By Joseph Mugenyi
Kampala: News have been circulating about the registration of farmers and their domestic animals by Government.
Of recent, the agriculture minister Hon. Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempiija while addressing farmers at the agriculture show in Jinja said, the proposal is on way to make farmers register their animals at birth.
The registration targets domestic animals including cattle, sheep, goats, pigs among others
“Government will register the owner of the cow, and the village where the farm is located. Every cow will be allocated a serial number, and every calf will be given a certificate at birth,” Ssempijja revealed.
Farmers will soon be required to acquire birth certificates for cows as a measure to track their lineage
However, Ssempijja who did not reveal when the registration will start, said the government is proposing this because beef consumers in international markets want to know the age of the cow.
Uganda was given a deal to export its agriculture products in Europe but traceability was the main emphasis.
This is intended to increase market for agriculture products in Europe.
Every farmer will be registered, every cow allocated a serial number and a calf shall be awarded a birth certificate, all this is for the purpose of traceability.
Meaning the products to be exported are confirmed to be of required standard after going through the records.
All along the agriculture department has faced a big challenge of market and price fluctuation.
Imagine previously a box of tomatoes at Nakasero market was sold at a range of Shs350,000 – Shs400,000 but recently it reduced to Shs150,000 – Shs230,000 depending on quality and quantity.
When this has started, all these will no longer happen since market will be available.
Farmers and middle men( those who buy agriculture products from farmers) have sometimes been selling sub-standard products e.g. selling meet of a 5-8 month old calf or a 5-8 months pregnant cow.
After the plan has started, such a farmer will be traced since all beef to be exported has records of the farmer and the problem will be solved.
Beef to be exported to Europe MUST be from a 15-24 moths old cow.
Farmers have been `crying’ because of market now it’s to be solved but their response is not yet good.
Please lets not politicize this, it is likely to bring a better change to farmers.
Get all the agricultural information here bi-weekly.Mugenyi Joseph (MJ Farmer) is a practicing Agribusiness entrepreneur based in Kibiito and a software Engineering student at Makerere University. He can be reached on 0701-443309, Email:mugenyijosemj@gmail.com
