120 fishing groups in Buikwe district benefit from State House project

A State House-funded project that has been in existence for less than a year has transformed over 120 groups in Buikwe district.

The groups that have benefited from the Strategic Campaign for Alternative Income-Generating Activities for Fishing Communities in Uganda (SCAIAFU) include former fishermen and their families from the sub-counties of Ngogwe, Najja, Ssi-Bukunja, Njeru, Nnyenga, as well as Kiyindi Town Council.

The members from these fishing communities have been mobilised and supported with high-quality start-up inputs, including broiler chicks and feed, in-calf heifers, breeding piglets, fish fingerlings and feed.

Speaking during a monitoring visit on Thursday 17, April, 2025, in Buikwe, the Third Deputy Prime Minister, Rt.Hon.  Rukia Nakadama appealed to the beneficiaries to show gratitude to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for his support to these diverse communities, which had been greatly affected after fish stocks began diminishing, thus impacting their incomes drastically.

“We realised that illegal fishing was detrimental to the lake, so we devised means to provide an alternative means of income generation that would help preserve the remaining fish,” Rt. Hon. Nakadama noted.

After inspecting the various farming groups, Rt.Hon. Nakadama was impressed by the alternative livelihood activities the ex-fishermen and their families were engaged in.

“This pilot project is going on well; I’m pleased to see that you have embraced this alternative very well,” she stated.

Rt. Hon. Nakadama, however, expressed concerns about Muslims in the community who may feel sidelined by the provision of pigs since it goes against Islamic principles to rear them as a faithful, she advocated for such families to be given goats since the pigs may offend certain Muslims who are willing to transition from fishing.

“I will report to the President, so he can boost the number of inputs. I am also glad that you acknowledged the receipt of PDM funds,” Hon. Nakadama noted.

This was after one of the coordinators, Ms. Annet Kajubi, said publicly that the majority of the residents in Buikwe had received the funds.

The event was also attended by Dr. Hillary Musoke Kisanja, the Senior Presidential Advisor in charge of agribusiness. He was accompanied by Mr. Charles Kiguli Kiwuuwa, the Principal Agriculture Officer at State House.

This field visit was a follow-up to President Yoweri Museveni’s meeting held at Entebbe State House in November 2024, which was coordinated by Rt. Hon. Nakadama, which is the reason she spearheaded the monitoring exercise.

According to Dr Musoke, Rt. Hon. Nakadama was very instrumental in ensuring this project gets off the launching pad and also commended President Museveni and the State House Comptroller, Ms. Jane Barekye for the support.

“My first assignment was how to reduce poor fishing, this was after several attempts to enforce illegal fishing activities that had created friction between the army and the fishermen,” Dr. Musoke noted.

Mr. Isaac Ssebadeke Walugembe, the Assistant Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Buikwe district, who represented Major David Matovu the district’s RDC, gave a vote of thanks and commended Bukunja Foundation (BUFO) for having been pivotal in connecting the fishing communities to State House in order to benefit from this critical intervention.

Mr. Dan Kiyaga, BUFO’s Chief Executive Officer expressed gratitude to State House for the support.

“We are here today to implement a project we wrote with Dr. Kisanja. We started small, but within one year, we have managed to see many farmers multiply their original stock that they were provided with,” he said.

He also commended the President’s team,which he said has been very effective in its implementation and delivery of the promised inputs.

“We have 52 landing sites in Buikwe, and we have coordinated all the sites,” Mr. Kiyaga stated.

Ms. Sylvia Nakiwolo, the Assistant Private Secretary to H.E the President on Value Addition, who also doubles as a SCAIAFU coordinator, commended the landing site residents for having proved to State House officials that this is indeed a viable project worth investing in.

“We believe it is now possible for you to survive off an alternative source of income,” she said.

Mr. David Ssendagire, the chairperson of zone A at Ssenyi Landing site, appealed to the government to empower his fellow residents by tarmacking their road so as to boost their local economy.

“The island was once recognised all over East Africa as one of the cleanest, but due to the recent flooding, our landing site was greatly affected.”

Ms. Annet Kajubi, who sparked the audience with her eloquent presentation, admitted that nine groups got 21 pigs, which have since multiplied to over 120 pigs within one year.

“As a result of this success, we were able to persuade others who created other 22 groups which are also in need of this alternative means of survival,” she said.

At least 16 groups got 3000 catfish and 2000 Tilapia fish, with testimonies from some of the beneficiaries validating these claims.

Mr. Geoffrey Isingoma, who is the chairman of Muyubwe Kyosimba Onanya fishing Group that has over 20 members said they are grateful for the inputs and admitted that this project has reduced poverty and pledged support for President Museveni in the forthcoming elections.