By Jonex Babulya,
Rice farmers at Mubuku irrigation scheme in Kasese district have called for urgent interventions by the district leadership against a yet to be identified rice disease on many gardens.
According to Ms Lidia Tumwebaze, a rice farmer who said she had got about 24 million loan for her eight acres of rice, said 95% of the crop in the irrigation had been affected.

In an interview with Kasese Guide Radio in Mubuku yesterday, Ms Lidia who was much bothered by the rice disease, the education of her children and how to pay back the loan, called for the intervention of the technical people, government and her development partners to neutralize the situation. Ms Lidia speaking……
When consulted by our reporter, Mr. Asanairi Bukanywa, the Kasese Municipal Agricultural officer who sympathized with the affected farmers, identified the condition as a rust blast disease, a fungal disease caused by a plant pathogenic fungus called Magnaporthe oryzae that attacks the plant family but mainly a specific type of rice that will temporarily be abandoned by farmers. Mr. Sanairi speaking……
He later called for the mercies of money lenders and banks to their customer rice farmers he said may struggle to pay back loans. END