As we moved into Buyende district in eastern Uganda, clouds gathered over Nkondo village. There was a lot of expectation from the local residents, led by Muhammed Kirojjo, the chairperson of Nkondo Cooperative, that God was about to answer their prayers with rain.

However, the dark clouds dispersed very fast and disappeared with the hopes of rain. 

“We have not had rain for two weeks,” Kirojjo told New Vision, adding that hard times have hit home without rain.

A team from New Vision, which was on a fact-finding mission in Buyende, encountered wilting, tiny plantations of maize in the water-starved village of Nkondo.

However, there were solutions being provided by Nkondo Cooperative to overcome the water stressed conditions that prevail over Buyende. 

“We have Climate Smart Agriculture, which is helping us to produce food and income,” said Kirojjo, adding that they apply water conservation techniques that keep water and organic manure longer in the soil.

A closer look at their maize plantations revealed that their maize crop was not as bad as the wilting maize belonging to farmers who do not apply climate-smart agriculture.

Buyende is sitting along the cattle corridor, which runs from north eastern Uganda across parts of eastern Uganda and central Uganda to southern Uganda. This is where the impacts of climate change have had negative impacts on the production of crops as well as livestock.

Climate change defined  

According to the UN, climate change refers to long term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal.

The burning of fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.

Impacts of climate change 

Climate change has been blamed for the declining agricultural yields and poverty in different parts of Uganda, according to a new survey compiled by Twaweza, an NGO.

“The most widely reported impact of environmental changes in the past five to 10 years is the decline in agricultural yields,” stated the report. “It has become harder to secure basic necessities such as food for their households in the last five to 10 years.”

This is contained in a new 20-page report titled “The Heat is On,” which was compiled after a survey conducted under Twaweza’s Sauti za Wananchi, a nationally representative, high-frequency mobile phone panel survey.  

Twaweza works on enabling citizens to exercise agency and governments to be more open and responsive in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda.

The Twaweza survey was conducted after the State of the Climate of Uganda in 2021, which was released by the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA).

Unlike UNMA’s report, Twaweza's report delved deeper into the experiences and views of the climate crisis. In the survey, questions such as to what extent do citizens understand climate change and its causes? were put to different people.

Others were talking about the changes in weather patterns observed in the past decade—what effects has this had on their lives, and how are they coping with these effects? What actions do citizens say should be taken to counteract the climate crisis, and who should bear the responsibility?

This provided the key concerns of the report. “Most citizens understand climate change as referring to weather patterns,” Twaweza says, adding that some citizens point to the cutting down of trees as the cause of climate change.  

Climate change, a global crisis  

The opening remarks of the report, “The Heat is On,” state that climate change is one of the global crises with local impacts. 

“Climate change is a global crisis, but one whose impacts are first felt locally. Changing weather patterns—higher temperatures, less predictable rainfall, and more frequent extreme weather—are all predicted by models of global climate, and can all have serious negative effects on lives and livelihoods,” states the Twaweza report in part.  

While Ugandans bear little of the responsibility for causing global warming, we face a future in which the country’s citizens will shoulder a heavy burden with its effects, according to the report.  

Indeed, the future is already here, as global environmental institutions and the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) document changing weather patterns over recent years.

Agricultural yields declining  

The most widely reported impact of environmental changes in the past five to 10 years has been a decline in agricultural yields. “Close to half of the citizens’ reported observing declining agricultural yields in the past five to 10 years, more than any other form of environmental change,” states the report.  

In addition, significant numbers also report observing changes in the start of the rain season, changing weather conditions, and other changes.

Food on the table becoming harder  

In the survey, a large majority of the citizens (84%) say the situation for securing basic household necessitates such as food has become slightly or much worse over the past five to 10 years, compared to a small number of 9% who say the situation has become better over this time.

The main factor citizens point to as explaining why the situation has become worse is the high commodity prices, cited by one out of four. Other reasons being given include drought, lack of food, insufficient harvest, and lack of proper rainfall.

“It is likely that some citizens’ experiences of worsening livelihood pressures are also due to global factors, such as Coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, both of which have led to increased prices for some commodities, including fuel and food,” states Twaweza report  

Reduced productivity, food shortage  

Citizens report that climate change and environmental changes in the last five to 10 years have affected their households most in terms of reduced productivity (38%), food shortages (32%), lost income/increased poverty (17%). “These are also the main community-level and national-level effects of environmental and/or climate change as reported by the citizens,” states the Twaweza report.  

Coping measures  

In response to hunger and a lack of food, households main response is to cut food consumption, followed by increasing production and taking casual work. In response to poverty or low income, the responses include taking casual work, working harder, producing more food, going into business, and cutting expenditure.  

In response to increased disease, the main action taken is to seek medical help, along with increased use of mosquito nets and adopting different agricultural practices. Citizens adapt to drought by changing water sources, increasing irrigation, and adopting different farming approaches. 

They respond to flooding or heavy rain by changing water sources and increasing irrigation. And they respond to crop damage by farming more and changing their farming practices.  

It is also important to note that significant numbers of those affected by these challenges report that they are not taking any action in response. This is particularly true in the case of flooding, where a quarter of households affected report taking no action. “This may be well because they feel powerless to do anything,” says the Twaweza report.