Parliament Declines To Abolish NAADS, UCDA, Dairy Development Authority, And Cotton Development Authority,
Parliament has blocked the move by the government to abolish the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Dairy Development Authority (DDA), and Cotton Development Authority, dealing a huge blow to the Ministry of Agriculture that had warmed up to manage the most lucrative agencies in the agriculture sector.
All four Ministers in the Ministry of Agriculture absconded the sitting when the bills were being considered, and efforts by the other Ministers to save the Government's proposals fell flat after MPs even refused to have the four bills proceed to the Committee stage, where each clause was meant to be scrutinized by the whole House.
However, Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga County) protested the absence of all the four Ministers in the Agriculture during the processing of the bill, accusing them of disrespecting the over 80% Ugandans employed in the Agriculture sector, for not showing up to process the rationalisation bills in the sector.
“This is a very important bill that concerns us in as far as tsetse fly control is concerned and I note with concern, the sheer neglect of this core Ministry where by, 80% of our people, but to have a Ministry of four Ministers who are ordinarily the ones to stand in this docket, the business in this House isn’t for formality, they should respect Ugandans who wait to see them discharge duties on their behalf. I know you had magnanimously allowed it to go on, but we don’t look good,” said Ssekikubo.
The Agriculture Committee defended their position arguing that the Dairy Development Authority was established in 1998 at the time Uganda’s dairy industry had collapsed to the extent that by 1986, milk collection was 3,043,000 litres annually, but with the interventions of DDA since 2000, milk production has increased from 2.7 billion litres in 2019 to 3.9billion litres by 2023
. “The Committee concludes that rationalization of DDA will affect the regulatory gains already achieved and may adversely affect the markets both secured and prospective mainstreaming DDA into MAAIF will jeopardize the on-going processes of recognition and accreditation that are critical for market access. Rationalization will negatively affect the planned infrastructure development for the milk value chain,” said Okori-Moe.
Parliament’s Agriculture Committee has asked MPs not to abolish the Dairy Development Authority (DDA) warning that such a move would affect the incomes of over 12 million Uganda from the 87 milk producing districts in the country. “The country has 87 high-volume milk producing districts in the Cattle Corridor which have cattle keeping as a source of livelihood. The dairy industry provides employment to about 12 million people, majorly in rural areas.
The dairy value chain is driven by smallholder farmers, input and service providers, milk collectors, milk bulkers, transporters, traders and processors, among others. In addition, the dairy industry provides food and income for more than 40% of the population of the country,” added Janet Okori-Moe, Chairperson Agriculture Committee.
In a related development,Parliament has disbanded the Agricultural Chemicals Control Board and recommended for the transfer of its functions to the Ministry of Agriculture, with MPs accusing the Board of looking on as counterfeit agriculture chemicals flooded Uganda’s market. David Bahati, Minister of State for Industries defended the proposal to disband the Board arguing, “To enable the mainstreaming and rationalization and functions of the Agricultural Chemical Board into the Ministry of Agriculture to do facilitate and effectively deliver services by mainstreaming the mandate of the Board that we think is a bit redundant.
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