HUYE - District officials have blamed the slow progress of the land consolidation programme on poor settlement patterns and the unwillingness of people to relocate to designated villages locally known as Imidugudu.

Talking to The New Times during a ceremony to present performance contracts by Sector Executive secretaries, last week, Vedaste Nshimyimana, the Huye district Executive Secretary said that the challenge follows similar patterns witnessed by other local authorities.

"There is a lot of pressure on the land and the problem is made worse by poor settlement patterns. We have to do a lot more in mobilising the local population to move to planned settlement areas so that the rest of the land can be used for agricultural and other income generating activities,” he said.

His concern was echoed by Medard Runyange, the vice president of the district advisory council who said that farming has been hampered by the slow progress in land consolidation.

"From our field visits, we have realised that one of the biggest challenges to the crop intensification programme is poor land use. The population has embraced the programme but will not benefit much because of poor settlement patterns,” Runyange said.

"Farmers continue to cultivate the same crop but on small plots of land resulting to limited production.”

Runyange added that programmes like the construction of classrooms under the Nine Years basic education programme have not been fully executed in some sectors in the district.

"Sector Executive Secretaries will tell you that they constructed class rooms but field visits indicate that most of these classrooms are not complete,” Runyange said.

To ensure that the various programmes are implemented, the district has set up teams made up of district staff to supervise and advise local leaders at lower levels on how best to implement such programmes.

During the presentation, Ngoma Sector was announced as the best performer in the district.

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