By KT Reporter
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.
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-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
