Agriculture – MinBane

Opinion: The Son-In-Law is becoming the Coffee-Tsar…

“It’s morning in Baltimore, Lester. Wake up and smell the coffee” – Lt. Cedric Daniels (The Wire S4E11, 2006).

“Government is under the spotlight for allocating Shs37 billion to the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development, an agency headed by the president’s son-in-law. Mr Odrek Rwabwogo is supposed to spend this money on ‘coffee value chain, export, and industrial development promotion’, but the manner of the allocation raised suspicions in Parliament last week.” (Franklin Draku – ‘MPs query Shs37b allocation to Rwabwogo-led committee’ 23.05.2023, Daily Monitor).

Who knew? Well, in the Republic everything is possible. Especially if you are well connected or have ties with His Excellency. That’s why the Son-In-Law Odrek Rwabwogo even is getting a budget post and a fancy agency to run.

While it is striking, just like the Coffee Agreement with Pinetti. The whole saga of the Coffee Processing Plant and the Monopoly of it. This is now pushed further within the realm of the family and the President. It is like they are seeking all the profits from the cash-crop and commodity.

The republic already have an institution doing what Odrek is supposed to do. This was started early in the reigns of the National Resistance Movement (NRM). That was enacted back in 1991 just mere years into the “transitional” period of the regime. This is the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) with the mandate: “To increase quality coffee production, productivity, value addition, marketing and consumption”. If you feel it similar to the memo to the son-in-law, because it is a copy. Just more modern lingo with the “coffee value chain, export, and industrial development promotion”. The rest is the gist of it and more of the same.

The Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development will now compete with the UCDA. Which is already in competition with the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA). There are so many players and duplications in the Republic it is hard to keep up. Now the PACEID is competing directly with the UCDA and partly with the UIA too.

The Vinci Agreement just shows how the state plays and does its own bidding. Now the son-in-law is getting a slice of the pie too. That’s how it looks like. It feels a like a new day and we are smelling the fruits of others people’s labour.

This is making the son-in-law doing something someone is already doing. It isn’t enhancing or bettering the industry. No, this is a pay-day and a small heist. Because, he will not take the place of the UCDA or UIA. No, the son-in-law is just an extension and a useless addition. A bountiful receiver from the public coffers, but it won’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

It doesn’t matter that the son-in-law has no skill-set, education or proof that his experienced to do this. Well, it should, but in this case it don’t. The only thing that did matter was his close proximity to the President and that was it.

We are smelling the bitter coffee. A man that couldn’t easily differentiate between robusta or arabica is now becoming a Coffee Tsar. That’s the reality here. The head honcho of coffee beans and he knows squat about it.

This is how the President runs the nation and it shows how little he actually cares. Peace.

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Amuru Land Grab: The Legacy of Atiak Sugar Factory – Part II

“Over the past five years, more than UGX 400 billion of taxpayer money has been spent on Atiak Sugar Project. The factory has remained closed for two years, and sugarcane meant to provide raw materials are now being sold to factories outside the region. If billions of shillings sunk into the project cannot be traced, who will revive this sugarcane factory?” (NBS Television, 13.03.2023).

This story has been going on since 11^th December 2014. We are now in March 2023 and two years of closure. Meaning one year after the President Museveni commissioned the Atiak Sugar Factory on the 23^rd October 2020, the factory itself got closed during 2021 and has ceased it’s operation. If this continues onto 2024. Than it is a decade lost in the trade, lack of due diligence and governmental oversight.

This is just another development project, another government investment into a cash-crop and adding value enterprise, which has fallen in dire straits. It is just horrific that people have internally displaced, lost their plots, their livelihoods and foreign investors has grabbed their lands. It is reported up to 8,000 people has lost lands in the region to facilitate the Atiak Sugar Factory. A Sugar Factory that only exists on paper, because it isn’t producing anything.

The state has already bailed out the Horyal Investment Holdings twice before 2016 and you can wonder if it will happen again. We can wonder if the state plans to it three or four times by 2024. While we know the state is working on overtime to facilitate lands in Amuru district for the Madhvani Group. It is clear that it’s an epic failure and the locals has been hurt the most. A giant massive cash-cow for someone, but not for the general public. Neither is it helping Kilak County or Amuru district.

No, this is just a painful enterprise and a lack of planning before investing, building and even considering to operate a sugar factory. It is just a wasteland of wasted potential and lack of concern of the people who was forced to move from their homeland. It is really tragic that their losses, grievances and livelihoods got eaten up by “hot-air” and nothingness.

This just what the National Resistance Movement (NRM) does… promises to save the people and securing their future. However, they cannot even get the state owned enterprises running. This is one of them and they have “lost the plot”. I am feeling sad for everyone who lost their land and was evicted. They lost the most. The investors and the foreign dignitaries thieving the land will escape any trouble. It is the poor that takes the hardest hit and the state will offer them scraps in return. Peace.

