Buvuma oil palm project has been reported to be making a steady headway, with 2,524 of the projected 5000 hectares by the investor of Oil Palm Buvuma Limited (OPBL) under plantation cover, 6,100 hectares purchased but still encumbered and 2,476 hectares needed to complete the nucleus estate.
This was on Wednesday contained in a report by the project coordinator, Wilson Sserunjogi, presented to members of the parliamentary committee on national economy in a meeting held at Buvuma Palm Resort in Buvuma Town Council, before beginning a two-day evaluation round to government funded projects.
Reporting on activities covered in the project area of Buvuma Town Council, Busamuzi, Nairambi and Buwooya sub-counties, Sserunjogi said a total of 1,742 hectares have been planted by the 722 small holder farmers between July 2021 and June 2024.
He also disclosed that as part of the USD75m (sh277bn) project loan, the district procured a state-of-the-art 519-seater and 32 vehicle capacity ferry (MV Palm), while 16.5km of community access roads have been constructed to facilitate movement especially during implementation of oil palm project activities.
In the same vein, he added, 32 km of farm roads out of the planned 150 km have been constructed around farms in the three blocks.
“As support to alternative economic opportunities, an apiary value chain as one of the livelihood diversification interventions for promotion by the District Entomology office has also been effected,” he said.
Sserunjogi said that in this light, in the last quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, distribution of inputs and training of bee keeping groups were carried out, with each group receiving 30 bee hives and other accessories.
Owing to intensified crackdown on illegal fishing practices he added, survival of communities on fishing as a major activity has drastically reduced, with children, women and other vulnerable groups needing a boost in their activities.
He therefore said, President Museveni’s foresighted oil palm project for the island district of Buvuma has gone down very well in this matter.
The National Oil Palm Project Manager, Susan Lakwonyero said the project has the prime objective to sustainably increase communities’ income through opportunities created, and ultimately reduce poverty levels among the households.
As a way of facilitating an enabling environment to attract investors, she said, the government decided to give land to investors to the tune of 5,000 hectares for planting a nucleus estate, but at the same time encouraging farmers to spare some land for food production instead of surrendering it all for oil palm growing in form of out growers.
“Unlike the situation which happened in Busoga sub-region where the locals utilized almost all of their agricultural land for sugar cane growing and at the end were affected by famine as they lacked what to eat yet the plantation had also been affected by the fluctuating prices, for oil palm growing, we are so keen as far as this matter is concerned. We always stress the out growers to at least spare not less than an acre of land for food production,” Lakwonyero elaborated.
Buvuma MP Robert Migadde thanked his colleagues for exhibiting love to Buvuma people by almost always accepting to okay projects coming to the islands, saying this has to an extent simplified the life of people residing in the hard-to-reach areas of Buvuma.
Migadde pointed out that the min remaining hurdle to facilitate full implementation of the oil palm project is compensation by government to landlords and bibanja holders who surrendered their land for the project, but expressed optimism even this would be addressed by government in due course.
Earlier, while delivering his Welcoming remarks, to the committee members, Buvuma Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Hajji Issa Mbooge said their visit is timely given that next month, the first harvest of the oil palm plants is taking place which he added has given islanders a fresh hope of getting an additional income on their pockets.
Mbooge said that although in the beginning there were some negative sentiments about the oil palm project, today benefits have seen to be bigger than the negatives, with communities seeing a ray of hope for change for the better in their lives.
The Buvuma District Woman MP, Susan Mugabi Nakaziba was happy to note that Buvuma islands have been a recipient of many loan funded projects, and appreciated the committee’s visit, saying it will give a new motivation to the projects.
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