton in the Acholi sub-region for years since its introduction by the British colonial government. In the East Acholi sub-region, some 17,000 farmers are growing cotton in the districts of Kitgum, Pader, Lamwo, and Agago.
Last year alone, East Acholi produced more than 15 million kilograms of cotton.
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