WORLD FOOD DAY MESSAGE:

 

 

MESSAGE FROM THE MINISTER

 

1. Uganda today joins the rest of the world in observing the World Food Day, which is commemorated every year world wide. In Uganda and indeed Internationally this is an occasion to reflect on issues that affect food security, eradication of hunger and the alleviation of poverty.

 

2. Uganda started celebrating World Food Day in 1982 and has used the day to demonstrate the country's commitment to producing enough food for her ever growing population. Fellow Ugandans, as a way of sensitising the Uganda population about the importance of producing enough food the World Food Day celebrations, each year, take place in a different District on a voluntary basis, without any District hosting the day twice consecutively, thus ensuring wide coverage.

 

3. I wish to congratulate Adjumani District for volunteering to host this year's celebrations and I would also like to thank her neighbouring Districts of Arua, Moyo, Yumbe, Nebbi and Gulu which are here present, for giving her support in commemorating this day. I do, very warmly, welcome all Districts represented here today and I hope you will all return to your respective Districts with new ideas which will increase investment in agriculture and boost the income of your households and farmers at large.

 

4. The theme for this year's celebrations is "Investing in Agriculture for food Security". Every year the theme is different, in order to highlight the different aspects affecting food security; eradication of hunger and alleviation of poverty. This year's theme reflects the importance of increasing investment in Agriculture in order to attain

the Millennium Development Goal of reducing hunger by half by the year 2015. Let me take this opportunity to remind all Ugandans that Uganda is a signatory to the Millennium Declaration which urges all Governments in the developing world to allocate at least 10% of their National Budgets to Agriculture, an objective that is still eluding us in Uganda but which the government is determined to achieve.

 

5. The National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), which has now been transformed into The National Agricultural Research System (NARS), has done quite a lot in the area of improving the quality of the crops, thus contributing to an increased production and subsequent increase in farmer income; through on-farm research and farmer field schools as a way of closer interaction with the farmers. This is an investment in agriculture for food security.

 

There are now many seed companies producing improved seeds, many of which are composites which the farmer can multiply for a few generations.

 

6. It has been noted that Adjumani District has one of the highest rates of malnutrition among children. I wish to urge the leaders in Adjumani to take this great opportunity to enlighten the people of Adjumani about ways

of eliminating hunger and alleviating poverty.

 

7. The NAADS programme, which recently started in the districts neighbouring Adjumani shall soon roll out to Adjumani District. NAADS is hereby enjoined to take special interest in this year's World Food Day theme and is asked to invest more in the farmers in order to increase food security.

 

8. There has been a scarcity of rain in the country which is a wake up call for all of us to invest more in technologies that can tame nature in order to produce enough food in spite of the drought. Farmers have to invest in water harvesting techniques for domestic use as well as for crops and livestock.

 

9. I wish to extend my sincere thanks to all those who have participated in the World Food day Celebrations especially those showing the fight against the drought. To you all I say: well done!

 

10. I wish to thank all the stakeholders who participated in organising and financing this important event. Allow me to particularly thank the National Organising Committee, who have made this day a success. The National Organising Committee comprises of UN agencies such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP); Ministries including Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF); Trade, Tourism and Industry (TTI); Water and Environment (WE); Education and Sports (ES); Health; Gender, Labour and Social Development (GLSD) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) like Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE); and The Private Sector, which have been active in this event.

 

11. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the FAO Representative, Mr. Percy Misika, and his staff, for the support towards the preparations of this occasion. I wish also to thank FAO for their continued support of our food security programmes such as those through Telefood; the small scale irrigation and crop and livestock production.

 

12.Let me extend special thanks to the Country Director of the WFP for the continued support to this event every year and also for all the timely charitable support they have been rendering to the IDPs in Eastern and Northern Uganda; for development projects such as improving the road network through the food for work programme; for the school feeding programme for malnourished children; and most recently, the School Milk Project which they have accepted to implement in this country. Furthermore, the WFP has been purchasing food such as maize

and beans from local farmers, thus providing a market and an incentive for farmers to produce more. For this we are most grateful.

 

13.I want to thank all those who participated in the various competitions, especially the school children, whose essay and Art Competition really highlighted this event for the young generation. I congratulate the winners and encourage them and others to participate again next year.

