Five million Ugandans food insecure – report

President Museveni, while addressing government officials, leaders of civil society organisations and dignitaries from the United Nations yesterday at the event, said the food insecurity is caused by lack of knowledge and limited sensitisation.

He said Uganda has a good climate, fertile soil and over 19 indigenous food crops such as bananas, cassava and beans that grow easily in the country.

“Uganda should have no problem at all with food. When you hear that there is a problem, it is because of lack of sensitisation. Food here grows very easily. The maize takes three months to be ready for harvest; the sweet potatoes take four months to mature,” he said.

Mr Museveni, however, highlighted 13 bottlenecks that underpin the problem of food insecurity.

The bottlenecks, the President said, include issues of seed quality, lack of water for production, poor farming methods, land fragmentation, pests and parasites, bad roads for transporting food to where it is needed and post-harvest losses.

He said some of the bottlenecks, such as seed quality and roads for moving the food commodities have been addressed over time by his government.

“The first problem was good seeds and that one the government has solved. Research institutions have developed good seeds for us,” he said.

Mr Grace Bunanukye Bwengye, the head of agriculture planning at National Planning Authority (NPA), said the improved seeds such as those of maize, bananas and soya beans are being developed by National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) and Makerere University.

Dr Sadik Kassim, the deputy director general of National Agricultural Research Organisation, said they had established institutes across the country to promote the new seeds and other agriculture technologies among farmers.

But Ms Agnes Kirabo, the executive director of Food Rights Alliance, told Daily Monitor that the President didn’t clearly answer the question of why the excess production in other areas was not solving the problem of food insecurity in other parts of the country.

“The food has to be processed before we move. But do we have electricity to do the processing or the machines for drying and trucks to safely move the food to where it is needed? We don’t have one. But we have a base to work on because we have a lot of food that is going to waste,” she said.

The President called for increased engagement in food processing to reduce the volumes of food going to waste.

Key barriers

According to government statistics, as high as 40 per cent of crop harvests in the country are lost due to poor post-harvest handling that food processing and storage fall under. Mr Museveni said many farmers are disheartened by the lack of market for their produce. He called for creation of one Africa market where there is no trade barrier.