Is Uganda on track to attain water, energy and food security?

Moses Ssendiwala, 41, a smallholder farmer uses an off-grid solar-powered irrigation system on his farm, where he mostly grows pumpkins, coffee, cassava, beans and maize.

The father of two who is a resident of Walukunyu, in central Uganda’s district of Mpigi, says: “This system, which is part of the Government’s subsidised UgIFT-Micro-Scale-Irrigation initiative, usually fills the supply gap when rainwater is scarce. It provides reliable access to water for my crops.”

Water ministry commissioner for water resources planning and regulation Callist Tindimugaya, says it is through such eco-friendly and cost-effective “Water, Energy, and Food Nexus” technologies that Uganda is increasing water access to farmers, reducing household energy costs, increasing agricultural productivity, promoting green growth and reducing its carbon footprint.

“These solar-powered irrigation technologies are boosting livelihoods and expanding access to sustainable food, water and energy sources. Farmers who use them no longer need to employ fossil fuel-powered pumps. That is going a long way in lowering carbon emissions,” Tindimugaya says.

Tindimugaya further stated that the technologies were encouraging gender equality in a variety of ways.

“Gender equality in the sense that they are giving rural women and children more time, as they face disproportionate obstacles such as having to spend more time watering farms. There is now greater time for many rural women to engage in other revenue-generating activities.”

Teopista Nakawesi, 37, is one such woman. She used to spend half her days watering tomatoes, coffee and vanilla crops on the family farm in Naama village, Busimbi sub-county in Mityana district. The mother of two has since established a small food vending business.

Concerns remain

However, while the Government is taking the initiative to reduce water, energy, and food nexus insecurities, there is consensus in several development policy and sustainable development circles that the country still has a long way to go to improve food, water, and energy nexus indexes, as well as developing practical synergies between the three interconnected resources.

Moses Ssendiwala on his farm in Mpigi district.

“For starters, look at Uganda’s recent low water, energy, and food (WEF) index score,” Keith Musinguzi, a development policy analyst, says.

Last year (2023), Uganda’s average WEF (access & availability) index was 49.7%, ranking 122nd out of 170 countries assessed, according to the WEF Nexus index, which is a quantitative measure and representation of country-level WEF security based on 21 water, energy and food security indicators.

“That low score does not bode well for a country, which has one of the fastest population growth rates in the world, at 3% per year and whose population is projected to reach 80 million by 2030—up 77.78% from its current 45 million,” Musinguzi added.

Kenya’s average WEF (access & availability) index, on the other hand was 49.8% placing it in the 120th position for the countries assessed, while Tanzania’s index was 46.1%, placing it in the 139th position.

Environmental scientist Sam Owach says while no country has yet achieved comprehensive WEF security, efforts to adopt nexus approaches and implement nexus projects, integrate management and governance strategies, and develop investment plans in Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa should, if they haven’t already, start in earnest.

“Why—because as the populations of Uganda and Africa increase, the climate changes and urbanisation spreads, there will be a greater demand on the three interconnected resources of food, electricity and water.”

“The net effect of ineffective WEF nexus policies and initiatives will be familiar and well-known pickles such as conflict, population displacement, hunger, disease, and poverty, below-average agricultural harvests, and stalled economic development. Nobody wants this for Uganda or Africa.”

Several analysts, New Vision Online spoke to, agreed that (WEF) nexus challenges such as food insecurity remain a pressing concern for Uganda.

Uganda’s 2024 Global Hunger Index score of 27.3 indicates a serious level of hunger.

“In the absence of proactive and stronger measures to improve the country’s WEF nexus security metrics, energy poverty is also likely to increase,” Musinguzi said.

The 2023 “Uganda Energy Transition Plan” report, highlights that about 25 million Ugandans, or 55% of the country’s population, lack access to electricity.

Experts also stress that a lack of clean water is likely to become an issue as the population increases and urbanisation expands.

According to Water.org, 38 million Ugandans (or 81% of the population) lack access to safe water.

In a study conducted last year titled “Water Energy and Food Nexus and the implications to climate change security in Uganda - the case of Agro-pastoralist communities in Karamoja,” Ambrose Dbins Toolit, an FAO climate change partner and executive director of the Grassroots Alliance for Rural Development (GARD), said Uganda, and particularly its regions such as Karamoja, were highly WEF insecure. Karamoja is especially prone to climate-related risks, which have resulted in low food production and poor crop harvests.

