By Isaac DAKA
Lukulu District’s rice production faced significant challenges during the 2023/2024 farming season due to a national-wide drought. The severe weather conditions caused widespread panic among farmers as they lost their entire seed stock and could not harvest anything, including the grains usually reserved as seed for the next season.
However, hope has been rekindled with the introduction of the Market-Oriented Rice Development Project (MOReDeP). Funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), MOReDeP seeks improve rice production through technical training and the provision of seed and farm implements to farmers.
According to Lukulu District Agricultural Coordinator, Francisca Lisulo, JICA started operating in the district last year and has presence in 3 agricultural camps with a total of 120 farmers participating in the project. The DACO added that the 120 farmers have been supported with small portions of rice seed for seed multiplication purposes.
“JICA came on board last year with the goal of improving rice production in the district. The project is being implemented in 3 camps namely, Lishuwa, Lukau and Lyalala. Lishuwa and Lukau are intervention camps and 80 farmers in these 2 camps are applying modern rice farming techniques which have been taught to them, while Lyalala is a control camp and 40 farmers are cultivating rice the way they have always cultivated the crop. In total, 120 farmers are part of the project and each has been given 2kg of rice seed for seed multiplication purposes so that they can cultivate the crop on a larger scale next season. The project has also supported them with line markers and push weeders to use in their fields,” she explained.
Ms Lisulo said the 120 farmers currently on the project are initiators and the district will triple the number of rice farmers during the 2025/2026 farming season.
“With proper management the 2kg seed given to farmers can produce about 4-5 50kg bags of rice. Once seed multiplication is achieved, we will triple the current number of rice farmers and trainings as well as rice production itself will be rolled to other camps that are not part of the project,” Ms Lisulo said.
Lukulu District Marketing and Development Officer, Joshua Munkena, said the district agriculture office is happy to collaborate with JICA. Mr Munkena added that the collaboration with JICA will secure rice production in the district. He revealed that market linkages is an important aspect of the project and farmers are assured to be linked to a good market.
“We were in a challenging situation as far as rice production is concerned, because our farmers lost their rice seed due to droughts experienced in the past 2 seasons. But through the Ministry’s collaboration with JICA, we are assured to have seed for next season. I also want to assure rice farmers that market is readily available. Market linkages is also an important part of the project so farmers are assured to be linked to good market for the product,” Mr Munkena said.
Speaking in an interview during the monitoring of rice field under the project, Mr Munkena noted that farmers are implementing rice farming techniques such as line planting as they were trained.
“We are in Lishuwa which is an intervention camp and I am very happy to see that farmers are employing line planting. As you can see the fields are looking very neat and farmers themselves have attested that weeding and fertilizer application is much easier when rice is planted in line than in a broadcasted field,” he explained.
Meanwhile, farmers participating in the project have expressed gratitude to JICA and the government for their support. Mbuyu Likambi, a rice farmer who lost all his seed during the drought during the 2023/2024 farming season said his livelihood and that of his family will improve as he plans to multiply the 2kg rice seed to cultivate on a larger scale and earn an income.
“These past seasons were challenging because I lost all my rice seed due to drought. But through JICA I have been empowered with seed and I have also been trained on site and variety selection, weeding, and fertilization among others. My plan is to harvest 2 to 3 50kg bags from the 2kg seed that I have planted. I will use my harvest to cultivate a bigger field so that I can earn an income for my family and my children’s education,” Mr Likambi said.
Flavia Kalonde, who shares the same goal as Mr Likambi of multiplying the 2kg seed has vowed to adopted line planting because of its benefits. According to Ms Kalonde, weeding and fertilizer application is much easier when rice is planted in lines than in a broadcasted field.
-Ends NAIS
