Creation of cities encroaching on agricultural land for women, says land official

The recent creation and operationalisation of new cities has led to the encroachment on land for agriculture by the women, a ministry of lands official has said.
Mr Denis Obbo, the spokesperson of the lands ministry explained that since the majority of the force work in agriculture sector is women, the annexation of land for purposes of creation of infrastructure that comes along with the new cities, has greatly affected their livelihoods. 

“The creation of new cities, saw the demarcation of land boundaries by the concerned authorities thereby, encroaching on the land that the women have been using for agricultural purposes,” Mr Obbo said yesterday during a half-day workshop to discuss women land rights in Kampala.

“This is because over 60 percent of the agriculture workforce comprises of women and when the land is taken away, this affects their livelihoods and the country at large. But as the lands ministry, we will support whatever the gender intervention is done to improve the women’s welfare,” he added.
Parliament on April 25, by resolution, created 15 more cities, with 10 of them coming into operation on July 1 this year.
The first 10 cities that got operational are Jinja, Arua, Gulu, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Mbale, Masaka, Hoima, Lira and Soroti.

The other cities that will become operational in the subsequent financial years of 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively are Entebbe, Moroto, Nakasongola, Kabale and Wakiso.
Likewise, Ms Frances Birungi Odongo, the director programmes at Uganda Community Based Association for Women and Children’s Welfare (UCOBAC), a non-governmental organization, said urbanisation is good but women’s needs should be taken care of too.

“Urbanisation is a good process but in one way or another, it’s affecting women as the land they have been using, is being taken away for industrialisation, construction of roads and industries. So in our discussions, we should think of their needs also,” Ms Odongo urged concerned government.
Women in Uganda, are the primary users of land providing 80 per cent of the agricultural labour force and producing 80 per cent of food crops.

Uganda’s laws do not expressly discriminate between men and women regarding the right to own land and property, however, there is a great disparity between what is provided for in the laws and the actual practice.
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