The minister of Agriculture Vincent Bamulangaki Sempijja said that as government intensifies ways of stopping army worm, farmers should keep spraying their gardens with herbicides to control the army worm.

He said that researchers are considering infesting some army worm to attack and wipe out the normal army worm.

Army worm are more damaging maize and sugar cane plants.

Farmers losses over outbreak  of army worm could have bigger implication for the economy since  food prices had remained high because of the last poor harvest.

The fall army worm  was first detected in the three districts of Kayunga, Kasese and Bukedea between May and July 2016 but now it has spread in many districts

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Dr. Asiimwe said that if consumption of fortified maize flour is made mandatory to institutions like schools, police, prison and the army this would help the people in these institutions to have minerals and nutrients resistant to diseases. She said that the ministry of health will soon adopt such a programme to enable students eat fortified maize flour to prevent malnutrition. The doctor asked mothers to feed their children with fortified food to reduce on the possibility of their children getting diseases related to poor feeding. She also added that the ministry of health is to engage the small maize millers in the country to interest them to produce maize flour with minerals and nutrients that prevent diseases in the human bodies.

The head of Makerere university food science technology Prof. Archileo Kaaya explained the need for taking food with minerals.

The survey on fortified food carried out 2015 in  by the Ministry of health, Global Allience for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Makerere University show that fortified food is highly taken in urban areas and low in rural area. It is justifiable that Fortified food is not highly taken by rural people because it’s expensive and most people in villages are used to grinding their maize and no minerals and nutrients like iron and vitamin A are added to it.

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This follows allegations by Buyaga West county MP Bernabas Tinkasimire that Ecweru didn’t deliver all the 800 bags of maize flour to the victims.

Ecweru says proper procedures were followed although he says he is to investigate these allegations.

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maize grain

The UN food agency says it has signed a contract to buy 154 metric tons of maize grain from grain traders in Gulu district.

According to a news release, the WFP Country Director Sory Ouane has described it as a welcome reversal of events which will help the Acholi people to become productive again.

Northern Uganda suffered more than two decades of war led by LRA leader Joseph Kony. The war displaced thousands and rendered most people unproductive since they could not access their lands.

Ouna says the traders will supply the 154 tons of grain through WFP’s 6,000 metric ton capacity licensee warehouse near Gulu town.

The WFP in 2008 launched the Purchase for Progress project which has seen them increasing buying food for its relief activities from small scale local farmers.

Also see

Smallholder farmers expect more from WFPs Purchase for Progress 

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