By Denis Nahabwe
While addressing the press conference at Uganda media centre on Tuesday, the Executive Director Ofwono Opondo said the cabinet seating that was held on Monday June 25th 2018 at State House under the Chairmanship of His Excellency the president approved the proposal to borrow 76.95 million USD from the African Development Bank to support the Agricultural Value Chain Development programme (AVCP).
Mr.Opondo said the money will focus on setting up water sources for irrigation at two levels for rice farmers in Eastern Uganda through construction of a big irrigation scheme and small scale irrigation for upland rice farmers in the Northern region.
The Value Chain constraint for maize, rice and dairy/beef farmers in 28 districts will also be addressed. The Government is intending to increase volumes of high grades of maize and rice in order to obtain premium prices in the Domestic and Regional Markets and providing logistical support to Dairy regulatory activities countrywide.
Opondo said the Government will support the construction and equipping of an International accredited laboratory at the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) for Ugandan exports using the money borrowed.
However, Opondo said the cabinet also approved the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC). This will broaden the ex-officio membership of the Governing council of the centre to include more stakeholders on the council and remove non existing institutions and titles.
The budgeting cycle of the centre will be harmonized with that of the Government (from calendar year to Financial Year) since government is the statutory source of fund.
