Hunger in Uganda

“The Kenyans don’t sell their maize to Uganda and there is actually a law against selling grain but Ugandans have never been stopped,” he told The Independent.

He says Uganda’s food crisis which is becoming a perennial issue will only improve when there is a deliberate intervention in the agriculture sector.

“Let the food silos be in place and let the traders go to the villages and buy this grain and get it into the bulking centres,” he said.

Humphrey Mutaasa, the Managing Director of AgriPoint Initiative Ltd, a Kampala based agri-business solutions enterprise also told The Independent that it is high time the government put in place measures to regulate the way food leaves this country.

The government needs to streamline the food sector such that a system is put in place which ensures that food leaves Uganda in a manner that is clear to everyone, he said.

Mutaasa says he has seen trucks come from as far as Zambia and Zimbabwe going as far as Nwoya and Lamwo near the South Sudan border to pick food at very cheap prices.  He says the laxity in the regulation of Uganda’s food sector is worrying.

“When it comes to food; there is need for the government to protect its people.”

But it appears the government thinks there is still enough food in the country and it intends to buy food internally for the famine stricken population as the country awaits the onset of rains.  Fortunately, it might not have to wait long.

On Feb. 17, the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) released its forecast for the March to May rainfall season indicating an increased probability for above normal rainfall for the western sector of Uganda, normal rainfall for central, the Lake Victoria basin, southeastern and central northern Uganda, and below normal rains for the Karamoja region and parts of Lango and Acholi sub-regions.

Still, according to Evelyn Komutunga, an agro-meteorologist based at the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), the current food crisis should be “a wakeup call for everyone in the country.”

Reasons for current food insecurity

Stagnated agriculture (dependence on rain)

Prolonged dry spells

Floods due to climate change (Drought Nov.2016—March 2017)

Declining soil fertility/degradation/fragmentation

Over-selling of food

High food prices limiting access by households

Rural-urban migration (fewer youth involved in agriculture)

Destruction of wetlands

Limited use of mechanization

Poor culture of water harvesting

Sports betting and gambling

Over consumption of alcohol

Negative attitude to work

Short term interventions

Food relief to vulnerable population

Provision of water services

Provision of agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizers, fish fingerlings & livestock breeds)

Supporting use and access to fertilizers and feeds

Construction of new dams and valley tanks

Procuring irrigation equipment

Providing hoes and tractors

Strengthening pest control

Medium-Long term interventions

Provision of quality farm inputs worth Shs 287bn

Acquisition of agricultural mechanized equipment worth Shs 137bn

Provision of water for irrigation worth Shs 70bn

Agriculture Ministry to improve pasture for dairy farming worth Shs 56bn

Establishment of an Agriculture Fund worth Shs 35bn

Creation of markets (local & international) worth Shs 45bn

****

editor@independent.co.ug