ONC launches drive to tackle hunger, mobilise seedlings for farmers

25 August 2026, 10:39 am

By Ronald Ssemagonja

Following reports of Ugandans dying of hunger in the Karamoja sub-region, the Office of the National Chairman of the National Resistance Movement, ONC, has launched an initiative aimed at sensitising the public, particularly people engaged in agriculture, while mobilising agricultural inputs such as seedlings from government and non-governmental agencies.

The initiative was launched in Kampala by the head of the ONC, Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye.

Namyalo says the country needs to urgently address food insecurity, arguing that previous systems through which farmers accessed seedlings and other agricultural inputs should be strengthened.

“I want to tell the President that people are dying because we don’t have food. We had working systems where people could get seedlings and plant. In my view, the President was misled by self-seeking people. If those systems had not been tampered with, we wouldn’t be facing such problems,” she said.

Namyalo says the ONC will work with stakeholders to find solutions to the food crisis, adding that the organisation has structures at grassroots level that can help mobilise communities.

She says the four-acre model under the Parish Development Model is not a bad initiative, but warns that its benefits may remain limited if underlying challenges affecting farmers are not addressed.

Namyalo argues that Uganda’s pursuit of middle-income status must go hand in hand with the fight against hunger.

“How can we be the Pearl of Africa when citizens are dying of hunger? I know many people are going to attack me, but I don’t care because I’m used to that. I also request those who are able to join us. We need seedlings,” she said.

The ONC boss also called on President Yoweri Museveni to take action against technocrats at the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, UNBS, and the Uganda Revenue Authority, URA, whom she accused of failing to adequately prevent counterfeit products from entering the Ugandan market.

She warned that unless urgent action is taken, the country could face severe famine starting next year.

The ONC has further called for stronger coordination between agricultural input support programmes and Parish Development Model financing.

It says productive financing must be complemented by affordable agricultural inputs, extension services and access to markets if households are to successfully transition from subsistence production into the money economy.