By Joseph Ekol
Authorities have warned that severe famine could erupt in Uganda’s northern sub-region of Lango if farmers don’t adopt new farming methods.
Patrick Alip, the Lira district local government senior agricultural officer, said the region is experiencing a marked reduction in food production due to the effects of climate change.
Lango has been hit by a prolonged dry spell of nearly four months.
Alip warned of potential famine during the Farmer’s Field Day, organised by Lira district local government, in Aler parish, Ogur sub-county.
The event was hosted by Nyekorac Farmers’ Co-operative Society.
It was aimed at bringing together agro-actors and local leaders to discuss the challenges affecting Lira, which was once referred to as the food-basket of Lango.
Besides unpredictable weather patterns, infiltration of middlemen from neighbouring countries deep in the village where grain is bought cheaply from farmers has also been identified as a threat to famine outbreak.
Helen Anyango, the senior assistant secretary of Lira who represented the Lira chief administrative officer at the event, said farmers are being exploited by middlemen who move around the villages, paying farmers when crops are not yet ready for harvest.
“Today, most of our farmers prefer selling off their crops while still in the garden before harvest when the middlemen offer them little money,” she said.
By the time crops are ready for harvest, the farmer has no power to bargain but to surrender because they have already used the money.
According to Anyango, this is modern-day exploitation of farmers that is affecting the farmer’s co-operatives in the district.
Anyago said, that if farmers could accept to collect their grain together under co-operatives, they would go a long way in post-harvest handling, enabling them to bargain with the buyers for better prices and that it would save them from famine.
At the event, farmers had the opportunity to interact with agro-input dealers, banking institutions and the district production department officials on how they can improve farming and access agricultural funds to boost production.
Daniel Kabunga Sentamu, the Lira deputy resident district commissioner, encouraged farmers to embrace diversification of agriculture from subsistence to commercial practices that are profit-based.
This, he said, will be achieved if people put into good use the Parish Development Model funds they have acquired. He urged people to acquire irrigation facilities to use on their farms as one way of mitigating the effects of climate change.
Sentamu also urged the locals to embrace coffee growing, saying the crop is sustainable in every season and profitable.
The event attracted hundreds of farmers and other stakeholders.
James Okello Alele, a farmer involved in apiculture (beekeeping) and fish farming, encouraged farmers to embrace the diversification of farm enterprises (mixed farming).
He said since starting beekeeping, climate change has never been a burden to him because his crops are being pollinated by the bees and that he has now forgotten the use of pesticides.
Okello said farmers can survive poverty by switching to perennial crops such as coffee which is planted once and harvested for many years.
