UGANDA: People in Lira Diocese Embrace Cassava Commercialization and Industrialization Project
Isaac Ojok
Lira Diocese has embraced commercialization and industrialization of Cassava project to ensure food security and support for the livelihoods of the people.
Cassava Commercialization and Industrialization project was initiated in Gulu by Most Rev John Baptist Odama, the Archbishop of Gulu Archdiocese in the year 2018 with the vision to mobilize and sensitize the population to take up massive production of cassava to strengthen their livelihoods and ensure food security for the people in the region.
The project started with the registration of the people who are members of Lira Diocese Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited as massive production of Cassava is part of the activities being implemented within the Lira Diocese Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited initiated by the Bishop of Lira diocese Rt. Rev. Sanctus Lino Wanok.
For the success of the project, a team of experts visit parishes on a sensitization course, giving technical guidance in a bid to have members ready to take up the responsibility to further implement the project to others.
Presently, the members are not only growing cassava production but other crops as well to enhance holistic development.
Dokolo is among the parishes in Lira Diocese that have taken the project with a lot of enthusiasm. They do multiplication of cassava stems so that they are available for sale.
Similar activity is also being conducted in other parishes.
According to Rt. Rev Sanctus Lino Wanok, the project has been received with gratitude by individual families, Small Christian Communities and institutions. He therefore urges Christians who have not yet joined the project to do so in a bid to generate income in a bigger amount that can facilitate other needs in the families.
Bishop Sanctus is optimistic that the implementation of the project in the Diocese will help improve the people’s livelihood and strengthen the resilience of the local communities in Lango sub-region.
Lango sub-region is known for embracing the Cassava Commercialization and Industrialization project and for its massive production of the crop. Because of the immense production of cassava then, a huge cassava processing industry known as Starch Factory was built in Lira by the then government in 1968 with the aim of manufacturing commercial starch to supply the product in Uganda and other countries in eastern Africa.
The region has also registered success in wealth creation, food security, access to education and health services among others. The resilience of the communities was strengthened especially by members of Lango Cooperative Union.
The production of cassava for commercial purposes had declined drastically in the 1980 due to the s insurgencies, coupled with other debilitating factors. However, with the Church taking this new initiating through the Cassava Commercialization and Industrialization project the region is on its way to regain the past glory.
