18.4 million Ugandans food insecure – report

At least four in every 10 households in Ugandan are moderate or severely food insecure, according to the 2024 National Population and Housing Census report.

This is affecting the livelihoods of at least 18.4 million Ugandans. Of these, Karamoja has the highest population affected, followed by Teso, Bukedi and West Nile regions. Also hit are Lango, Elgon and Busoga while the least affected are Buganda, Ankole and Bunyoro regions.

In Karamoja, according to the report, 63% of the people are food insecure, while Teso and Bukedi stand at 50% each. West Nile stands at 48% while Lango, Elgon and Busoga are at 41%, 39% and 34%, respectively.

A household is categorised as being severely insecure if it consistently does not have access to adequate amounts of safe and nutritious food. This means that household members experience hunger, reduced meal sizes and constantly worry about running out of what to eat.

On the other hand, a household is classified as moderately food insecure when at least one adult in the household has reported to have been exposed to low-quality diets during the year, and forced to reduce the quantity of food they would normally eat because they do not have enough food.

According to the report, Karamoja tops as the region having the most moderately food insecure population (81%), followed by Teso (72%), Bukedi (69%), and West Nile (68%). Also cited are Lango (62%) and Elgon (58%).

The report was launched early this month by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja at an event at Kampala Serena Hotel.

Hunger severity

The report comes against a backdrop of several international reports that have painted a deteriorating food situation. This is despite the fact that over 70% of land in Uganda is arable, and this is the highest percentage of arable land in the whole of East Africa.  

According to the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Uganda currently sits in 95th position out of 125 countries in terms of hunger severity. This is a drop from the 93rd position Uganda held in 2022.

GHI is a tool intended to comprehensively measure and track hunger and undernutrition at global, regional, and national levels. The higher the index the country has, it means that the country has a high hunger severity. With a score of 25.2, Uganda has a level of hunger that is serious, according to the report.

Some of the causes of the problems cited for countries’ poor performance on the hunger index include increasing climate vulnerability, political situation, gender inequality, rising conflict, increasing food prices, prevalence of livestock diseases, poverty and landlessness.

Experts not surprised

When contacted, Agnes Kirabo, the Food Rights Alliance executive director, said Uganda’s demographic composition could be to blame for Uganda's food woes.  

She said the 2024 National Population and Housing Census Report shows that 50% of Ugandans are children while over 23% are between the age of 18 and 30. It also shows that at least five percent of the Ugandan population are elderly (aged 60 and above).

“The problem is that many Ugandans are not in the productive system,” Kirabo said, noting that such figures show that over 75% of Ugandans are dependent on the few who practice agriculture.

She said this dependent population is not involved in food production yet there are no largescale commercial agriculturalists who would have balanced the equation by producing food on a mass scale.

Kirabo said she is not surprised that 26% of children under five are stunted as the Uganda Demographic Health Survey report 2022 indicates.

This, she explained, shows that Uganda is facing not just physical hunger, but it is also facing invisible hunger that impacts the mental cognitive capacity of our population.

“It is sad, but the good thing is that the report (2024 National Population and Housing Census Report) has come in at the time of planning when we are developing a five-year plan (National Development Plan IV) as a country. We are expecting ministries, agencies and departments to come up with a specific development plan, including district development plans [to increase food production],” she observed.

Kirabo noted that if not addressed, the country’s food situation can have implications on law and order.

“The peace and security we are enjoying has not been because of the barrel of the gun; it is because there have been efforts for people to feed themselves. If we continue with food insecurity and uncertainty of whether people will eat or not, then we are at risk. If you are hungry, you lose yourself, and it brings out the worst in you,” she explained.

Kirabo added: “Also, food insecure societies don’t invest. If we can’t invest at an individual level, then our country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will not grow. Our country’s GDP is not going to grow based on our Foreign Direct Investments, it is going to grow through our small investments from which we shall give taxes to the Government.”

Frank Baine, the Uganda Prison Service publicist, said the problem has been exacerbated because many youth being redundant.

“While some are in school, others are in gambling,” he said, adding that the allure of activities such as bodaboda riding has drawn many away from Agriculture, depleting it of the critical labour force. “Now, the youth think digging is for old people.” 

Why Teso and Lango suffer

Agnes Linda Auma, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, blamed the problem in worst affected areas including Teso and Northern Uganda on structural issues in those areas that hamper gainful and productive engagement in agriculture.

In Teso, for example, Auma, who is also the Lira Woman Member of Parliament, said the type of soils and land terrain affects water retention, leaving the soils dry as soon as the rains stop. As such, she said the area relies on seasonal farming that is prone to drought and uncertainty.

Auma said the problem is also due to the adoption of commercial agriculture focussing on crops such as sugarcane and Tobacco, which affect the amount of food crops that can be grown for household consumption.

“These areas [cited in the report] are also high in poverty due to the insurgency that they suffered," she said, adding that; "The Government needs to put deliberate plans to handle food security. Countrywide.” 

What should be done

Some of these interventions include provision of soft loans, and seed to farmers. 

“There should be a deliberate effort to put the affected regions into perennial crop farming. That will give them a guarantee and option for food security,” Auma said, adding; “This is because the little [food] this sub region [Lango) produces is not secured for it for home consumption and the region ends up being food insecure.”

Other interventions, she said, should include supporting irrigation, building food reserves “so that when there is a surplus, we do it like Kenya and buy from our people.” Auma said more investment is needed in the agriculture ministry so they can deal with the problem.

“When we are budgeting for agriculture, we should not be mean. Agriculture targets the last man in the village. That is how we are going to secure our people food-wise. As a committee, we have the good will but we don’t fund our plans ourselves,” she said.

Stephen Byantwale, the Commissioner for Crop protection at the agriculture ministry, declined to comment on findings of the report when contacted, referring New Vision to the ministry permanent secretary, Maj. Gen. David Kasura Kyomukama, who could not be reached for a comment.

However, Baine hailed the recent a programme where President Yoweri Museveni directed government bodies and institutions like Uganda Prisons, National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), and Operation Wealth Creation to start involving themselves in food production to address food insecurity in the country.

Under this strategy, the Government entities engaged in production with big chunks of unutilised land.

Baine said they acquired 50,000 acres of land in Aswa Ranch in northern Uganda as part of the programme, revealing that they have so far cultivated 3,000 acres of the land to produce maize. 

He said, however, that their production is still way below the required amount of food, adding that they have not received any financial support for the programme. “Setting up a farm is not cheap,” he said.