Members of Parliament have called on government through ministry of energy and mineral resources to improve access to electricity in rural areas across the country to boost value-addition in the agriculture sector.

They made the call while debating a report by the Committee on Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries on the status of implementation of the Agriculture Cluster Development Project (ACDP), and a report on food and animal feed security interventions in the country.

The project aimed at raising on-farm productivity and marketable volumes of selected agricultural commodities in 12 specified agricultural clusters comprising 57 districts.

The reports were adopted by the House on Wednesday, 07 August 2024 during a session chaired by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa.

Hon. George Bhoka (NRM, Obongi County) said there is need to extend electricity to rural communities at a time when the country is decentralising production processing and value addition to parish level.

“This move is running under the rural electrification programme and if we do not manage it well, we are setting ourselves up for failure because we are producing but we are failing to add value due to lack of electricity,” said Bhoka.

Kassanda District Woman Representative, Hon. Flavia Nabagabe, said there are no transformers in the district to enable the operation of food processing machines which beneficiaries received under the ACDP.

“We have two maize milling groups in Kassanda which have failed to work because their machines have been rendered redundant. Is there a way we can look at financing the transformers to avail the needed electricity for these machines,” Nabagabe said.

Hon. Julius Tusiime (Indep., Rwampara East County) noted that 179 factories were set up under the project in the district but only 86 of these have managed to access electricity for production.

“This is an appeal for the country to carry out a multi-sectoral approach where we can integrate all components of production. In my constituency, I have a water project which has failed to take off because it requires electricity to pump water uphill,” Tusiime noted.

The House adopted Hon. Elijah Mushemeza’s proposal to have the Auditor General conduct a forensic audit on the ACDP

While presenting the report, the committee chairperson, Hon. Linda Auma also noted that transportation of agricultural products was hampered by impassable roads due to the absence of road chokes.

Road chokes are non-tarmac roads that connect farmers to markets.

“The committee observed that all road chokes were either poorly constructed or suffered construction delays. There was obvious lack of supervision, and there was inflation of the cost of construction of some road chokes which was not commensurate to the work done,” Auma said.

Hon. Solomon Chelangat (NRM, T’oo County) added that poor road infrastructure has affected the ability of farmers in Bukwo District to get their produce to markets, yet provisions were made to improve market access roads.

The State Minister for Agriculture (Animal Husbandry), Hon. Bright Rwamirama, said contractors took on tenders to construct road chokes without the financial capacity to do so.

“Instead of the contractor starting with work on the choke, they start with the easy part of making the road and are given a certificate. So I supported my Permanent Secretary that if the choke is not done, we do not pay. This money went back to the Treasury rather than being paid for air,” said Rwamirama.

The minister also made an appeal for employment of more extension workers at local governments, and urged district leaders to monitor their work.

The Minister for Local Government, Hon. Raphael Magyezi, attributed challenges faced under the project at district level, to factors like late release of funds.

The House also adopted a motion by Hon. Elijah Mushemeza (Indep., Sheema County South) urging the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit on the Agriculture Cluster Development Project, and give a report to Parliament.

The six-year ACDP project by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries was financed by a US$150 million loan from the World Bank through the International Development Assistance.