KAMPALA — President Museveni has insisted that Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) cannot solely claim credit for Uganda’s coffee-growing success, emphasizing instead the role of broader government efforts in achieving this agricultural boom.
In a statement issued on Saturday night, Museveni observed that while agencies like UCDA and the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) have made contributions, transformative programs like Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) and the Parish Development Model (PDM) have played a more substantial role in bringing Ugandan households into the money economy.
Museveni pointed to the establishment of UCDA in 1991 as a necessary move during a period of economic downturn.
“If UCDA and NAADS were successful, why were 68% of the homesteads still outside the money economy by 2013? OWC did much more work than NAADS, UCDA and CDO combined,” said Museveni.
“In the Masaka area, Col. Nsamba, has distributed 1,000,074 coffee seedlings and caused the planting of 38,666.6 acres of coffee. OWC also gave out other planting and breeding materials: tea, fruits, pigs, cassava, etc., etc. That is how, for the first time in the history of Uganda, the number of the households in the money economy is now 67% and those outside the money economy are 33%,” he emphasized,
“It is, therefore, fraudulent for NAADS, UCDA, etc., to claim that the big boost in Agricultural production is because of their efforts and that if they are not there, production will suffer.”
