Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) has announced a special promotional offer for Ngule Lager in celebration of the Kabaka’s 24^th coronation anniversary, on July 31.

Dubbed ‘Omutanda Agabudde’, the offer will see the beer sold at a special price of Shs1,500. Ngule is a Luganda word that means ‘crown’ or ‘reward’.

The announcement was made at a press conference at Bulange addressed by the Buganda Kingdom Deputy Minister of Finance, Owek. Mulema Mukasa and Uganda Breweries Marketing Director, Juliana Kagwa.

Ngule, which was launched in January 2016, is the official kingdom beer produced under a partnership between Uganda Breweries and the Buganda Kingdom. This partnership consists of a revenue sharing agreement that is beneficial to both entities.

“In celebration of His Majesty’s coronation anniversary, we today announce a special promotional offer of Shs1, 500 on Ngule as a reward to his loyal subjects. Our brands are made to be part of celebratory occasions and we would like to join the people of Buganda to commemorate the Kabaka’s coronation and celebrate this joyous occasion,” said Kagwa.

This year’s coronation anniversary is being held under the theme ‘Useful utilization of land for the upliftment of the wellbeing of the people of Buganda’.

In his remarks, Buganda’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Mulema Mukasa said the promotional offer was a reward to Kabaka’s loyal subjects as they celebrate his coronation.

“The Kingdom of Buganda is essentially about promotion and sustenance of culture and heritage. The Kabaka’s coronation is one such celebration. It is only fitting that our people celebrate with Ngule, the official Kingdom beer,” he said.

He further thanked the people of Buganda for heeding the call to grow cassava from which Ngule is brewed.

“In the 2016/17 budget, the kingdom set aside UGX 500 million to start a cassava nursery in all the 18 counties and UGX 3 billion to procure coffee, matooke, and cassava seedlings. This was done to enable farmers meet the demand from UBL to brew Ngule. This support has been channeled through Majestic Brands and Buganda Cultural and Development Foundation (BUCADEF),” he added.

In the previous financial year, the Kingdom earned royalties worth UGX.515 million from Ngule between January and June 2016. This was handed over to Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga.

The beer is made from local ingredients; cassava and sorghum, which are exclusively sourced from the kingdom.

“This beer has contributed to socio-economic growth of the Kingdom. Through the local sourcing of agricultural inputs like cassava to brew the beer, Ngule has contributed to the uplifting of livelihoods of His Majesty’s subjects. Buganda Kingdom has a 5-year strategic plan that focuses on leveraging all the kingdom’s resources to lift His Majesty’s people out of poverty and the partnership with Uganda Breweries to produce Ngule beer, is one of those projects,” Katikkiro added.

Ngule is one of the most affordable beers on the market, a deliberate decision by UBL to get more Ugandans to consume formal beer, thus moving them away from illegitimate, poor quality and potentially hazardous alcohol.

Owekitibwa Mulema Mukasa further said the royalties that the Kingdom was earning from the commercial venture with UBL were being re-invested to develop key sectors in Buganda such as health, education and sanitation.

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The price of groundnuts has dropped in markets like Lira and Owino but most noticeably in Kalerwe market where it eased down by shs500 to retail at shs 5,500, a kilogram. A kilogram further dropped shs250 for wholesalers to buy at shs 4,750, the latest market analysis report released for this week shows.

Traders attributed the decrease to the increased supply of the commodity from markets such as Kaliro in Busoga region that grows considerable amounts of the legume.

Simsim, mainly grown in the north of the country, had its prices drop by shs1, 000 and shs850 for retail and wholesale respectively, as other commodities such as rice (Kayiso), cow peas, fresh cassava, beans, soya beans, among others also had their prices come down.

However, commodities such as sorghum flour and grain, maize flour and millet grain all had price increases due to the increased demand for the commodities. Beef and super rice maintained a constant price due to steady supplies to markets.

Matooke prices on average dropped by shs2,350 on retail and shs2,700 on wholesale and traded at shs23,000 and shs20,650 for retail and wholesale, respectively. Of recent there has been a steady supply of matooke from western region where it is most grown.

Meanwhile the report shows that the average fuel prices across all regions of the country reached shs3,350, shs2600 and shs3550 for diesel, kerosene and petrol respectively.

The eastern region, the nearest to the Kenyan fuel suppliers, had the lowest average fuel prices of shs3000 and shs 3450 for diesel and petrol respectively.

Upcountry, the price of processed honey dropped across markets such as Kabale and Katuna by up to shs1,500 and shs1,000 for retailers and wholesalers respectively trading a litre at shs16,500 for retail and shs14,000 for wholesale.

Traders attributed the drop in prices to a decrease in demand of the honey by local consumers. Despite its benefits most Ugandans don’t consume honey putting the blame on high prices. Suppliers have to find market in neighbouring countries.

