President Museveni has asked clerics to embrace social economic development to transform the church and the faithful and ditch the idea of farming for the stomach which through subsistence farming which according to him, has been the cause of poverty.
President Museveni said in a speech that was read by Vice President Jessica Alupo at the episcopal ordination of Rt Rev Dominic Eibu in Kotido District this afternoon.
“Poverty in Uganda is caused by subsistence farming; working for the stomach only. This is dangerous in the modern era where all goods and services needed to sustain life must be bought with money,” VP Alupo said in a statement.
Recent figures show that 68 per cent of Ugandans are still stuck in subsistence farming which has caused poverty in most parts of the country.
Statistics also show that agriculture is the leading economic activity and contributor of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the sector employs over 70 per cent of the population although many of them practice on a small scale. By 2018, the sector was contributing up to 24.2 per cent in 2017/18, a slight drop from 24.6 percent in 2017.
The most recent poverty estimate from the Uganda National Household Survey 2019/20 (UNHS) is equal to 20.3 percent, based on the national poverty line. If split into pre-COVID-19 and pandemic time, the UNHS 2019/20 shows a decline in poverty from 21.4 percent in2016/17 to 18.7 percent in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak and a subsequent increase in poverty to 21.9 percent afterwards.
“Therefore, I call upon the religious leaders to encourage our people to select profitable enterprises in the following four sectors: commercial agriculture with the correct calculation; industries; services and ICT. These are the sectors where households can generate jobs and incomes,” VP Alupo said.
She added, “It is important to emphasise to believers that in addition to seeking spiritual nourishment from the places of worship, they should also participate in income generating activities to sustain their households. All believers should take the example of Jesus Christ, who besides feeding the hungry, preaching and healing the sick, was also a carpenter.”
