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Uganda seeks local solutions as climate change effects hit harder

11 September 2009, Xinhua
URL: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/12/content_12041588.htm

Moroto:   As the world continues to debate the effects of climate change and adaptation measures, Uganda is embarking on local solutions to beat the effects that have left 3.5 million people on the verge of starvation.   Weather experts say Uganda's rain seasons are increasingly becoming unpredictable and yet the country practices rain fed agriculture with over 70 percent of the population deriving its livelihood from the sector.

The most hit part of this East African country is in the northeastern region, also known as Karamoja.   The region has faced three consecutive years of a long dry spell leaving over one million people on the verge of starvation and thousands of livestock dead because of pests and no water and pasture to feed on.   Over 90 percent of the population in this semi arid area depends on relief food supplied by the UN World Food Program (WFP) and the government.

Moroto district leaders on Thursday this week warned that the hunger situation in the region is likely to worsen due to crop failure.   "The situation is going out of hand, it is getting worse. We have been trying all this year to mobilize people to plant but allin vain, the dry season has let us down," said Peterken Lochap, Moroto district chairperson.

Other areas in the country's cattle corridor are also facing a hard time. Bright Rwamirama, minister of state for animal husbandry recently said that the country has been experiencing losses of cattle especially in the livestock rearing districts.   In Sembabule district in central region, children have abandoned school to go and look for pasture and water for the cows.

Weather experts are now also warning that the country should brace itself for heavy rains that are predicted to start this month and end early next year.  The torrential rains are likely to cause floods leading to destruction of property and increased water-borne diseases.

"Other disasters may arise from possible land slides mostly in mountainous western, south-western and eastern Uganda. Appropriate measures should be taken to avoid loss of life and destruction of infrastructure," Steven Magezi, Commissioner for Meteorology warned.

 After being battered by these harsh effects, the country has now resorted to finding local solutions if it is to survive.   Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told a gathering in Sembabuleearly this week that government was planning to buy machinery that will be used in digging dams especially in the drought hit cattle corridor.

He also said the government is moving into revamping the irrigation schemes to avoid depending on rainfall to boost agricultural production.   Irrigation experts from different countries like China, Israel are in the country to advise on how the country can use the scheme to boost agricultural production.

In the hard hit northeastern region, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and government have introduced drought resistant and quick maturing crops to beat the persistent hunger crisis.  Last month, WFP launched a 400-acre cassava seed multiplication farm in the region to boost food production.

The government early this month advised farmers especially in the cattle corridor to keep limited heads of cattle if they are to survive the dry spell.

"The recommended stocking rates for the drier areas of the country are one livestock unit equivalent to 450kg per hectare," said Rwamirama.  "I wish to encourage farmers to follow the guidelines of maximum stocking rate and avoid losing animals and therefore income," he added.

He said government was working on a project to build a water reservoir in every sub county in the badly affected districts of the cattle corridor.

On the international scene, Uganda is in talks with other African countries to come up with a common position during the United Nations climate change conference scheduled for December this year in Copenhagen, Denmark.   According to Jessica Eriyo, minister of state for environment, climate change is the new "global battle ground" where the rich countries have stifled the voices of poor countries like Uganda.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila this week appealed to the African Union member states to adopt a common position during the climate change deliberations in Copenhagen.  "We have to mobilize ourselves and adopt common positions in these major areas so that we can preserve our natural resources in order to have sustained development," he told the 29th summit of the Southern African Development Community held in Kinshasa, DRC.   The Southern African Development Community is the regional body grouping 15 countries.