President Museveni has told off Ugandans to stop making excuses and fight poverty that has eaten up most parts of the country.
“All Ugandans, stop excuses. It is possible to get out of poverty. You all can get out of poverty,” Museveni said.
The president was on Wednesday speaking during the women’s day celebrations in Kiruhura district.
He said that Ugandans can get out of poverty through four sectors of commercial farming, manufacturing, services and ICT as magic bullets .
Agriculture
Putting much emphasis on agriculture , Museveni said the four acre model then comes in handy where one acre is used for coffee, then fruits on the second one, pasture for zero grazing cattle on the other and then food crops in the remaining acre.
“In the backyard, those interested could put poultry, a piggery and those near water, would do fish farming. These are nine activities that have got a huge global market that we have long ago confirmed and have a good return per acre, per annum. With these, we cannot go wrong,” Museveni said.
He noted that new crops including macadamia and cashew-nuts are coming up, noting that government will analyse them to see if they can ably fit in the four acre model.
“The four acres model, is part of what we call intensive agriculture. It is designed to benefit the country but particularly to benefit the small holder. There are other products that the country needs, but do not fit in intensive agriculture. They come in what is called extensive agriculture — getting small income per acre but doing it on a big scale. This is where maize, sugarcane, cotton, ranching, tobacco, etc., etc., come in. While the Parish Development Model (PDM) deals with the 4 acres model, Uganda Development Bank (UDB), will handle the extensive agriculture,” he said.
Empowering women
The president noted that whereas he is emphasizing getting the family out of poverty, the woman is part and parcel of the family and society.
He noted that getting the family out of poverty will mean the woman is also got out of poverty and consequently empowered.
“When the families get out of poverty, it is easier to address all the other marginalized groups including the women. Will wealthier families pay for the girl child to study or not? Show me a daughter or son of a rich family that has dropped out of school on account of not being able to pay the school costs,” Museveni noted.
“Families getting out of poverty is a good base of solving other problems. Yes, you may get greedy men who get “rich” and abandon their wives and children. The question is: “Are they really rich?” “Or are they just having some little money while previously, they had nothing?” Otherwise, if the families are rich, the courts of the state can even discipline irresponsible husbands to share wealth with their spouses. How will the courts force a poor husband to share poverty with his poor wife and children? Families getting out of poverty, is a good first step.”