Kampala — THE Karimojong are selling relief food to residents in drought-striken Katakwi district, an official has said.

John Ekongot, the Katakwi LC5 chairperson, recently said the situation had forced most families into having one meal a day. "The Karimojong have now started bringing food to Katakwi via Iriri," said Ekongot, adding that some people had resorted to eating wild plants like ecomai and eodo.

Speaking at an emergency meeting organised by the National Agricultural Advisory Services at Soroti Hotel, Ekongot said the situation was so bad that people were now sitting on his veranda begging for food. Until recently, many Karimojong, mainly children and women, flocked to the Teso region to offer labour in exchange for food after hunger struck their region.

Ekongot said the people had planted food, but the weather conditions like floods and prolonged drought let them down. "It is not that our people are lazy. People had planted food, but because of the unpredictable weather patterns, people lost all the crops in their gardens," he said.

Ekongot said hunger had affected education in the district as many schools were registering high drop-out rates because school children cannot concentrate on empty stomachs. "About 80% of our children now do not go to school because some of them have not eaten in the last four days," said Ekongot.

He said people need to be given enough food alongside planting materials, if they are to survive.

He added that the people had become too weak to dig.