More floating islands sighted by surveillance on Lake Victoria and under control

Kampala, 21st April 2020. The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries is embarking on controlling more floating islands on Lake Victoria in collaboration with other line Ministries and Agencies.

Some of the chunks of floating mass were sighted in hot-spots of Ggaba, Port Bell and Mukono, spanning a combined coverage of over 100 acres.

As highlighted by Mr. Pius Wakabi Kasajja the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, the multi-sectoral team is and will continue relying on collaboration and use of capacity built from dealing with similar crises in the fisheries sub-sector.

As of today, a strong team of experts from the line Ministries has been mobilised and the Ministry of Agriculture has provided three Long arm excavators, two Barges, one Ferry, one Hydraulic crane, three self-loading trucks, four Dump trucks (20ton) and one Bulldozer for clearing the staging area.

Follow up and coordination

A Coordination Meeting chaired by Hon. Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja the Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has also been held today to kick off operations to control the floating islands spanning a total of 100 acres.

The meeting was attended by Hon. Henry Bagiire the State Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Bright Rwamirama the State Minister for Animal Industry, the MAAIF Permanent Secretary Mr. Pius Wakabi Kasajja, Mr. Alfred Okidi the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Water and Environment, Dr. Callist Tindimugaya the Commissioner for Water Resources Planning and Regulation in the Ministry of Water and Dr. Edward Rukunya the Director for Fisheries Resources.

“Even though the size of floating islands has increased, our collaboration with line Ministries will enable us to eliminate these which are moving elsewhere on the Lake just as it did at the Nalubale Power Station. Given the mandate and available equipment, we are working to remove them to avoid any damage to homes and facilities or even further transit towards the Power Stations,” – Hon. Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.

Notes for editors

About the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries is a Ministry in the Government of Uganda charged with creating an enabling environment in the Agricultural Sector.

The Ministry formulates, reviews and implement national policies, plans, strategies, regulations and standards and enforce laws, regulations and standards along the value chain of crops, livestock and fisheries.

Vision: A competitive, profitable and sustainable agricultural sector.

Mission: To transform subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.

Strategic Objectives

• To initiate the formulation and review of the policy and legal framework for the sector
• To establish and implement systems for service provision in the sector
• To strengthen and implement strategies, regulatory framework, standards, institutional structures and infrastructure for quality assurance and increased quantities of agricultural products to access and sustain local, regional and export markets
• To design and implement sustainable capacity building programmes for stakeholders in the agricultural sector through training, re-tooling, infrastructure, provision of logistics and ICT
• To develop strategies for sustainable food security
• To develop appropriate agricultural technologies for improved agricultural production, productivity and value addition through research
• To develop effective collaborative mechanisms with affiliated institutions and
• To take lead and establish a system and institutional framework for agricultural data collection, analyses, storage and dissemination to stakeholders including Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) is made up of four Directorates including the Directorate of Crop Resources, Directorate of Animal Resources, Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services and the Directorate of Fisheries Resources each with Departments, Divisions and Partnership Projects.

The Departments of the Ministry which do not fall directly in the above include the Department of Agricultural Planning and Development, the Human Resource Department, the Department of Finance and Administration and the Department of Agricultural Infrastructure, Mechanisation and Water for Agricultural Production.

The Ministry is also made up of seven Agencies including the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Cotton Development Organisation (CDO), Dairy Development Authority (DDA), Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and Coordinating Office for the Control of Trypanosomiasis in Uganda (COCTU) and the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank (NAGRC&DB).