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Officials order wetland restoration after herbicide use on World Bank project
Mr Rushure (middle) with Bushenyi RDC Robert Atuhairwe and Bushenyi-Ishaka municipal environment officer, Abbot Tumwebaze at the project site on June 12, 2024. PHOTO | ZADOCK AMANYISA
What you need to know:
- Citing sustainability concerns, the officials have halted operations at the project because the ecological integrity of the wetland has been abused.
Officials in the South Western Ugandan district of Bushenyi have ordered immediate restoration of a wetland that was recently sprayed with herbicides. The wetland is located on the site of the World Bank-funded Micro-Scale Irrigation Program run by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF).
Laban Rushure, a retired head teacher and beneficiary of the irrigation project in Bushenyi, used pesticides to destroy about an acre of wetland on his land. He reportedly intended to get rid of water to make the area more suitable for farmland.
“We had planned to launch the project, but when we reached the site, we found that the beneficiary had encroached on a wetland, which is part of where he would be tapping water as his source. He has put trenches on the wetland, grown potatoes, and also used chemicals to burn the vegetation there. We stopped launching it because we are the front-liners in fighting to defend Mother Nature,” said Mr Robert Atuhairwe, the Bushenyi Resident District Commissioner (RDC).
Citing sustainability concerns, the officials have halted operations at the project because the ecological integrity of the wetland has been abused.
“When you are destroying the ecosystem of such a place and yet that’s where you want to tap water to irrigate your crops, it means in the near future, the place will be dry and the project will be a white elephant,” he told this publication on Friday.
“We have ordered the beneficiary of the project, Mr Rushure, to restore the integrity of the wetland or face prosecution. We shall look at resuming work on this project when we are satisfied that the place has been restored,” he added while
The beneficiary, Mr Rushure, agreed to comply with the officials and ensure restoration of the damaged part of the wetland.
“I thought I had enough water to run the project. I applied the herbicides to deal with an invasive grass without killing the entire wetland. But I will comply with the guidelines,” he said.
The Bushenyi District environment officer, Mr Vincent Kataate, condemned the act, emphasising the importance of a multi-sectoral approach to fight wetland degradation. He warned that if not addressed, this practice could be adopted by other farmers, leading to further wetland destruction.
“It has not been a common habit here. We are getting this farmer as the second one to do this. We should not keep quiet about it because if we do, other people will take it up and destroy more wetlands.” he said.
The environment boss said the rate of wetland degradation in Bushenyi district already stands at 15 percent according to a survey conducted in 2021. Globally, wetlands are disappearing at alarming rates, with a loss of 35 percent since 1970. They are the most threatened ecosystem, vanishing three times faster than forests, according to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Land use by humans, with agriculture being the most widespread culprit, is identified as the biggest driver of wetland degradation.
Glyphosate and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) are two of the most commonly used herbicides worldwide and are more recently being used in combination in pre-mixed commercial formulas. Wetland contamination with herbicides increases the exposure of microorganisms to numerous chemical stressors over and above, causing the wetland vegetation to dry up.
About micro-scale irrigation
The Micro-Scale Irrigation Program supports farmers in purchasing and using individual irrigation equipment through a matching grant scheme, in which the cost of the equipment is co-financed by the farmer and the government. The project is then owned, operated, and managed by the farmer.
The project is part of the Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer Reform Program (IFTRP) and is supported by the World Bank through the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer Program (UgIFT), and it is also in line with Uganda’s National Irrigation Policy, which aims to create 1.5 million hectares of irrigated land by the year 2040.