The central and western regions had the highest average prices of petrol selling at shs3650 and shs3600 respectively.

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Small and medium scale farmers are to spend one week in The Netherlands on a learning expedition in the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural produce, thanks to the dfcu bank that has sponsored the trip.

During the trip, the thirteen farmers whose trip has cost dfcu bank over Ugshs200 million, will visit some of the most successful farmers, taking advantage of partnership opportunities as well as exploring innovations and best practice that they can apply in Uganda.

The State Minister for Agriculture Christopher Kibanzanga officially flagged off the farmers who left on Saturday.

Speaking at the event, the chairperson dfcu Bank, Jimmy Mugerwa revealed that dfcu in partnership with Netherlands based Rabobank have set up an Agriculture Advisory Centre, which will be operational by July this year.

“With Uganda’s heavy reliance on agriculture, it is critical that there is cross industry collaboration to support the shift from subsistence to commercial farming which is more lucrative. dfcu’s Advisory Center will complement the efforts towards improving the skills set within the agricultural sector,” he said.

dfcu has adopted the value chain based approach to support the transformation of the agricultural sector through financing and capacity building of farmer organizations/associations engaged in viable agriculture projects including coffee, cotton, tea, among others.

As part of dfcu’s agriculture agenda, the Bank is supporting the small-scale farmers to commercialize through products such as the Farmers Group savings accounts, which encourage farmers to save and have access to affordable credit when the need arises.

The 13 farmers emerged winners in the ‘2016 Uganda Best farmer’s competition’ which show cases the best farmers and the best framing practices nationally with intention to inspire farmers in the adaptation of commercial agriculture methods. It is a partnership between dfcu Bank; Vision Group under the New Vision; KLM and the Netherlands Embassy, which has been running since 2014.

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Uganda has not won the battle against the notorious Fall Armyworms that destroyed crops in the early months of the new planting season, an agricultural expert familiar with the behavior of the nocturnal moths has warned.

According to Dr John Bahana, who has immense experience in the monitoring of the moths in central and southern Africa, the green pests are only hiding in the soils, ready to strike mainly grain farms in August.

“Warning needs to be sounded out to authorities and all concerned to be aware of the looming disaster that Fall Armyworm will befall Uganda starting this August,” Dr Bahana says of the insects that were first spotted in South Africa last year before they scattered to other Sub-Sahara countries.

Dr Bahana says that come August, the moths will emerge, lay eggs on newly germinated crops ‘and simply devour everything’. He says Uganda’s neighbours, Rwanda and Tanzania face similar situation. Already the moths are destroying maize gardens in western Kenyan district of Kitale, leaving farmers confused on how they will repay loans.

He called for a regional approach to research and management of the carnivorous moths that have a high capability to resist the recommended chemicals.

Government says it has put aside shs 3 billion to tackle the moths. But Dr Bahana says the money is so little compared to what other countries have staked. Kenya budgeted US$2 million whereas Zambia has spent more than US$4 million.

Agriculture minister, Vincent Ssempija, meanwhile says his ministry is finalisng a comprehensive strategy for the management of the worms that struck the country that had just emerged out of the prolonged drought. It is not clear whether Uganda will work with its regional neighbours as grains and cereals form part of the inter-border trade.

He adds efforts on the biological control of the moths are on-going as the chemical use option continues for emergencies.

Mr Okasa Opolot from the MAAIF adds that the research focuses on how the moths breed, feed and move. Should the biological method succeed, it will help protect the environment, given that too much use of the chemicals harm could harm the environment in the long run.

Uganda expects to harvest 4.8-5 million metric tons of maize this year, from the 4 million metric tons it reaped last year. Minister Ssempija says with the interventions to provide chemicals to farmers, the country will lose at least 5% the crops in the gardens to the pests, which is less than 25% that had earlier been expected to be destroyed.

Josephine Okot, the Managing Director of Victoria Seeds agrees with Dr Bahana, saying government should inject in more money. She cited Brazil which invests US$600 million annually to fight the pests.

Minister Ssempija says unscrupulous dealers in efforts to get abnormal profits were supplying farmers with adulterated chemicals. ‘This is why some pests are not dying,” says the minister in reference to chemicals like Rocket, Striker, Ngeyo, among others.

“We have talked to them about this indiscipline. We are going to issue a few guidelines and instructions,” Ssempija says, adding that government will only deal with known manufacturers and agents.

An analyst says agricultural extension workers must be involved deployed at parish levels to monitor the moths as they come back into the gardens.

Brazil, where the moth is perennial makes annual losses of US$3 billion (1,0863.4 billion) worth of crops

The Meteorological Department warned recently that southern part of the country would experience a dry spell in the second season, thrive as rains reduce. The second planting season starts in July, farmers hoping it won’t be bad like the first one that had their gardens infested with the strange Fall Armyworms.

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