Uganda can still comfortably feed her citizens

Aug 24, 2010

EDITOR: Food shortage has become a global concern. The current prediction about Uganda’s population growth rate and decline in agricultural production may lead the nation into a food crisis.

EDITOR: Food shortage has become a global concern. The current prediction about Uganda’s population growth rate and decline in agricultural production may lead the nation into a food crisis.

It is important to eradicate famine which in most cases has been regarded as a source of social instability.

About 6.1million Ugandans are ill-fed and the most affected are children under five. A snap-shot on food crisis indicates food production declined as a result of the erratic rainfall pattern in 2008 and 2009.

The figures shown by The New Vision of August 17 are vital and must guide the nation on how to invest in sustainable food production amidst increasing population and high urbanization. Due to the effects of the floods, the nation’s cultivation and production ability declined and so did cereal production, vegetables and animal products. faced decline.

Food prices increased coupled with worsening economic crisis and unemployment. Rural families which were the suppliers of all kinds of foods have become the most affected because of their reproduction rate versus tangible resources at hand.

Domestic food production and subsistence agriculture have become wrongly looked at as “outdated” due to market competition and the need to produce more brought about by liberalization and globalisation.

Genetically modified seeds have made it difficult to regenerate seeds for seasonal planting. In order to survive families have sacrificed their health for money! After harvest the best yields are exchanged for money so as to cater for other domestic needs.

The end result ill-health is and malnutrition, something which is manageable! Uganda can still feed her citizens only if the agricultural sector is redesigned to suit domestic production at minimal costs. Secondly, there is need to match the level of urbanization and food production.

Denis Otims Barnabas
Durban, South Africa

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