Atingi-Ego said that instead of keeping hundreds of cattle the Karimojong pastoralists would take advantage of the Agriculture Credit Facility (ACF) to venture into modern cattle keeping for daily and reliable income.
The Bank of Uganda Governor, Michael Atingi-Ego has rallied
the Karimojong leaders to mobilize the communities to embrace modern methods
of cattle keeping.
Atingi-Ego was speaking at BoU Town Hall meeting in Moroto-Africana Hotel. He said that
instead of keeping hundreds of cattle, the Karimojong
pastoralists would take advantage of the Agriculture Credit Facility (ACF) to venture
into modern cattle keeping for the daily and reliable income.
According to the governor, the ACF loans, which he noted
have been under-utilized by the communities, could provide a lasting solution to
nomadic pastoralism. “You don’t need hundreds of cattle to be rich,” he said.
// cue in “How can we…
Cue out…leadership of Karamoja.”//
The credit facility was set up in 2009 by the Government in
partnership with commercial banks, Uganda Development Bank Ltd, Micro Deposit taking
Institutions and Credit Institutions- all referred as Participating Financial
Institutions (PFIs) to facilitate the
provision of short, medium and long- term loans to projects engaged in
agriculture and agro- processing on more favourable terms. The ACF loans
finance agro- processing machinery and equipment, post- harvest storage
facilities, agricultural inputs, and acquisition of agricultural machinery for rent
to other farmers to the tune of 80 million Shillings.
The governor also urged the Karamoja community to take
advantage of the Small Business Recovery Fund to boost their businesses. The fund
was introduced by the government in 2021 to provide loans to small businesses that
were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and suffered financial
distress.
It was revealed that the fund only benefitted 186 businesses
in Moroto/Karamoja, an equivalence of 3.1 billion Shillings out of nearly 70 billion Shillings extended to different businesses across the country. Atingi-Ego implored the
leaders to help disseminate information to the communities to be able to
benefit from the friendly government interventions on economic transformation.
But the Matheniko County MP, Dr. John Baptist Lokii, said
that the commercial institutions operating in Moroto and Karamoja have been
silent about the ACF and small business recovery funds to their customers.
Lokii
was backed by Simon Nangiro, the chairman of Karamoja Elders Association, who
urged BoU to prioritize the region in providing the necessary information for
economic transformation.
