Parliament has asked the government to extend the roll-out of hand-held hoes to parts of the country that did not benefit from the previous roll-out.

Roland Ndyomugyenyi, Rukiga County MP raised the matter stating that some parts of the country, specifically his constituency, did not get the hoes that were distributed in the previous roll-out from December 2020 to June 2021.

The 10th Parliament passed a resolution for mass distribution of the hoes to the entire population as a government initiative to boost agricultural production.

“The people of Rukiga did not get hoes much as the initiative intended to provide two hand-held hoes to every household in every district,” he said.

Ndyomugyenyi requested the Speaker’s guidance on matter and the government’s response.

The Government Chief Whip, Thomas Tayebwa, informed Parliament that government was distributing the hoes in a phased manner due to the budgetary constraints involved.

“Government procured 2.5 million hoes most of which have been distributed in the sub-regions of Lango and Teso. However, the government is still committed to delivering more hoes once finances allow,” Tayebwa stated.

The Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, Janet Okori-Moe, reaffirmed that indeed Parliament okayed the procurement of 2.5 million hoes and requested that all areas of the country get.

She noted that some of the hoes were distributed as recently as June 2021 and further held that they had been given out in three sub-regions.

Okori-Moe said that West Nile sub-region got 1.3 million hoes, Teso sub-region got 860,000, and Karamoja sub-region got 437,000 hoes bringing the total to 2.5 million hand-held hoes.

“As a committee, we have been negotiating with Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that there is a provision for the rest of the regions to benefit from the roll-out exercise,” she added.

However, a section of MPs said that in the regions where hoes were given, some parishes or villages did not get them.

Pakwach District Woman representative, Jane Avur, recommended that the government should first prioritise the sub-counties and parishes that did not receive hoes in those sub-regions that benefited from the distribution.