Climate change driving migration

Oct 16, 2017

World Food Day



By Gerald Tenywa and Joshua Kato

Youthful Moses Moya has no regrets for abandoning his ancestral home in Mayuge district in eastern Uganda. He churns out chapati and rolex at Nakawa on the Kampala- Jinja highway. Not far away, a hawk-eyed Karimojong woman keeps watch over children who are barely five years old near Centenary Park in Kampala.

They stretch out their hands begging for money from passersby. In Kabale district, Moses Ashaba has made up his mind to go for the expansive pieces of fertile land in Kibaale district. He wants to start a new life in what has become "the promised land" for people in southwestern Uganda.

The three youthful people have something in common; they have migrated or are planning to migrate in order to survive. Their lifeline, which is land in their home areas, has become barren and can no longer secure them a decent livelihood.

As a result, they have had to abandon their homeland to survive the perils of food insecurity and income insecurity in the rural areas. This comes to mind as we commemorate this year's UN World Food Day, today. The global theme is, Change the future of migration. Invest in food security and rural development.

No wonder, according to the 2017 World Hunger report, the Ugandan population that is facing a risk of hunger and food insecurity has risen to about 10 million in 2016, from about seven million in 2015. The report explains that this increase was largely due to extreme climatic conditions, which affected food production across most parts of the country. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THIS STORY

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FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

 

 

 

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