The Abim Resident District Commissioner, Samuel Mpimbaza Ashaka has blamed the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease across the two districts to rampant theft of livestock, which escalates the spread of the disease. He asked local leaders to effectively enforce the quarantine.

In 2009, President Museveni while in Otuke district pledged to establish the stock farm in the area to be used as the livestock multiplication centre to boost government restocking program in the region. President Museveni subsequently directed the State House controller to deliver some 200 heifers on the land but the proposal soon stalled in 2013 due to land dispute when some local residents mainly from the clan of Atek-Okwerowee rejected it.

Chris Ongom, the Oyam district council speaker says that five registered cooperatives and farmers groups were approved by the council and submitted to NAADS secretariat.

The processors cite lack of advanced machinery, lack of storage facilities, poor road network, high cost of production and insufficient capital, as the major challenges.

Honey production has been changing fortunes for residents in Amudat district who initially relied heavily on cattle keeping and subsistence farming. For the last two years, production has increased thanks to support from district production office and Nabuin Zonal Agricultural Research Development Institute.

Buvuma District Natural Resources Officer Gladys Nalunkuuma says that all encroachers will be expected to relocate within a month after the demarcation. She adds that a number of encroachers had settled on the land in anticipation of compensation to pave way for the oil palm project in the district championed by Vegetable Oil Development Project-VODP.

This afternoon, Fred Tumuheirwe Turyamuhweza, the Rujumbura County MP, said government had gone silent on the bill yet several farmers are suffering exploitation.