NEWS: Death as famine ravages Uganda

Death as famine ravages Uganda

Wednesday May 6, 2209 from MONITOR ONLINE

A 46-year-old woman in Abim District, north eastern Uganda died of hunger on Monday after going several days without food. This is just one of the many deaths that are raising fears of looming famine especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country.

Lina Awilli hails from Angiro South village, Kanu parish. The district Speaker, Godfrey Okello, who told Daily Monitor of Ms Awilli’s death yesterday, said conditions are ripe for the incident to replicate itself in many parts of the district

“We need emergency response to address the situation,” said Mr Okello. “Towards Easter, rain became very heavy and washed away all crops and now the farmers have to wait for another season to plant the crops. Our people are very vulnerable, especially these elderly people; they are doing very badly.”

Abim is one of several districts in the West Nile, northern and north-eastern regions whose officials have cried out to the government over food shortage. Other districts include Amuria, Katakwi, Kotido, Moroto, Moyo, Adjumani and Arua.

The rallying cry by local leaders is an effort to stem famine-related deaths. In May last year, the MP for Dodoth County in Moroto district, Rev. Fr. Simon Lokodo, told the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Food Security, Population and Development that between April 25 and May 18, at the height of last year’s famine, at least 30 people died due to food shortage.

This year, the famine has been prolonged in some areas but the reported deaths are low so far. Katakwi district Chairman, Robert Ekongot said in late March that about 62,000 people were facing famine in his district, mainly as a result of poor harvests over the last three years following a spell of floods, drought and water logging in the area.

In an interview yesterday, the district Speaker of Amuria, Mr Robert Adiama, said, “There’s famine because of several factors like the drought spell which has hit the district. We actually need food urgently.”

Mr Adiama said the famine has reached a level where people cannot afford three meals a day. “What we need now are ways of helping these people to survive and how they can access seeds for planting,” he said.

Even in cases where the food is available, he added, it has become very expensive for the people to afford. “For example a basin of cassava which was costing between Shs2500 and Shs5000 is now Shs10,000. Not many people can afford,” Mr Adiama said.

The famine is partly a result of the poverty already biting a large part of the population, with 57 per cent saying in a late 2008 opinion poll commissioned by Afrobarometer that they had gone without food at one point in the last year and 55 per cent saying they had gone without water – up from 49 per cent in 2005.

In the West Nile district of Arua, farmers have not received reliable rainfall since September 2009. The most affected crops that are mainly grown in the district both for home and commercial consumption are cassava, maize, sim-sim and vegetables.

According to the District Commercial Officer in charge of Marketing, Mr Oboko Emmanuel, most families are too poor to afford the high priced produce.

“The problem is families cannot afford to buy food items expensively. So they have to survive on one meal a day while forego the rest,” he said, adding that the situation has worsened as many farmers are losing their crops due to the drought.

Mr Oboko said the high poverty level adds to the woes as many families cannot afford to live on one dollar a day (about Shs2200). “I don’t know how people will survive if this continues up to July,” he noted.

The drought stricken district used to receive reliable rainfall at least twice a year that was adequate for crop growing. Now, the district is importing the food produce from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lira, Soroti and Masindi districts.

The district is now experiencing variation in the rainfall pattern due to weather change with dry wind.

Even the border markets of Ejupala, Odramachaku and Kampala market in Logiri that used to be main suppliers of food items, is now operating on few food crops. It is mainly the Congolese who used to supply them but reports say the Congolese are facing the same drought.

Mr Oboko said the continued drought has also led to increase in food prices as many traders prefer selling their goods to South Sudan at higher prices. For instance, the market price for millet is now up from Shs600 to Shs1200 per Kg, ground nuts from Shs950 to Shs2000 per Kg, cassava floor from Shs800 to Shs1400 per Kg and beans from Shs1200 to Shs1600 per Kg.
The state minister for Disaster preparedness, Mr Musa Ecweru, was however quick to say that government was aware of the food crisis in parts of the country and that his ministry had already put in place a number of interventions.

“We are giving planting materials to the affected areas. What is happening now is the rains came late in some areas which affected the planting season,” he said.

Mr Ecweru said in an earlier interview with Daily Monitor that Shs1.9 billion had already been earmarked to address the crisis.