Food insecurity rises in rural Uganda

Sep 24, 2009

THE number of people dependent on hand-outs in the country has doubled in some areas amid reports of persistent crop failure and adverse effects of climate change.

Henry Mukasa
and Ronald Kalyango

THE number of people dependent on hand-outs in the country has doubled in some areas amid reports of persistent crop failure and adverse effects of climate change.

The United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said yesterday that although Uganda, as a nation, is food secure, there are areas in northern and eastern Uganda with severe food shortages.

The FAO country representative, Percy Misika, said the number of households considered food insecure has increased to 124,000 in the Acholi region, up from 86,000, and to 32,000 in Teso, up from 12,000.

“In Karamoja, the numbers of people who are food insecure are approximately 615,000 but we anticipate about 800,000 to be malnourished,” said Misika.

He was briefing the media ahead of World Food Day which will be marked on October 16 in Kotido district in the heart of Karamoja. The theme will be: “Achieving Food Security in Times of Crises.”

The FAO boss listed the factors that have caused the food crisis as high population growth rate, prolonged drought, the drying up of water sources, land tenure and the frequency of floods.

He also pointed at low agricultural productivity, low investment in agricultural research and the rise of prices by 52 percent.

“When you have climate change, you get low agriculture productivity and hence low incomes. Banks are not keen to invest in agriculture because of the risks. You have a cobweb of effects,” he explained.
He said crop failure in Uganda has been between 40-60 percent.

To address the situation, the Government needs to boost research in agriculture, extension services to farmers and storage systems.

He also said there was need to breed and distribute crop varieties that are resistant to both drought and floods. The support Uganda receives from FAO increased from $3m in 2005 to $11.6m last year.

FAO’s warning comes at a time when the World Food Programme says it is currently $4.1b short of its 2009 budget, which risks affecting its programmes in Uganda and East Africa.

The organisation is assisting more than two million people with food in Uganda. It needs $66m for its emergency distribution programmes in Karamoja over the next six months.

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