President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said the high number of people depending on agriculture is a sign that Ugandans are still backward.
Uganda is a highly agricultural country and about 70 percent of the country’s population is employed in the agricultural sector.
But while addressing the press at Margherita Hotel in Kasese town shortly after his meeting with political leaders at Nyakasanga grounds last night, Museveni said the huge numbers of people involved in agriculture was not only a sign of underdevelopment but also backwardness.
Museveni cited United States of America and the United Kingdom where he said only two percent of the population is involved in agriculture yet that smaller percentage is in position to support the countries with all the food.
The president said it was high time Ugandans embraced forming family companies where members only own shares. He argued that in this case even the pieces of land and or farms would be managed by one person on behalf of the rest.
This he said will enable the rest of the family members to get time to get involved in other income generating sectors like Information and Communications Technology, Tourism and transport.
Museveni also cautioned Ugandans against land fragmentation explaining that there is need for families to stay in the same enclosure so that the rest of the land can be used for production.
He re-echoed his four-acre land use model which he said there is need to have an acre of land for food crops, another for coffee, another for fruits while the remaining piece of land should be used for livestock farming or pasture.
Museveni who discouraged the people of Kasese against the plantation of cotton and maize on small scale, said the four-acre land use model will be a sure way of acquiring wealth.
Kasese Municipality Mayor Godfrey Kabbyanga said the president’s message of operation wealth creation is timely since the people need to be helped to get out of poverty.
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