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.
The 5 maize species, 2 sorghum species, tomatoes and the bean species are already at the knee level. Even though crops are doing much better, but the excess rain is now streaming threats to the beans and the tomatoes that are already fruiting. 
