Halima Abdallah
13 July 2009
Nairobi — What looked like a good opportunity for Uganda in regional trade is fast turning into a curse as food exports to Sudan and Kenya cause widespread starvation and death in the north.
The revelation came as tempers reached boiling point over perceived government indifference to the rising threat of famine. So far, 35 people have starved in northern Uganda.
Disaster Preparedness Minister Tarsis Kabwegyere flip-flopped between denial and admission of the cause of the deaths, drawing sharp criticism from local MPs.
While acknowledging that one out of three Ugandans faces food shortages, the minister maintained there was no crisis and that the situation was under control. He also exonerated the government from the task of ensuring food security.
"It is the duty of citizens to feed themselves; the government comes in only when the situation is very grave," Prof Kabwegyere said at a media conference.
"We have a problem with Prof Kabwegyere. What else does he need to see to know the situation is bad?" said Elijah Okupa, MP for Teso, one of the most affected areas.
Later, the government explained that the shortages were not the result of crop failure, but rather unrestrained selling of food by farmers.
Food stocks in the north and the east have for long been threatened by insecurity -- which made millions of people to be confined to camps for the internally displaced for about two decades as a result of Lord's Resistance Army rebels and Karamajong raiders.
But, of late, merchants from Southern Sudan have been buying virtually everything, from livestock to crops in the field, offering irresistible prices.
MPs, however, cite natural factors such as intermittent floods which cause lower production of food.
In the east, for instance, floods in late 2007 destroyed many crops.
The floods were said to be a result of climate change due to environmental degradation. Subsequently, the area was hit by prolonged drought.
"We are appealing to all Ugandans who have something to offer, the Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Food Programme, to come to the rescue of our people," said Elijah Okupa, an MP at the crisis meeting.
The rest of the country continues to experience warmer temperatures that have impacted on crop yields this season.
Climate change is manifested in a shift in rainfall patterns, movement of insect populations, soil erosion, and land degradation.
The warmer conditions in the rest of East Africa are in tandem with a new report that warns of a widening gap between supply and demand for agricultural products globally.
It is predicted that climatic change will lead to warmer temperatures in developing countries.
The report, produced by Deutsche Bank in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, also warns of higher food prices in future. It says that in 2005, developing countries lost $5bn from farms due to changes in temperature and rainfall.
"It is our view that a long-term rise in agricultural prices will resume and that the search for biofuel alternatives will re-emerge," said Kevin Parker, a co author of the report.
In 2008, food prices rose globally due to shortages in supply.
High prices owing to food shortages are already taking a toll on East Africa. Ugandan leaders are warning farmers against selling all their crops.
The new development is likely to increase further the price of maize in Kenya. Uganda's maize has been a source of the current stability in the Kenyan market after Tanzania banned cereal exports last November due to shortages.
Maize is the most important cereal in East Africa, providing over 40 per cent of the calories consumed in both rural and urban areas.
In Africa, maize is a staple food for over 300m people.
Worse still, locusts recently invaded farms in Tanzania, causing widespread destruction.
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