Richard Atube, who had already planted crops including soybeans, millet, beans, groundnuts and maize is equally puzzled by the persistent dryness, which has adversely affected the growth of his crops.
Kenneth Okot, the Chairman of Atiak Town Council in Amuru District told URN that the animals have become a burden to the district authorities since they have to spend money on feeding and guarding them.
Denis Okello, the Assistant Amuru District Health Officer, says that most of the people who they approached during the door-to-door vaccination campaign rejected the vaccine over fears that its side effects will inconvenience their farm work.
Amuru Resident District Commissioner, Goeffrey Osborn Oceng who received the animals says the close collaboration with security officers in South Sudan eased the tracing of the animals.
Like in other districts in Acholi, Lango, and parts of West Nile sub-regions, the government is undertaking the second phase of evicting balalo herdsmen following a directive by President Yoweri Museveni.
Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is a respiratory disease of cattle that is notifiable. It is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. It causes productivity losses due to the high mortality and morbidity rates. CBPP is caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subsp.
Majority of the pastoralists especially in Got Apwoyo government land in Nwoya and Kololo Parish in Amuru have moved several kilometers away from the government property into community lands.
According to information obtained by Uganda Radio Network-URN, the vast chunks of land are being owned by 124 livestock keepers from Western and South Western Uganda, rearing an estimated 11,766 heads of cattle.
More than 51,000 acres of land in the villages of Kaladima, Pacilo Palokere, and parts of Pawel in the greater Atiak Sub-county are currently being occupied by pastoralists commonly referred to as Balaalo.
Currently, a kilo of unhusked groundnuts is 1,500 Shillings while a kilo of threshed groundnuts ranges between 2,000 to 2,400 Shillings. Yet last year, a kilo of unthreshed groundnuts was bought at 2700 while a kilo or threshed groundnuts was selling at 3,500 shillings.
“The members are devastated because they expected money, we were going to start cutting and selling the sugarcanes this week, so we have lost billions of shillings,” S
Santa Joyce Laker, the Chairperson of Atiak Sugar Plantation Out-growers Cooperative Society Ltd told Uganda Radio Network.
The fire believed to have been set by unknown people was first reported to the local authorities on Friday 10th. It escalated until Sunday evening when the Police Fire and Rescue Service team rushed to help put it out.
Among the ravaged crops are rice, cassava, beans and sim-sim belonging to more than 80 households that were already in the final stages of maturity and consequent harvests.
Geoffrey Komakech, another farmer in Pabbo Sub County is also seeking Shillings 190,000 to buy hybrid ground nuts seeds for his four-acre garden but he has failed to get it.
In the first planting season, the majority of farmers realized low yields due to too much sunshine which was experienced across the region from the months of May to June. This dried up and withered many garden crops that were already blossoming and about to mature.
Kenneth Opoka the Local Chairperson for Lulai Village says that hundreds of farmers in his area have resorted to small scale farming majorly around their homesteads for fears that they may be attacked while cultivating in distant places.
The seasonal weather information obtained from the Weather Information and Dissemination System (WIDS), an Application developed by Makerere University and Uganda Meteorological Authority (UNMA) to forecast weather indicates that near normal rainfall is expected over the Northern and Eastern Northern Regions.
