President Museveni has ordered a total ban on rice growing in wetlands across the country, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has revealed.
Ms Nabbanja made the declaration in a letter to the Agriculture minister, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, and the Minister of Water and Environment, Mr Sam Cheptoris.
Ms Nabbanja said government should help people who are using wetlands for rice growing to find alternative livelihoods.
She asked the two ministers to urgently prepare a Cabinet paper by February 22, “to facilitate discussions and decisions of Government on this matter.”
In July 2021, the Minister of State for Environment, Ms Beatrice Anywar, announced that the Cabinet had, with immediate effect, banned the growing of rice and other crops in wetlands across the country.
But the implementation of the directive was hampered by politicians, who argued that many electorates depend on wetlands and that government needs to provide alternative sources of income for the affected people.
