The Observer (Kampala)
8 July 2009
editorial
Pictures of starving Ugandans coming out of Teso region are frightening.
People are dying of hunger and the government appears unprepared to deal with the problem. In fact, it is in a state of denial, as the minister responsible for Disaster Preparedness, Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere, has been quoted as saying, "it's not yet a crisis." One has to wonder what constitutes a crisis in Uganda!
Teso is currently in the limelight, but Karamoja too is affected by the food shortages largely caused by the long running drought.
As food prices in Kampala and other areas shot through the roof recently, President Museveni surprised many by arguing that it was a good thing because farmers would get higher prices for their produce. Now here we are with farmers who have nothing to eat themselves!
For several years now, the government has made the right noises about modernisation of agriculture but it has failed dismally to walk the talk.
With our population growing by almost one million every single year, the government needs to seriously reconsider its reliance on peasant-based food production. A population of 32 million currently and estimated to become 52 million in 2025 can no longer be sustained primarily on matooke, maize, cassava, millet and potatoes grown in little gardens by peasants. Moreover, during this time of climate change, soils [are] generally getting exhausted, and crops and animal diseases becoming more prevalent!
The government ought to facilitate commercial agriculture which is far more efficient. This involves working towards a conducive land tenure system and encouraging irrigation, fertilization and mechanization.
Also, Uganda has this strange set up whereby people in one part of the country are starving, while those in another region have more than enough food to eat, and even surplus to sell. This is mainly caused by a combination of poor planning and poor infrastructure. If the government, for instance, had giant silos to store grain in readiness for food scarcity times ahead, we would not be in this situation.
In the 1960s and 70s, China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, experienced devastating famines which claimed more than 30 million lives in China alone. Both countries realised they would not feed their vast populations using subsistence agriculture, and thus embarked on a "green revolution". Today both India and China are the world's largest producers of food. It's time for Uganda to embark on its own green revolution.
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