 

14.I wish to end by appealing to all Ugandans to work hard, invest more in agriculture and collectively ensure food security and increased incomes in order to make poverty history in all our families.

 

15.I also wish to remind other districts that would like to host this event to apply early to avoid disappointment. You are allowed to indicate which year you wish to host.

 

This gives all of us ample time for planning and involving more stakeholders, and by so doing, make the day even more educational.

 

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

 

1. Uganda today joins the rest of the world in commemorating the World Food Day.

This day is celebrated annually, and in Uganda the National celebrations have been taking place in various districts since 1982. I congratulate Adjumani District for having volunteered to host this important event this year.

 

2. World Food Day highlights issues on food production, hunger and poverty. This year's theme, which is "Investing in Agriculture for Food Security", highlights the importance of increased investment in agriculture.

3. More than 850 million people around the world remain hungry. At the World Food Summit held in Rome in 1996 and again in 2002, leaders vowed to reduce the number of the absolute hungry by the year 2015.

 

Moreover, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals commit world leaders to reducing, by half, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger, while ensuring environmental sustainability.

 

According to the Uganda National Household Survey of 2003, some 39% of the population, approximately 8.9 million people, are unable to meet their basic needs and are living below the poverty line.

 

Our population is growing very fast and by the end of this year it will have reached 30 million. Agriculture must, therefore, continue to provide more food to feed this growing population. Investment in agriculture by both the private and public sectors in this country is important if we are to attain the Food security status that we all desire.

 

4. Ladies and Gentlemen: we are all aware of the effect HIV/AIDS has had on our agricultural production. It does not only reduce production but also increases the demand for high quality food. The need to bring down the rate of HIV infection cannot be over-emphasized; neither can the importance of investing in labour reducing technologies that would enable even the sick to be productive.

 

5. Agriculture is the backbone of Uganda 's economy, and the majority of food producers are women. For sustainable increased production, the producers need to have security of ownership of what they produce,

in order for them to invest more in Agriculture.

 

6. As we promote more investment in agriculture, we need to address the issue of World Trade, which is a threat to poor farmers in developing countries, especially those who want to produce for export. Poor farmers cannot compete in the international market place if their goods are shut out of richer countries, while subsidized farm produce from industrialized countries is sold at or even below production cost in poor countries.

 

Sincere effective dialogue is required that should lead to a fairer trading system. This is a challenge to the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry as well as to our Development Partners.

 

4. As Uganda endeavours to accomplish our plan for modernisation of agriculture and operationalising the Plan for Zonal Agricultural Production, Processing and Marketing, our thrust is to access domestic, regional and International markets. The plan intends to exploit existing and potential market opportunities, which include COMESA, EU, AGOA, Generalised System Preference (GSP), East African Community, Middle East, Far East, Markets on Bilateral arrangements and the rest of Africa.

 

5. I wish to thank FAO for initiating the World Food Day celebrations which are important in sensitizing and educating the people on food security and poverty alleviation, especially through the promotion of more investments in agriculture, sharing knowledge, technologies and experiences between different stakeholders.

 

I wish to further acknowledge FAO support to the agricultural sector, which is in support of the NRM Government Policy to move every Ugandan out of poverty. I would like to thank the Private Sector, all the

exhibitors, farmers in Ofua and all those who put up demonstrations, for the hard work which is demonstrated through the high quality of the exhibits on display here.

 

I wish to commend World Food Programme for their continued support during emergency food shortages, and for the various programmes they are running in the country, which contribute to increased food availability and increased incomes. I wish to encourage you to continue buying more produce from Uganda farmers.

 

Once again, I thank Adjumani District Administrators, the Members of Parliament of this area, the District Chairman, the Resident District Commissioner, the Chief Administrative Officer, all Councillors and Local Councillors for a job well done.

 

As we depart from here, we should take the various messages to our farmers and resolve to do our best to promote production and ensure food security and poverty alleviation through increased investment in agriculture. I am glad this function was held at this primary school, so that our young generation can continue to learn from the demonstrations that will be left behind. It is my sincere hope that what they learn here will be carried forward to contribute to the further revolutionalising of our farming systems.

 

I wish you all a safe journey back home and hope that as we celebrate this day next year each of you will be living a better life than today because of what you will have invested in agriculture today for food security.

 

FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY