The rate at which the youth are getting connected
to internet via mobile phone is encouraging. That
is until you find out what information they seek
from internet; sports updates. It is amazing how
much the average youth in Uganda knows about
English Premier League. They can name all the teams, the star players,
when and how much each of them was bought or
sold, and who is on form and who is not. But they
cannot name the minister of agriculture or relate
the fighting in South Sudan to drastic drops in prices of pineapples and water melon in their village. Rechannel resources At the risk of being labelled a social bore, I readily confess to being sports illiterate. True, my first port of call
in journalism was sports writing, and before that I was a national athlete. However, I claim to be sports illiterate, to avoid senseless arguments. Just look around you; whenever there are
two or three youths arguing, chances are it is about the Premier League. If time, money and brains and other resources spent on monitoring foreign sports action were to be
rechannelled into agriculture, the sector would be performing much better. But, to the Premier League-obsessed
youth, arguing about soccer the whole day is not wasting time. On the contrary, it is considered a strategic investment; acquiring vital information on which teams to bet on.
Just like revision of class notes before exams, they consult their “data” before placing a bet. This obsession with foreign sports is an early symptom of a deadly addiction that is rapidly spreading among
Ugandans, especially the youth. Resources are being diverted from farming and channelled into gambling, with
dire consequences to the agriculture sector. The evil in gambling Every village has a story to share about a farmer who sold livestock or crops or even farm implements to invest
in betting, or a youth who made a fortune in the harvest season, only to lose it all to the slot machine.
As farmers prepare the fields for planting, they are faced with a serious problem of labour shortage. Where have
all the youth gone? They are in the urban centres playing Ludo, pool, cards or placing bets. Almost every town now has video hall,
a pool table and a betting stall.
It is strange that while government is keen to protect its “innocent” citizens from harmful “foreign” cultures
like homosexuality and pornography, it has done little to warn them about the evil in gambling.
On earning some money, for instance, after selling coffee or maize, the first item most youth buy is a touch-
screen mobile phone with an internet connection. Money in farming In my village, they call the touch screen--kibanja, probably because of its size and the amount of money it
costs. To many proud owners, having one is like carrying a piece of land (ekibanja) in your pocket. How do we get the youth away from the gambling dens back to the farm?
First, we need to find out what attracts them to gambling. It is the prize money. It is every gambler’s dream to
win big. Though, there are more losers than winners, they keep hoping to be among the winners. Is there prize money in farming? There is “big money” in farming, if you know where to look. To demonstrate
how easy it is to become a millionaire, the late Fred Semaganda, then Kampala mayor, used to give an example
of a banana leaf seller who harvests one million leaves and sells them at a shilling each and voila, becomes an
instant millionaire. Of course, it is not that easy. Where are the opportunities to make big money in farming? Just like it is with betting, to identify the
opportunities in farming, you need information. That information is all around. Let us start with that kibanja phone you are using to monitor the English Premier League.
The internet is a gold mine that is waiting to be tapped. It is a resource that can transform your life for the
better. You do not need to go back to school to study agriculture, if you have access to the internet.
It is a virtual classroom. With an internet-enabled mobile phone, you have the entire farming world in your
palm. Information is vital Ten years ago, I was spending a lot of money every year buying past issues of Farmers Weekly magazines from
UK and South Africa. I could not afford current issues.
Today, I read them free online. All I have to invest in is an internet connection. While you use your kibanja phone to receive sports updates, I use mine to get farming updates. What an
opportunity. With a phone, you can make good use of the time you waste in traffic jams or arguing about the
Premier League.
Radio is another source of information. The radio has always been an important source of information in
Uganda; where low literacy levels are only rivalled by low purchasing power. The liberalisation of the airwaves followed by the flooding of the local market with cheap radio sets has seen
almost everyone, including children, acquire a radio set. Better gamble Sports and political talk shows attract the biggest audiences. A radio station which has sports programmes is
easily one of the most popular. Some sports and political commentators and analysts are treated like deities by
their adoring fans.
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