The Sembabule District Council has instituted a committee to investigate allegations that an organization contracted to supply hybrid goats to farmers in the district has been distributing poor breeds.
Godfrey Bitakalamire, the chairperson of the investigating committee, says Sembeguya Estates White Goat Project is accused of distributing poor local breeds instead of the South African Boer goats. He says the complaints have come from farmers in the sub-counties of Lugusulu, Ntuusi and Lwemiyaga.
Bitakalamire says Paul Sembeguya, the manager of Sembeguya Estates, signed a 200 million-shilling contract with Government to distribute the hybrid goats under the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) program.
Under the terms of the contract, Government land in Sembabule was leased to Sembeguya, who was supposed to import 10,000 goats from South Africa, breed them on the land and sell them at a minimal cost to local farmers.
However Bitakalamire says Sembeguya has never given a report to the Sembabule district authorities on the status of the project.
Sembeguya refutes the claims that he has distributed poor goat breeds to farmers in Sembabule. He says he will never sabotage an important Government project like NAADS that is intended to alleviate the plight of the rural poor.
The Principal Strategy Analyst for Poverty Alleviation in the State House, Isaac Kasiira, says Government spent about 10 billion shillings last financial year on the importation of Boer goats from South Africa. He says Sembeguya Estates was selected to pilot the goat meat production exercise.
