Monday, May 7, 2012

NORTH KOBWAYE LOCATION COMMUNITY ANNUAL REVIEW MEETING FORUM



On the 5th April 2012, we attended a chief’s Baraza in North Kobwaye location during their community annual review of the location’s activities and progress. We were yet again here on a different mission and with a different agenda. We had approx 225 members (100 F and 125 M).
The guest speaker of this event was Mr. John Omotto, the DAO Kobama Division and in his accompany was our Field Officer (ALIN), Gerald Yongo.
The two main agendas here were on:
·         Climate change adaptation practices
·         Crop damage policy
·         ICT and agriculture
Climate change adaptation
Mr. Omoto expressed his disappointment on some farmers who had been given drought resistant crops like the Gadam millet, Cassava and the rest but had left them to be spoilt by the grazing animals and today they are the same people complaining of hunger during this drought season when they were supposed to be enjoying from their yields.
He also criticized some farmers who had been given the millet seeds to plant in the previous season for free and still kept them in their home in fear of chasing the birds when the millets flower. He firmly stressed that if we the people of this region don’t change our attitudes towards development, then we might face a lot of difficulties with the changing climate. It sounded so bad that those people who were complaining of the weight in chasing birds wasn’t that they were busy doing a better thing but busy gambling in the market from morning to evening.   
Crop damage policy
From the above agenda, Mr. Omotto, the DAO, stressed on the issue of crop damage by animals.  He said that farmers should control and manage their animals in a manner that they do not go astray to spoil other farmers’ crops. This is an issue that has been causing unending conflict in this division especially now that sugarcane production has taken over most fields used to lie fallow in relation to the construction of the Riat Sugar Factory.
The officer further explained that the Ministry of Agriculture has been given a mandate by law to assess any crop damage and write a complainant assess report within 24 hours and the case will be solved in a court of law with that report as the evidence. The procedure that is to be followed when you find a person’s animal damaging your crop, you are suppose to call a second person to witness before removing the animal totally from the scene, then tie the animal somewhere to avoid further damage as you seek for the owner of the animal to witness the damage too and also confirm that the animal is his or hers. From here now you can comfortably report the case to the chief and the Ministry of agriculture. The assessment will be based on three categories: cost of production, horticultural stage and the ready stage with different expected compensations from the owners of the animal. This was something that was highly welcomed by most people in the forum, some saying that it will reduce the carelessness that had been previously bred in the division by some animal farmers.
It came out very clearly that if our farmers are not careful, we might not even enjoy the benefits of the developments in this region because even sugarcane that is the only cash crop here will all be damage by our animals and the newly installed company will begin importing sugarcane cuttings from other neighboring constituencies.
ICT and Agriculture
After such a lengthy discussion, our field officer Mr. Gerald Yongo took over from Mr. Omotto summarizing on all the mentioned agendas and their impact on the war against extreme poverty in the country’s vision 2030 goal. The government and other stakeholders are doing their part to stimulate the growth and development of our people but a few people are not positive towards change. That’s that.
Talking about ICT and agriculture; we realize that technology of each every production is changing on an everyday scheme, not just for the sake of it but, for the most economically and efficient way that can be replicated by every farmer with the most minimal technical skills.
This strongly brought in the idea of ICT training and other services offered at Ndhiwa Maarifa centre (ALIN). Mr. Omotto intercepted and informed the farmers of how technology has come to be in that with the ICT skills, one is able to even research on issues affecting their productions through the internet or even the internet enabled phones from their farmers. We had to respond to a number of questions concerning the services and how we choose groups to work with. The area chief took over after me and challenged the people on how many good things had come their way and they didn’t explore the opportunities, and now this one is here again and he is watching.
Impact
·         4 farmers from Wachara have reported crop damage following the right procedure.
·         The chief has confirmed that there is a reduction in the number of cases reported on crop damage to 2 in a week as compared to last month when he could receive 5 cases or more in a week.
·         The area chief has referred 5 people to be trained on ICT skills plus her assistant. Considering the distance (50 KM), we felt the need to give chance to all of them despite the long queue of demand.
Contact Person: Asst. Chief Judy: 0710-55 96 81.

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