17% of Kampala residents facing acute food insecurity

As effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to bite hard, a survey on food availability has revealed that 17% of Ugandans living in Kampala are facing acute food insecurity.

Quoting the food security status reports for Uganda, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) country representative, Antonio Querido, said in July, six in 10 families sold their productive assets such as land and livestock and begged or turned to illegal activities to find food.

He said two in 10 households in urban areas did not have enough food to eat, resorting to poor diets or reduced number and size of meals.

Querido urged the Government to enhance the use of digital technology to improve agriculture production, processing, trading and consumption.

"Governments need to invest in social protection policies and programmes that ensure safe conditions and decent incomes for smallholder farmers and food chain workers and adopt measures that avoid economic disruptions," he said.

Querido was speaking at a joint press briefing with agriculture minister Vincent Ssempijja and deputy country director for World Food Programme-Uganda Ryan Anderson at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala on Tuesday.

The trio was briefing the country on the upcoming celebrations to mark the World Food Day 2020.

The day will be celebrated on Friday at State House Entebbe under the theme, Grow. Nutrition. Sustain. Together. Our Actions are our Future.

Anderson noted that the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to reverse the gains made in poverty reduction in Uganda.

"Many people who were in precious jobs are slipping into poverty, resorting to negative coping mechanisms and facing food insecurity. Their little savings and assets are dwindling or have already dried up," he said.

As a result, Anderson said there is a need to work with the Government of Uganda to ensure that food systems are sustainable and get the attention they deserve.

A report by the finance ministry budget monitoring unit on COVID-19 indicates that food insecurity is likely to be at an all-time high during this period.

Quoting a comprehensive livelihood analysis study conducted among the urban poor in Kampala alone, the report indicated that 83% of the households were noted as being severely food insecure.

"Considering that food constitutes 45.5% of the household monthly expenditure, especially for the urban poor, this has already had devastating effects at the household level. Whereas the Government's effort to distribute food to about 1.5 million urban poor is commendable, these distributions have concentrated on Kampala slums and some parts of Wakiso, leaving out the urban poor in other areas," the report, signed by the finance ministry permanent secretary, Keith Muhakanizi, states.

Ssempijja, however, noted that although Uganda has made significant progress in improving agricultural production and produces enough food for everyone, the problem is distribution.

"Although we now produce more than enough food to feed everyone, our food systems are out of balance. Hunger, obesity, environmental degradation, loss of agro-biological diversity, food loss and waste and lack of security for food chain workers are only some of the issues that underline this imbalance," he said.

Ssempijja said the challenge has also been the rapid growth of the population compared to agriculture productivity, resulting in a food gap of 0.3% that must be addressed to match the population growth rate.

However, he said the agriculture ministry has instituted a number of policies and interventions to address the issue of food.