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Opinion: It’s time for Marcos Jr. to peel the onion…

“Last week, the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (Pcafi) warned of a looming garlic shortage. In an interview, the chamber’s president, Danilo Fausto, told the Manila Times that Filipinos consume at least 100,000 metric tons of garlic yearly, but local farmers can supply only 10 percent of demand. He blamed years of government neglect and policies that shifted every time there was a change in leadership. He urged the Marcos government to act now before garlic prices shoot up. Late interventions were partly to blame for the price of onion soaring to P700 per kilogram recently” (The Manilla Times – ‘More trouble ahead for agriculture sector’ 13.02.2023).

It is striking that in the department that the President has his portfolio the prices are running rampant. In the field and the office, which he resides in addition to being the Head of State is where the inflation and the sky-rocketing prices are happening. This doesn’t seem like a coincident, but instead as a reflection of his reign.

Some might say “Bong Bong” isn’t handling it well or if his even considering the implications of it. The arrogance and entitlement are obvious. While the citizens are having the plight, the concern and the misfortune of the rising costs of basic commodities. His living lavish and enjoying the perks of the high office. He is even spending time on Formula One races and other foreign trips on the dole of the state. So, he should reconsider his stances and his methods. Because it stinks and it’s filled with rotten food.

He has already had a huge scandal rocking his office with sugar, in addition the onion and now garlic. It is like everything you need for adobo just must get expensive. Soon, the vinegar and the soya-sauce will cost a fortune too.

We are just supposed to look the other way. While he is making adjustments to the PCO and Offices in Manilla. However, the ones going to the markets, the ones buying in the supermarkets and just doing the daily routine will feel the pinch.

You got to be careful what you wish for… a President like Marcos Junior is certainly not wise or brilliant. He should give the Department of Agriculture to someone else. Since, whatever his doing… is doing no good. It is only more dire and more concerning.

At this point… I’m just awaiting a rice-scandal of epic proportions. Since he has already had the sugar, the onion and garlic on the horizon. Three is just a need for a bigger and larger fallout. Where the Department and the Imports has been on overdrive and caught with imports destroying the local production of Rice. Since, Bong Bong has made agreements with Vietnam or elsewhere to benefit his own purse… well… who would be shocked by that now?

It is time to peel the onion. The tears are already here, and the lack of self-reflection or due diligence is obvious. The President could have been better, but that’s just too much to ask… He couldn’t manage the sugar or the onion. So, we just know he will mess up another thing as time goes by. Peace.

Teso Affairs: The failure of Soroti Fruit Factory Part II – (2-year-old orange concentrate stored without a plan)

“Soroti Fruits Limited was incorporated to add value to fruits that were abundantly underutilised; to address the high post-harvest losses, provide market for the farmers produce, and create employment opportunities along the value chain, thus increased and diversified household incomes within the greater Teso Sub-region” (February, 2022).

The Auditor General Report of December 2022 isn’t spelling out a better story either. The Soroti Fruits Limited is a proof of mismanagement, lack of survey and planning. It is picking the wrong fruit, the wrong type of production and even not considering the markets itself. Nothing has been checked for feasibility or value for money.

That’s why the December 2022 report says this:

“I inspected the inventory stores at the facility and established huge volumes of orange concentrate in the cold room stores. The factory did not have a recognizable packaging line for ready-to-drink juices in PET bottles leading to choking in the Cooling Rooms. The inability to transform Concentrate into marketable juice because of lack of a commercial packaging line for Ready to Drink Juice, has meant that the company keeps huge volumes of Concentrate which are kept in cold rooms, thus increasing costs of production and inadequate products in the market” (OAG, 2022).

He further explains:

“I noted that the factory still had, in store, concentrate and pulp that had been produced close to two years ago and indication of limited market for the juice produced” (OAG, 2022).

If you ever needed a proof of how little viable the production, the factory and the lines made in Soroti. These sorts of statements say it. You don’t need the financial understanding or the liquidity of the company to understand it. It’s expensive to keep such inventory and to use electricity to keep it well. Secondly, the orange concentrate won’t last forever either. Therefore, there are risks involved.

The Soroti Fruit Factory, which was built for the wrong fruit and now also lacks the ability to tap or utilize the concentrate. Because, it doesn’t have the production facilities to bottle or can the goods. That means the State or Government must spend even more on the failure of a project.

This story is a tale of losses, lack of proper consultation and using local knowledge to benefit the famers in Teso. Instead, it has become a money-pit and a loss-loss project. You can certainly wonder who has benefited from this and why it happened in the first place. Because the famers and the ones who was supposed to be the beneficiary ones aren’t. They are the losing end, and neither is the consumer getting viable products to consume. This isn’t value addition, but expenses upon expenses without any sort of revenue. Peace.