Leaders in West Nile have called on the government to address the structural causes of poverty, arguing that the region will not achieve sustainable development unless poverty eradication programmes shift from cash disbursement to wealth creation and commercial production.
The leaders say poverty remains widespread across much of West Nile despite years of government interventions, with several districts continuing to record poverty levels above the national average of 20.3 percent. According to the latest National Population and Housing Census, West Nile has the second-highest poverty rate in the country after Karamoja. Districts cited among the worst affected include Obongi, Moyo, Adjumani, Arua, Nebbi, Zombo, Koboko, Maracha, Terego and Yumbe.
Leaders attribute the situation to a combination of socio-economic and historical challenges, including dependence on subsistence agriculture, poor market access, limited industrialisation and value addition, youth unemployment, low education levels, poor health and nutrition, weak financial inclusion, large household sizes, gender inequality, inadequate infrastructure, climate change, environmental degradation, refugee pressure and the lingering effects of past conflicts.
Dr. George Bhoka, the former Obongi Member of Parliament and a sociologist, said the government should prioritize commercial agriculture by investing in irrigation, value addition, cooperatives, roads and electricity to unlock the region’s economic potential. He also called for increased investment in vocational skills training, youth employment, strengthening the Parish Development Model (PDM) and promoting climate-smart agricultural practices such as agroforestry and water harvesting.
Silas Anguzu, Chairperson of the Arua City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, argued that the missing link in poverty eradication has been the failure to transform agriculture from subsistence to commercial production capable of meeting growing demand in urban markets. “The first priority should be to fix the foundation of our rural economy by transforming PDMs, SACCOs and cooperatives into engines of commercial production. The challenge with many PDM interventions was not the money itself—it was the absence of a complete production and marketing system. We need to reverse the sequence,” Anguzu said.
He proposed a model based on guaranteed markets, contract farming, input financing, higher production, aggregation, processing and value addition, saying this would ultimately increase household incomes, strengthen savings and build stronger SACCOs capable of supporting long-term investment. According to Anguzu, the government should finance production rather than consumption and encourage farmers to produce against confirmed market demand instead of searching for buyers after harvest.
Agricultural stakeholders in the region also called for continuous extension services to improve productivity and quality, alongside investment in certified warehouses, cooperatives and agro-processing industries to retain more value within West Nile. Anguzu believes such a model can be replicated across key enterprises, including coffee, cocoa, soybeans, maize, rice, cassava, sunflower and horticulture.
“If we can replicate this model across coffee, cocoa, soybeans, maize, rice, cassava, sunflower and horticulture, West Nile can move from subsistence agriculture to a competitive agro-industrial economy. Poverty is not defeated by distributing money. It is defeated by building profitable production systems that create wealth, jobs, savings and investment,” he said.
Meanwhile, Moses Akuma, the Executive Director of the West Nile Development Association (WENDA), said changing people’s mindset is equally critical, arguing that attitudes toward production, entrepreneurship and development remain a major obstacle to reducing poverty in the region-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
