URN.Jane Nalunga, the Executive Director of trade rights group SEATINI – Uganda says with proper resources allocation the country’s agriculture sector would now be producing enough food to even take advantage of the global food crisis caused by the conflict in Europe.
Civil society in the country have called for increased funding, planning and coordination in the agriculture sector to eliminate incidents of hunger, calling the situation in Karamoja embarrassing.
Different NGOs are also warning that the level of food insecurity in the country is a recipe for social discomfort, which the government should avoid.
Several reports have indicated that hundreds of people have died in the Karamoja region in the last few months and that the situation is getting worse as the long drought persists.
The food shortage in the region has been attributed to the highly inadequate rains first season of this year, that came late and ended abruptly, being replaced by very dry conditions, and in turn poor or no harvests in some areas.
Richard Henry Kimera, the Executive Director, Consumer Education Trust puts the blame squarely on the political leadership for doing too little in the wake of such an emergency, urging the president to take command of the situation personally.
The situation has evoked memories of the numerous calls on the government to increase funding for the agriculture sector, to make it one of the priority funding areas of each budget.
It also comes at a time when most of the country is also facing food insecurity having experienced less than adequate rains.
Unfortunately, this according to experts, is being abetted by the poor trade and distribution infrastructure, which would otherwise move food from where there is still plenty but being wasted, to areas of need.
Jane Nalunga, the Executive Director of trade rights group SEATINI – Uganda says wastage is not only in the production sector, but also in the way government resources are handled.
Nalunga says even when resources are available they are allocated to areas which are not most in need of them.
According to her, if there was proper allocation, the country’s agriculture sector would produce enough food to even take advantage of the global food crises caused by the conflict in Europe.
Last week, the government announced that it had set aside 135 billion shillings as an emergency fund for save the situation in the north east.
On Tuesday, 552 tonnes of maize flour and 238 tonnes of beans were flagged off to the region, bringing the total amount of food dispatched to the nine affected districts to 1,590 tonnes of maize and 795 tonnes of flour, according to the OPM.
Speaking at the civil society appeal, Agnes Kirabo, the Executive Director, Food Rights Alliance blamed the government for taking too long to respond despite early warnings even by the international systems.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global food security monitoring system, warned earlier this year that the Karamoja region was classified in Phase 3 crisis, with about 41 percent of the population, or 518,000 people were facing high levels of acute food insecurity between March and July 20,22, according to the index.
Kirabo said that the government had enough time to avert this situation, at least in the short term, adding that the situation is likely to affect other parts of the country.
In his view, the Julius Mukunda, the Chief Executive, Budget Advocacy Group, wonders what the use of the agriculture ministry is, urging the ministry of finance to ensure the budget is implemented in a way that will minimize the effects of the already disastrous situation.
The US Embassy in Kampala has also joined in the rescue efforts, announcing 82 million US dollars (311 billion shillings) in the country’s humanitarian assistance for Uganda.
Of this, 21 million (76 billion shillings) is meant for emergency aid to Karamoja.
Ramadhan Ggoobi, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development said the government is aware of what is happening and, apart from the emergency action, it is putting in place long-term measures to try reverse the trend.
The Executive Director, Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment, Arthur Bainomugisha advised the government to build dams in all drought-vulnerable areas like was the case in the Greater Mbarara in the 1950s, which he says changed the regions climate patterns.
