By Emmanuel Olinga
KATAKWI
Katakwi district is in the early phases of implementing the 354 million dollars (1.2 trillion shillings) Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project UCSATP, which is being carried out by MAAIF and supported by the World Bank.
On Saturday, March 22, 2025, a consultative review meeting with stakeholders in Katakwi was held to discuss the project implementation status for Uganda’s Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project (UCSATP).
With the special purpose of determining the level of project implementation, assessing demand articulation of the selected infrastructure in the district, engaging community stakeholders in selected infrastructure regions, and conducting ESS screening in the selected infrastructure.
Odeng Emmanuel Robert, Senior Sustainable Environment Officer of MAAIF, John Opus Robert, Monitoring and Environmental Specialist, and Moses Anguria MAIAF senior social development officer, Uganda climate smart agriculture transformation project (UCSATP), say the six-year MAAIF-funded World Bank initiative, aims to support climate-smart agriculture technology and management practices that improve productivity, household income, and resilience to climate choke for infrastructure development.
The initiative is intended to help 760,000 families (3.9 million people) directly and an additional 1.9 million households (9.5 million people) indirectly.
Geoffrey Omolo, the district chairperson, acknowledged that the project is in the early phases of implementation, with the goal of improving the community’s livelihoods while also addressing road choke points and desilting dams.
Omolo admired the initiatives since Teso has been registering devastated roads, stating that in FY 2025/26, the project will work on 20 kilometers affected roads by water flooding.
Omolo says the project has hurdles since the district is struggling with staffing, with the district working at 44% capacity and 64% needed, forcing staff to oversee and manning two responsibilities.
Samuel Baker Opio, Katakwi’s deputy chief administrative officer, underlined the significance of transparency in ensuring the project’s full execution in the district. However, he expressed concern over understaffing in the production sector, stating that while agricultural engineers, forest officers, entomologists, and environmentalists are unemployed, effective service delivery is essential.
Michael Peter Opio, Assistant RDC, stated that extension workers must work diligently, and he praised the MAIAF and World Bank for entrusting Katakwi with such an initiative that benefits farmers. He warned against including quarry into projects such as resiliency.
Dr. Ariko Onyait, District Veterinary Officer and focal point person DPMO/DFP, reports that the district’s operation work plan filed IPFs totaling Ugx 151,168,586 and disbursed Ugx 78 million.
He added that Current planned activities include Verification of Sub County, profiling of farmers groups, baseline, farmer institutional development, road choke.
He said that more than 50 dams require desilting and that over 300 dams had been built, with a focus on the Kyoga region, which experiences frequent flooding.
Dr. John Ilukor, a World Bank economist, the project targets 69 districts across the country, with Teso districts benefiting from citrus, mangoes, dairy, beef, and grass plantation.
Dr. Ilukor says the UCSATP project focuses on increasing agricultural productivity, value addition marketing, and resilience of selected value chains while ensuring a prompt response to crises.
He identifies five critical components: improving climate smart agriculture research information on environmental degradation, the level of impact chokes, linkages for selected value chains, and contingency emergencies.
The project also targets the value chain with the goal of creating long-term livelihoods and reducing poverty through restoration.
