By Moses Sserwanga
In Kalangala
In a country where the locals are not very keen at venturing out of their traditional surroundings, Kalangala district one of the islands on lake Victoria is fast becoming a local tourists destination.
Although the tourism industry is just picking up on the Island - after a one year lull- due to the devasting -global-novel -covid -19 pandemic, many local and foreign tourists still make the -three and half hours journey to the district -just to indulge themselves a little bit.
“ We are extremely privileged that we are beginning to see the real potential of Kalangala even when it’s a hard to reach area . And for some of us in administration we cannot wait to take full advantage of the people’s interest in our local tourism to help develop the district . There is a lot of potential for our local tourism given the global interest in our cultural sites, the beautiful oil palm gardens (sic) -eco tourism, Bugoma landing sites for early missionaries , sports fishing, water surfing and bird watching among others ,” Umar Kiyonga an employee of the Kalangala oil Palm Growers Trust (KOPGT) , says.
Mr. Balironda David Mukasa Salongo, the General Manager of KOPGT, a former Agricultural Officer , says that Kalangala has come a long way since 1989 when it was curved out of
Masaka district without any economic feasibility to talk home about .
“There was a
need to have a big project running here and we are
happy to have the palm oil project which has helped inject
‘life’ in much of what the local people are doing currently .
Kalangala (Bugala) with a modest population of an estimated 90,000 inhabitants, is the biggest out of the 84 Sesse Islands “ The Kalangala local government is in charge of all the 84 islands 64 of which are uninhabited . So through the KOPGT we are in position to improve our health sector, education, fisheries and above all promote echo-tourism with the beautiful scenery created by the oil palm trees- “forests” -dotted across the island”, Balironda states .
“ And with oil palm growing over the last 15 years , people are earning real incomes and in the month of April alone ,an estimated 1,300 oil palm farmers will earn an estimated UGSHS.4bn from their farms and we expect the district’s tax base to widen and that can only serve the public good,” a jovial Balironda told media personalities who visited the district to report about the positive economic and eco-tourism transformation caused by oil palm growing .
Because of the increased household incomes and
general standards of living commercial banks have set -up banking services for
the first time on the island and the farmers are encouraged to save and invest
in other economic activities -thus widening the economic base of the district.
Ms.Connie Magomu Masaba, the Project Manager of the National Oil Palm Project (NOPP) said that growing of oil palm in Kalanga has transformed households from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. The project has also created thousands of jobs directly with many people working in the plantations owned by the Oil Palm Uganda Limited (OPUL) plus the outgrowers.
The Buvuma Island project will be established on 7,500
hectares with 5,000 dedicated to the nucleus estate while the rest of the land
(2,500) will be for smallholder farmers. The nucleus estate will be managed by
Buvuma Oil Palm Limited (BOPL), a joint venture between the private sector,
government and farmers, according to Masaba.
The Buvuma Oil Palm Growers Cooperatives Society Limited has been formed
to cater for the interests of farmers
And the economics of oil palm growing
Currently, a kilo of fresh fruit bunches of oil palm
is sold at Shs869 from Shs857 in April. In Kalangala, where the project was
first implemented, smallholder farmers supply on average 6.9 million kilos of
fresh fruit bunches earning a gross income of Shs6 billion every month.
Smallholder farmers also earn from oil palm leaves once pruned, which they sell
as brooms used in urban areas such as Kampala. It is estimated that an ordinary
farmer can earn as much as Shs.800,000 from an acre of oil palm trees.
Commercial oil palm growing in Uganda started in
Kalangala in 2006 and harvesting started in 2010 with crude palm oil shipped to
Jinja where Bidco owns a refinery that makes cooking oil and soap among other
products.
Oil palm trees reach maturity at four years and are
harvested every 10 days for 25 years after which farmers will have to replant.
This gives farmers a sustainable monthly income for years. Oil palm is the world’s most versatile
vegetable oil which is used to make soap, cooking oil, medicines, cosmetics,
and ingredients used in the automotive industry among others.
And the challenges
But much as Kalangala has found its
feet, there are numerous challenges it has to over-come. The
district HIV/Aids prevalence rates are still very high averaging
at between
27-30 % compared to national average of 6-9%. Kalangala does not have a district hospital;
therefore, patients often have to travel by water to the nearby district
hospitals in Entebbe and Masaka for treatment. Further, patients cannot travel
by night because ferries and boats are not allowed to operate at night and the
last time Ugandaupdatenews.com visited the oil palm farmers , the
docking peirs at bugoma and Bukakata had been submerged following the rising
water levels of Lake Victoria and no action had been taken by the Kalangala infrastructure Services Ltd who
operate the two public vessels that transport people to and from the island.
