BUGIRI DISTRICT TRAVEL INFORMATION

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION SIZED AND TOPOGRAPHY

The district was formerly part of Iganga district. It borders with Tororo to the North- East, Iganga to the West and Busia to the East.
It also extends to the Uganda/Kenya border in the South- East and in the waters of the Uganda/Tanzania border in the south.
The total area is approximately 5,700.93 Sq. Km. of which 1,492.74sq km is dry land and 4,207.19 Sq. Km. is covered by water bodies.
The land surface is characterized by gentle undulating hills with few higher residual features.
Another feature of the district is its being located in a flat and rolling topographical zone with 90% of its landmass constituting the drainage basins of Lake Victoria and Lake Kyoga.
As a result, there are numerous swamps that criss-cross the road network thus making road improvement works costly.

THE PEOPLE BUGIRI AND THEIR CULTURE

The people of Bugiri are particularly proud of their Busoga culture under the Kyabazinga leadership. This is the backbone of their unity and solidarity. The main languages spoken are Lusoga and Lusamia – Lugweri. Others are Japadhola, Lugisu, Ateso and Jaluo.

Bugiri brims with rice plantations both large and small. Kibimba Rice Irrigation Scheme under the Madhvani owned Tilda Uganda Limited is the largest rice plantation in the dictrict. Bugiri is a great-unexploited district with tourism potentials like Siro Islands for bird watching and the beautiful sand shores of Lake Victoria. These are worth visiting by nature lovers.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

Agriculture; Leading crops grown in agriculture are Rice, cassava, maize, finger millet, sweet potatoes, coffee, sorghum, peas and bananas. The main cash crops are Rice that is grown on a large scale at Kibimba Rice Scheme by Tilda Uganda Limited.

Lake Fisheries Activities; the district currently produces approximately 40 tones of fish daily from Lake Victoria. Fish factories processing for export buy 75% of this while 20% is consumed locally and 5% is lost in the process of production.

There are 74 landing sites along the shores of the Lake Victoria portion of Bugiri District but only one of these -Lugala- is gazetted. Two commercial fish buying centres have been established at Wakawaka and Busiro landing sites.

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES

• Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA)
• Activities geared towards improving farm productivity and raising household incomes:
• Coffee nurseries were set up in Nankoma, Nabukalu, Buwunga sub-counties, each producing enough
• Seedlings to plant 10 acres plus another 5 acres in Kapyanga Sub County.
• Construction of cattle crushes
• Improved Goat Cross Breeding Project
• Artificial insemination
• Restocking of fish in Lake Kyoga
• NARO/FAO Cassava multiplication program Supply the district with cassava cuttings to set up multiplication’s garden of high yielding African Cassava Mosaic resistant varieties and access them to farmers.

BUGIRI COMMERCIAL FARMERS‘ASSOCIATION

• Mobilizes especially large scale maize farmers for purposes of pooling their products and market them as an association
• Promote better quality agricultural products
• Target organizations that pay high prices to buy their products

LAKE VICTORIA ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PROJECT (LVEMP)

• Improve the socio-economic status of the fish flock
• Promote education among the fishing community.
• A sub-dispensary at Waka-waka Landing site is complete and functional.
• A primary school at Lugala landing site is complete
• A sub-dispensary at Lwenge Landing site is still under construction.