These remarks credited to President Museveni are offensive on multiple fronts and particularly to me as a farmer.

“I am here to again remind our people especially the ones who are not well educated that you can get out of poverty through commercial farming on a small scale… Those who are old enough remember that I once toured the whole country telling people that you people wake up, do modern farming and leave ancient ways of farming, Mr Museveni said. (Source Daily Monitor)”

What does President Museveni mean the “ones who are not well educated?” And since he has been in power for the last 30+ years, why does he not make a connection that if there are citizens of Uganda “not well educated” it is of his doing. And why does he imply that farming is for those “ones who are not well educated?”

Fact, those “ancient ways of farming” are the ones that are truly feeding the nation and they are the ones that are contributing big to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Instead of promoting and improving on our tried and tested ancient wisdom, the President is rooting for ‘modern farming methods’, that have proved so damaging in their continents of origin to the extent that they are being banned in many countries on those continents – specifically a number of counties in Europe and in North America.