Farmers in Bugisu display PDM progress
CAPTION: President Yoweri Museveni, right, looks at Namukhono’s cow in Manafa didtrict December 17th, 2024. (PPU Photo)
By Stephen Wandera Ouma
MANAFA – President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has challenged leaders, especially chairpersons at different levels and sub-county chiefs, to document the beneficiaries of the Parish Development Model (PDM) in order to help the government track the effectiveness of implementing the program.
“You should get data of beneficiaries (families) per parish so that you know how many people have benefited from PDM because the plan is to give Shs 100 million to 100 homesteads per year. In three years, we will have covered 300 homesteads, and still, in the third year, those who would have got the Shs1 million will be returning it. That means in five years, it will be Shs.500 million per parish, plus the Shs 300 million that will have been returned by previous borrowers, making it Shs 800 million in your parish bank. If we do that for two terms, the parish will have got Shs. 1 billion and Shs 600 million,” Museveni said while giving an example of a parish in Kawumu, Luwero district, with 1,200 homesteads that will be covered in ten years with the potential to borrow more than Shs 1 million because the money will be more.
The President made the remarks at Busituma 1 village, Makenya Parish, Makenya Sub-County, Butiru County in Manafwa district, at the home of John Namukhono, a beneficiary of the PDM initiative. According to Museveni, who is in the Bugisu sub-region in continuation of his PDM performance assessment tour, documenting beneficiaries will strengthen the integrity and impact of the project ensuring that it fulfills its mission of fostering inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction at the parish level.
“We may decide to say that instead of borrowing Shs 1 million, now borrow Shs 3 million. And this is your money; it will never go back to the government. And we can decide to roll it out for like 15 years, then the parish will have their own money in the bank, and the people will not have to go to the money lenders or banks with high interest rates. So, this is your money; don’t play around with it,” Museveni stated.
On October 15, 2023, Namukhono received Shs 1 million through the PDM but withdrew Shs 990,000 after the bank charges (Shs 10,000), which he used to purchase a heifer (calf) at Shs 700,000 and two pigs each at Shs 100,000. Namukhono informed the President that after six months, he sold the cow for Shs 1.2 million. The pigs also gave birth to five other piglets, of which four were sold at Shs 50,000 each, making it Shs 200,000, which he added on the Shs 1.2 million to make Shs 1.4 million, which he used to purchase an in-calf cow that has since given birth and is giving him five liters of milk a day.
Museveni supported him with Shs 12 million to buy two extra cows and expand his dairy project, which will greatly improve the quality of life for his household. “I’m glad he responded to our message of getting out of poverty because many Ugandans just stay in poverty without caring, but it is also the fault of the leaders because they don’t get near you,” Museveni said, further expressing confidence in the PDM to perform better than the past poverty alleviation programs such as entandikwa where the money would be at the sub-county and later through the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) and Operation Wealth Creation (OWC).
“We said let’s give you money (Shs 100 million) per parish each year, and we said every borrower must get Shs 1 million so that you can do some of the seven activities we recommended that you can do in a small area and get good money. Now I can see where he selected piggery as one of the seven activities. This is what we have been talking about since 1986; that’s why we were talking about the 4-acre model,” Museveni said.
Kutosi, who received Shs. 980,000 from the PDM fund in 2023, bought three pigs at Shs. 300,000, and one of these produced 9 piglets; he sold five of them at Shs 100,000 each, earning Shs 500,000. The pig produced again, giving him four more piglets; one was given to the owner of the male pig, while two were sold at Shs 100,000 each, making it Shs 200,000.
He informed the President that two of the original pigs that did not produce were sold at Shs 800,000 each, earning him Shs. 1.6 million. From this money, Kutosi bought a heifer that has now calved, and it gives him four liters of milk per day, which he sells at Shs. 4,000 every day, Shs. 28,000 in a week, and Shs. 112,000 per month. He, however, decried the high costs of feed, especially for the pigs, which is affecting his enterprise.
“I have already come across the problem of animal feeds where I have visited. I have already directed the army company National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) to see how they can make these feeds per zone so that the farmers can access them cheaply,” Museveni said. He further cautioned PDM beneficiaries against land fragmentation among the family members, advising that wealth should instead be distributed by shares.
The PDM is a government strategy aimed at eradicating poverty and fostering socio-economic transformation in Uganda by focusing on the parish as the lowest administrative and operational hub for planning and development. It is designed to deliver inclusive and sustainable development by addressing issues of production, financial inclusion, and service delivery at the grassroots level.
