NTUNGAMO – South Ankole diocese Bishop Nathan Ahimbisibwe has asked heads of church Institutions to stop over dependency on their flocks but rather to help their respective churches invest in agriculture to raise the financial status of their churches.
Bishop Ahimbisibwe said this while at the diocese’s farm in Kyamate in Ntungamo district on Sunday , he said that most of the churches have vast lands but have resorted to hiring it to the public than doing their own agriculture, that this has left most of the diocese and churches remain dependent on their flocks in raising development funds.
“If these reverends, priests, Bishops and Muslim leaders can propel the government and partner up with it in improving agriculture from subsistence to commercial especially improving pasture for livestock, tilling land for production, I think it can reduce the dependency by most of the churches on their flocks, because some have chunks of land but most of the land is not fully utilized, it is left to the public for hire, this cannot create a self-sustainable church Institution but rather a dependant one.”
He added “let the government empower us with money through operation wealth creation, our role will be ensuring accountability after putting it to right full use, like here we are doing pasture improvement for our livestock, we do this to ensure that in dry seasons we prepare silage for the cattle.”
“Even at my home have started a piggery project, I have a banana plantation and I rare goats, I do this to prepare for my retirement period because I have realized that Agriculture is the way to and as I see, me and my wife that’s our destiny, though sometimes we are disrupted by the long dry seasons, like on the farm where we grow pasture, we have bought a water sprinkle which we use to water our pastures to remain green.”
Dr. Charles Lagu the Mbarara Zonal Agriculture development Officer under NAAD said that they thought it wise to partner up with church to foster agriculture development since it has been left out.
“We have been considering other Institutions but we had not extended the services to churches through their respective diocese.”
Apparently, Bp Ahimbisibwe is doing commercialized farming where he is growing pasture, goats rearing, has pineapple garden on a large scale.
