"I write what I like," like Steve Biko
Men, for the purpose of this post, let us refer to them as ikokolak, went to this woman's orchard and without her permission they harvested 28 bags of oranges. Loaded them on a vehicle, drove off to the market and sold them. More specifically, ikokolak handed over the oranges to a middleman, with the promise… Continue reading Greedy barbarians everywhere and at all levels
“Acen also said instead of using weighing scales, the local middlemen were using plastic mugs as measurement units to cheat the farmers.” I wrote this in the case study: “Make Money from Producing and Selling Beans,” which I compiled using true stories reported in the press; a case study which I use for training young… Continue reading Plight of Uganda’s farmers – Apur Ming
The first question being, in whose interests does the Office of the Minister of MAAIF work How isn’t it valid for one not to surmise that government’s insistence to label Ugandan smallholder farmers in derogatory terms, such as peasants, when they are not; and subsistence farmers, when they are not; is intended after all. It indeed seems intended, in order that a smokescreen is propagated that allows the Office of the Minister of MAAIF to clandestinely function much like an economic hitman.
It is, in fact, policy of the President Yoweri Kagutta Museveni led National Resistance Movement party, which is the current Administration of the Republic of Uganda, to promote commercialisation of food crops. Promoting the growing of food crops as cash crops. It is thus simply Machiavellian for official government documents and discourse to refer to Ugandan smallholder farmers as peasants and or as subsistence farmers. It is long over due that we detoxify our discourse of culturally imperialistic descriptions that denigrate us.
The only way in which agriculture is a significant contributor to Uganda’s GDP, is if the produce of its smallholder farmers is sold by them and is bought by others who didn’t produce it. Economic exchange must take places and money changes hands, so to speak. This means, de facto, that Ugandan smallholder farmers likely produce for sale in as much as and or even more than they produce for own consumption. And for many that is likely their major source of livelihood.
nowaraga.com 