President Yoweri Museveni has called on residents of peri-urban areas to embrace farming as a practical pathway to household wealth creation, saying development alone cannot eliminate poverty without deliberate efforts to increase incomes at the family level.
While campaigning at Kawanda Research Centre grounds in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District on Tuesday, Museveni said that although Uganda has made progress in infrastructure and social services, poverty will persist if citizens do not actively participate in wealth-generating activities.
He emphasized that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government is now focusing more on jobs and wealth creation.
The President noted that even during the liberation struggle, some areas had tarmac roads but communities still lived in grass-thatched houses, a sign that infrastructure without household income growth does not automatically improve living standards.
He said this experience informed the NRM’s long-standing emphasis on economic empowerment.
Museveni explained that wealth and jobs are mainly found in four key sectors: commercial agriculture, manufacturing and artisanship, services, and information and communications technology (ICT).
He highlighted agriculture as the most accessible sector for many Ugandans, especially those living in peri-urban areas like Nansana.
“In peri-urban areas, people can do poultry, piggery to some extent, mushroom growing, and even fish farming in some places,” Museveni said, adding that such activities do not require large pieces of land and can be easily adopted by households near towns.
He reminded supporters that as early as 1996, the NRM identified seven priority farming activities for small-scale farmers: coffee, pasture, fruits, food crops, fish farming, piggery, and poultry. According to Museveni, those who followed this guidance have since improved their livelihoods.
The President also pointed to government interventions aimed at boosting household incomes, including Entandikwa, NAADS, Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), Emyooga, the Youth Fund, and the Women Fund. While acknowledging that these programs did not reach everyone, he said they have contributed to significant gains in agricultural production.
Museveni cited increased coffee production—from three million to nine million 60-kilogram bags—and growth in the national cattle herd from three million to 16 million as evidence of progress.
He added that the government plans to inject more funding into wealth creation initiatives, with 30 percent earmarked for youth and another 30 percent for women.
He also encouraged Ugandans to take advantage of opportunities in ICT, noting that technology now allows people to work for international companies while based in Uganda.
Museveni urged voters to support the NRM in the upcoming elections, saying the party has the experience and plans needed to solve Uganda’s remaining economic challenges.
First Lady Maama Janet Museveni called on Ugandans not to forget where the country had come from in order to achieve the prevailing peace.
She asked all voters to turn out massively and vote for NRM from top to the bottom of the party structure.
The first National Vice Chairperson, AlHajji Moses Kigongo also called for discipline among party leaders and massive turn out on January 15.