Farmers in Bugala Island in Kalangala District, Uganda are furious about allegations being made against the Oil Palm Project and Bidco the private investor in the project.

The project is a People Public Private Partnership (4P) between the farmers, Government of Uganda and Oil Palm Uganda Limited a subsidiary of Bidco Uganda Ltd. 

The Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Association (KOPGA) an association of 1800 strong farmers have written a counter petition to the UNDP discrediting an earlier one by the Bugala Farmers Association (BFA). At the same time, the Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Trust, the implementing agency that actually contracts farmers, has also taken exception to the claims against the project.

“As one of the main development actors in Kalangala finds these assertions lacking in facts and totally misleading,” Nelson Basaalide the KOPGT General Manager said.

KOPGA’s Chairman says there is no official record of Bugala Farmers Association anywhere and the individuals associated with the organisation are not part of the project in any way at all.

“We as KOPGA find the letter written by John Muyisa to be incorrect and totally misleading. We are also concerned that the "Bugala Farmers Association’ may be confused for the Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Association by stakeholders which is not the case. We are registered with the District Government since 2006 however there is no record of BFA, their intentions or activities” the letter signed by KOPGA Chairman Martin Lugambwa says.

“We are proud to be a part of the project and the development it has brought to Bugala. Our farmers earn an average of 600 million Uganda Shillings a month from the sale of Oil Palm and this has the potential to reach UX 1.5 billion per month when the plantations reach full maturity,” he adds.

The KOPGTrust also shares the same view about the Bugala Farmers Association:

“The petition to UNDP by people pretending to be a voice of the Bugala Farmers is a calculated ploy to discredit the otherwise clean oil palm development project,” Basaalide says.

The out growers Association is categorical about the false land grabbing allegations levelled against Bidco Africa over the project.

“The process of acquiring land for the project was the role of the Government of Uganda NOT Bidco. In addition the land acquisition was on willing buyer willing seller basis.”

The Trust concurs that no farmer has lost land to the project. Both bodies say there has been no deforestation caused by the project.

“The National Forest Authority is the Custodian of forests in the country and they confirm Bugala’s forest Cover is intact.”

In a statement Vincent Rubarema the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture in Uganda reinforces this position: “Oil Palm is a tree crop so the cover on the island has improved by about 60%.”