Inroads being made

Tindimugaya stated that the government, having recognised the interconnections between the three resources, has implemented and will continue to implement viable projects that bring change to bear in the nexus and ensure future water, energy, and food security.

“Uganda is a good model for establishing best integrated practices for WEF technologies. Co-ordinated synergies among the three resources are a work in progress but there is a lot of progress being made. There has been a proactive approach to introducing novel technologies such as solar-powered irrigation systems, which are a critical component of the WEF nexus and one of the ways to increase agricultural productivity and mitigate climate change-related impacts such as drought, water stress, and scarcity.”

“Last year, for instance, the Government invested $90m (about sh329.8b) in the construction of 687 solar-powered irrigation sites in several water-stressed areas of north and eastern Uganda, mindful that irrigation development contributes to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including climate action (SDG 13), clean water and sanitation, zero hunger and affordable clean energy,” Tindimugaya says, adding that since 2018, when the Uganda Water and Environment Week was launched, the Government made it a priority to raise public awareness and understanding of the importance of WEF and environmental resources for growth and development. In 2020, for example, a subtheme of Uganda Water and Environment Week highlighted new approaches to attaining the water-food-energy nexus goal.

Kayizzi uses agriculture waste to make bio-slurry.

For the solar-powered irrigation sites, Tindimugaya said it was worth noting that Nexus Green, the contractor hired by the Government to implement them was one of the three projects that won Uganda the title of best investment destination for attracting some of Africa’s most significant sustainability-related foreign direct investment projects at the 2024 Annual Investment Meeting in the United Arab Emirates.

The Government aims to increase the amount of irrigated land to 1.5 million hectares by 2040 through the National Irrigation Policy.

Statistics from the water and environment ministry show that only 0.5% of Uganda’s agricultural land that is suitable for irrigation is currently irrigated.

“The Government’s priority is to improve water, energy, and food security as a prerequisite for unlocking economic development as outlined in Agenda 2063, as well as to ensure that current and future citizens have adequate access to affordable clean energy, as outlined in SDG7; clean water and sanitation, as stipulated in SDG6; and food security, as outlined in SDG2,” Tindimugaya said.

In several Ugandan rural areas, the irrigation systems are securing better crop yields for farmers like Ssendiwala who says his pumpkin, coffee and maize yields have increased significantly.

The UgIFT-Micro-Scale-Irrigation  or Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer (UgIFT) micro-scale irrigation programme, which Ssendiwala is part, was expected to benefit between 6,000 and 14,000 smallholder farmers across 40 districts by June last 2023.

Through it, the Government offers subsidies to farmers across the country. For equipment costs, the Government pays between 25% and 75% of the cost of irrigation equipment, with a maximum contribution of 7.2 million Shillings per acre. The farmer pays the remaining portion.

Elicad Elly Nyabeeya, a Rwandan water resources and climate change specialist, says solar-powered irrigation technologies are critical water infrastructure that are benefiting rural farmers not only in Uganda but also in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

“Farmers who use them are mitigating the risks of drought-induced crop failures and increasing their food production resilience. They also provide broader access to energy for agriculture and help farmers reduce the use of fossil fuels such as diesel and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Uganda has also recently launched another solar powered water project in Wakiso district to boost its much talked about Parish Development Model, which it hopes to use as a last mile strategy in building resilient and sustainable food systems.

In a bid to support rural farmers in central and western Uganda, the government is also implementing another solar-powered irrigation water project to the tune of €600m, or sh2.5 trillion.

In her ongoing study on the Water-Energy-Food nexus in governing large-scale irrigation schemes in Uganda, Wageningen University PhD scholar Nishai Moodley states that irrigation development can alleviate some of Uganda’s challenges, including vulnerability to climate threats, public health illnesses, and high poverty and malnutrition.

Her study will ostensibly produce recommendations for improved governance and coordination of WEF-related resources in Uganda.

Standing Uganda in good stead as well in its Energy Water-Food (WEF) nexus are renewable energy technologies like solar photovoltaic (PV) whose usuage the government is promoting through various initiatives, such as collaborating with development agencies such as the Uganda Development Bank to reduce financial barriers for energy entrepreneurs.

