The Auditor General John Muwanga has said that about Shs100 billion could be lost through a tea seed distribution exercise carried out in the financial year 2013-2014.
In an audit that focused on the preparation and distribution of tea seedlings and farm management practices of farmers in the five districts of Kisoro, Kanungu, Kabale, Buhweju and Kabarole, the AG, among other anomalies, said the land topography was inappropriate for tea growing and would lead to the multi-billion loss.
‘According to best agronomical practices, the recommended slope should range between 10 to 20% and slope below 10% risks heavy water logging while any slope above 20% risks severe loss of soil by erosion which is detrimental to the proper growth of tea seedlings,’ the AG wrote in his audit report of 2017.
He said that the issue of topography was not considered at all in selecting sites for tea growing, adding that at the 94 farms visited in the five districts, it was established that the gradient was too steep in some areas whereas some farms were located in deep swamps that were prone to water logging.
‘There appears not to have taken technical consideration in the growing of tea in the region which is likely to affect the success of the programme which could lead to a substantial loss of investment in excess of UGX.100Bn so far invested into the programme since 2013/14 to-date,’ the AG notes.
He added: ‘It was as well noted that the gradient slope of the sampled farms ranged from 2.53% to 78.38% which indicated that some farms had a gradient exceeding 20% which in this case was not suitable for tea growing.’
Further, according to the AG: ‘Out of a sample of 94 farms, 53 farms (representing 56%) exceed 20% acceptable gradient while 19 farms (representing 20%) were located in low lying areas that were prone to water logging (below 10% gradient). 22 farms (representing 24%) were in the acceptable range’.
In the report the AG recommends that there should be training and supervision of the new extension workers to ensure that in future the tea seedlings are planted on suitable slopes and terrain for proper growth.
The AG also discovered that there was unaccounted for acreage and seedlings, after reviewing the supply of tea seedlings vis-a-vis the acreage planted.
It was discovered, he said, that a total estimated acreage of the 64 farms sampled was 937.517 acres in the five districts although the measured acreage of these farms was 473.581acres, resulting into additional acreage of 463.936 acres that could not be traced.
Further, he noted that 4,440,507 seedlings were supplied instead of the recommended 2,369,333 seedlings resulting into excess supply of 2,071,174 seedlings valued at Shs932 million at a market rate of Shs450 per seedling.
The AG further noted that 27,000 seedlings supplied to Bukinda Seminary and Bukinda Parish, could not be traced to particular tea farmers in Kabale District.
“There was no proper mechanism to verify the acreage prior to supply of seedlings which is a risk that seedlings were supplied to non-existent farms,” he noted.
“Management is advised establish a mechanism of verifying actual acreage of land prior to distribution of the tea seedlings, he says.
According to the report, this should be a basis for determination of number of seedlings supplied to the farmers and paid to the suppliers.
Meanwhile, it was noted that NAADS paid UGX.1, 402,483,859 to two lead agencies in the Districts of Kisoro and Kanungu to provide extension services to farmers, including among others land preparation, planting of tea seedlings, weeding and pruning and water control, harvesting and transporting tea leaves.
However, the AG’s report indicates that all the farmers interviewed indicated that no extension services were provided during the planning period.
The report noted that because of inadequate extension services, the quality of planting materials greatly deteriorated at the time of planting due to poor handling and long distances of transportation of tea seedlings in Buwheju, Kanungu and Kabale Districts.
In most cases the nurseries were very far from the farms where the materials were to be planted leading to delays in delivery of seeds.
‘There is need for the programme to review its approach to providing extension services with a view to targeting the single spine programme under MAAIF which is aimed at providing extension services to the country,’ the AG noted.
