An agricultural expert in Uganda, stunned a farmers’ conference in the capital Kampala recently, when he revealed that nowadays most homesteads have no fires nor smokes during the day, because people are not cooking due to acute food shortages.
Mr. Fredrick Doi, an Agronomist and a retired Government Agricultural Extension Officer, says the northern region where he is born, lives and works, is currently going through severe food shortages caused by a multiplicity of factors. “When you move throughout the region especially Lango sub-region in Uganda’s vast north these days, you don’t see smoke billowing from the homes…. It is because there’s no food to cook; people are starving … this is where I work in the agricultural field and what I’m telling you is very serious. Previously you couldn’t find a home in Lango without fire and smoke cooking food during the day,” Mr. Doi said, expressing concern that if nothing urgent is done, it’ll reach crisis levels.
Mr. Doi was speaking in a forum where senior researchers from the State-run National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) were in attendance. He mainly attributed the food shortages to a recent prolonged drought that hit Eastern Africa, citing lack of proper farmers’ education and empowerment, lack of high-quality seeds and other planting materials resilient to deepening Climate Change impacts.
Uganda, in East and Central Africa is regarded as a food basket. At a size of 214,038 square kilometers, Uganda’s arable land is 71.89% of tat by 2021, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators. It is compiled from officially recognized sources. Uganda is also the 9th largest country in the East African region and is home to almost half of the region’s arable land. The rest of East Africa.
According to Bank of Uganda [central bank] data, total exports to Kenya–for instance—rose to US$719m by end of 2018 compared to 551.06m the previous year. According to several development partners operating in this food basket country, nine urban areas were at crisis levels of food insecurity or worse for months leading to August [2023]. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says it is because of negative impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown.
“The worst-affected were Gulu [in Northern Uganda], Jinja and Kasese where nearly one in three people struggled to find food on a regular basis. For the rest of the year, Gulu and Kasese are expected to remain at crisis levels even while their markets are supplied with harvests,” they state. These were some of the findings of the most a comprehensive Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis conducted in Uganda todate, covering Kampala and other urban areas, the Karamoja region, refugee settlements and host communities for the first time.
A comprehensive Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an analysis carried out by the Government of Uganda and three UN agencies and measures food insecurity from June through August and projected from September to December. It was informed in part by real-time data gathered by remote telephone monitoring of households in 13 urban areas, refugee hosting districts and Karamoja region in the northeast. It is the first time, real-time data informed the IPC on urban areas. The IPC attributed Crisis food insecurity to the loss of livelihoods in the informal sector, tourism, the travel and events industry and the education sector, reduced remittances and reduced commercial networks due to the closure of borders.
Releasing the results of the analysis, the Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Eng. Hillary Onek, said that the Government is committed to ensuring food and nutrition security and well-being for all people in Uganda, including those in urban areas. “Government is committed to ensuring food and nutrition security and well-being for all people in the country, including those in urban areas. With these new findings, we now know, reliably, who the most food-insecure people are in Uganda, where they are and what we can do to save lives and preserve livelihoods. Such knowledge is critical before we take any decisions,” Mr Onek said. FAO’s Deputy Representative, Ms Priya Gujadhur says as part of the UN Uganda’s Emergency Appeal launched earlier this year, FAO is seeking USD 7.8 million for food security, nutrition and livelihoods interventions. “This will allow FAO to provide agricultural livelihood support and training in climate smart agricultural practices to help up to 10,000 of the most vulnerable households produce for their own consumption and diversify income sources through value chain development, thereby strengthening their resilience,” Ms Gujadhur is quoted as saying.
The IPC attributed the high levels of food insecurity in refugee hosting districts and Karamoja to WFP’s ration cuts for refugees, the lockdown, floods and subsequent food losses, animal and human diseases, insecurity in some parts of Karamoja and reduced remittances as key contributors to the situation.
“Ration cuts for refugees will remain in place until we secure sufficient funding. To be able to provide full rations for refugees in the settlements until the end of 2020, WFP needs nearly US$15.3 million immediately,” said WFP Uganda Country Director, Mr. El-Khidir Daloum.
Even with coming harvests this year, it is expected households will continue to struggle with food shortages partly because of lost incomes during the lockdown. All refugee settlements are expected to remain at Crisis level at best. Food security should improve in nine out of 12 worst-affected refugee-hosting districts. Malnutrition is expected to decline in two districts in Karamoja in the coming months.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, the Ministry for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Kampala Capital City Authority, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the UNHCR, the FAO and WFP participated in the IPC analysis. The European Union, World Bank and UK Aid funded the exercise. During the months of June-September 2023, Uganda experienced seed shortages especially maize hybrid, a situation likely to translate into food shortages in the latter part of the year and early 2024.
Maize (zea mays) is the most-consumed food-crop [up to 80%] across Uganda and much of sub-Saharan Africa—accounting for 40% of cereal production in this vast region of the continent. My survey at the Annual National Agricultural Show in Jinja east of Kampala, found that indeed Uganda was experiencing maize-hybrid seed shortages due to less economic returns for farmers compared to other commercial crops. Mzee Wairindi, a member of the Governing Board of the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) and Chair of a private-run Masindi Seed Company, confirms Uganda much of 2023 has experienced an acute maize seed shortage.
“Yes, we’ve been suffering a maize seed shortage and that translates into food shortages, as you know maize is the most widely-consumed food and feed [for livestock and poultry] in our country. I brought hundreds of tons of maize seed here [at the Show] mainly for exhibition, but all was bought out in a few days at the week-long Show.”
Mr. Eric Kagezi, an exhibitor at the Show and a maize farmer in mid-western Uganda told this reporter that he too needed hundreds of kilograms of maize of seed. “I knew I’d find it here at the Show as is the case annually, but one of the biggest sellers, Mt. Elgon Seed—a subsidiary of Kenya Seed—told me the largest amount I could buy was only two kilos,” Mr. Kagezi said. He was disappointed and didn’t know where to turn, although many months later he bought DEKALB (DK) seed from Balton Uganda. Maize is an essential source of food, feed and of industrial importance in the sub-region. The Director of Uganda’s largest agricultural research institute, Dr. Godfrey Asea, confirmed the country recently suffered seed shortage but of specific popular varieties, due to very high promotion and public mobilization on one hand, unmatched by low seed quantities, on the other hand.
“Yes, there was seed shortage for Longe 10H and Bazooka [varieties] because [one of the most powerful seed firms—NASECO] conducted extensive promotions through demo[nstrations]. Otherwise other seed companies, [such as] the NARO Holdings Limited (NHL) and Uganda Prisons have had plenty of seed,” said Dr. Asea, a renowned cereals breeder. Among the popular hybrid maize varieties are Longes, Monsanto’s DEKALB hybrid-maize and many others from Kenya.