The government has also established schemes to encourage solar PV investment, such as the 100% Renewables program and the SolarCity Simulator.

Uganda’s current solar photovoltaic (PV) power capacity is 50 megawatts (MW). That capacity is expected to increase further with the commissioning of AMEA Power’s Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Project in the third quarter of 2025. It will ostensibly generate approximately 53,940MWh of clean energy per year, power more than 192,640 households and will offset 26,600 tonnes of carbon emission annually.

“Many farmers in rural areas use this technology, which directly converts sunlight into electricity, to power their water irrigation pumps and generate lightning. It provides a cost-effective and clean source to meet many people’s needs for water, food, and energy security,” said Perez Wangota, a renewable energy expert, who adds that Uganda needs to do more to end the silo mentality, in which some WEF challenges are still addressed within sector boundaries.

In the same vein, it has been reported that the government, has plans to develop floating solar, which also generates electricity from sunlight.

“These initiatives combined with projections that the country’s hydroelectric and geothermal renewable power capacities will reach 2,300 MW and 450 MW, respectively, by 2030, will boost Uganda’s potential to generate electricity from water,” Wangota said.

According to the third National Development  Plan (NDPIII) 2020/21–2024/25, national access to electricity increased from 11% in 2010 to 24% in the financial year 2018/19.

To further alleviate energy poverty, the government has encouraged the adoption of novel water-dependent technology systems such as anaerobic biogas digesters among various rural and urban households in recent years, with subsidies provided to households to aid with the cost.

Environmental scientist and sustainability expert Dorothy Abalo noted that these systems are guaranteeing that several households can process and convert their feedstock such as animal dung and agricultural or food wastes into compost (bio-slurry) an organic fertilizer which improves soil health and biodiversity and biogas, a methane-rich, climate-friendly fuel that is a more sustainable alternative to non-renewable fossil gases.

Joseph Kayizzi, 45, a banana and coffee farmer from Kkunywa village in Mityana, is a farmer who is actively using a biogas digester to make bio-slurry fertilizer and to produce biogas.

“I utilize fresh cow dung from my herd as feedstock to produce bio-slurry fertilizer and biogas. The fertilizer has increased food output on my farm throughout the years since it is high in nutrients, which are essential for plants to develop healthily.”

Not one to profit alone, Kayizzi shared the anaerobic biogas digester idea with other smallholder mixed farmers in his area, and several not only liked the idea but also had their own biogas digesters installed.

Anaerobic biogas digesters are a crucial component of the Water, Energy, and Food (WEF) nexus because they help to generate energy and fertiliser while reducing the environmental impact of waste management, according to Dr Joel Ochieng, a research fellow and the director of the University of Nairobi's program for agricultural biotechnology and wildlife.

Uganda’s Water-Energy-Food nexus equation is also being bolstered by clean cooking gas technologies, such as cookstoves.

“Clean cooking is a national priority. It is a crucial component of Uganda’s nature-based climate solutions. It is why the government has established a clean cooking unit at the Energy and Mineral Development Ministry, and why the government and its partners, for example, are investing in a £5m (sh237b) clean cooking programme, which is intended to revolutionise cooking technologies across Uganda,” Tindimugaya said.

By all accounts, the clean cooking programme aims to supply clean cooking technologies and appliances to at least 6,000 households, covering a minimum of 30,000 people in informal settlements.

“Efficient cookstoves are in high favour in many regions of the country because they are cost-effective technologies that require less water for food preparation and cleaning. They are energy efficient and are helping reduce on daily household charcoal consumption,” Wangota said.

Uganda’s country’s updated climate change plan or the Nationally Determined Contribution recognises energy efficiency and the use of improved cook stoves as one of the largest mitigation potentials with approximately 6.89 MtCO2e by 2030.

In Uganda’s third National Development Plan (NDPIII), the government set a goal of reducing biomass consumption for cooking to 50% by 2027 and increasing the percentage of people using clean cooking to 50% by 2027.

According to the Uganda Energy Transition Plan, which is a roadmap for modernising Uganda’s energy sector and achieving universal access to electricity, 3.5 million Ugandans have since 2015 been provided with cleaner cooking alternatives, liberating them from health hazards and time-consuming burdens of traditional firewood and charcoal stoves.