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Fears of food crisis in Katine

July 21st, 2009 | No Comments

Â• Katine farmers worry about food shortages
Â• Amref and Farm-Africa assess food situation
Â• Soroti district ‘experiencing famine’

Explainer: The food crisis in Uganda

Julius Eilu, 38, is worried. On a Sunday afternoon in Katine, north-east Uganda, he, his wife, Petelina Akello, and nine children sit around a small mound â€“ no more than 1kg â€“ of cassava flour meal, accompanied by wild vegetables.

“Now that they [the children] have had a meal during the day, at night we’ll just convince them to sleep,” said Eilu, his hair unkempt, shirt unbuttoned, face unwashed. “I keep worrying about what to do if this situation does not change.”

The situation he refers to is the severe food shortages being experienced in the Teso region of Uganda.

And what will Eilu, a farmer, do? “I don’t know,” he laughs, as people here often do at a grim situation. “I don’t know. Maybe I have to stop fathering children.”

There are many like Eilu in this region and in other parts of Uganda.

Earlier this month the government acknowledged that food shortages in the country had reached famine levels.

Soroti, the district in which Katine sub-county is found, is one of 17 regions in the north and east of Uganda that the government has defined as experiencing famine. While Katine has not reached this level, food shortages and rising prices indicate a potential crisis.

In the north and east of Uganda at least 35 people are reported to have recently died of starvation. The government said last week that so far 51 districts had requested relief food. Local and national leaders blame the famine on weather calamities starting with the floods of late 2007. After the floods came drought, tempered by late and poor rains, which resulted in food stress during much of 2008. The same pattern recurred in the first half of this year, culminating into the current drought.

Like many farmers in Katine, Eilu and his wife hoped to begin harvesting food last month, but they got nothing. “We planted one acre of millet, half an acre of sorghum and about a quarter acre of groundnuts but they have dried in the garden,” said Akello, as she showed me the empty granary in her compound. “And the cassava we planted last year did poorly again because of the drought.”

The government has announced it is allocating UShs 20bn (US$10m) to buy relief food and is seeking another $85m. But this money is yet to reach Katine. Christine Agwero, a member of the Katine sub-county council, says in her parish of Ochuloi many families are now having one meal a day, while children are starting to skip school so as not to miss out on that meal.

Calls for action

The district chairman of Soroti, Stephen Ochola, said the entire district was affected by the food crisis, including Serere and Kasilo counties, which usually grow a lot of food. Although Soroti had not received any food relief, Ochola hoped for help from the central government and agencies like the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Soroti Catholic Diocese Integrated Development Organisation (SOCADIDO).

Earlier this month, these two organisations and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) carried out a rapid assessment of the region’s food situation and their report was expected last week.

The head of SOCADIDO, Father Silver Opio, said only after such a report would the agencies determine the next course of action. Last year the church organisation, relying on donations from larger bodies like the American Catholic Relief Services, provided some food relief to Katine and other areas.

Opio said he had asked the priests in charge of the diocese’s 22 parishes in the Teso region to send him their assessment of the food situation in their parishes. He said getting accurate data was difficult because even parishes that were deemed to have reasonable levels of food had pockets of starvation that needed to be addressed.

But Ochola, a member of the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change, said that since last year, Teso leaders have been warning the government of possible famine because of the back-to-back drought, but no action was taken.

“May be if, by God’s grace, we get the second rains, we will save the situation. If we don’t get the second rains, next year will be worse,” he said.

Last weekend, the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, sought to reassure people in Teso of his government’s support. The New Vision newspaper quoted him as telling people in Bukedea district that “the people will not die of hunger because crops have failed”. The government would provide food relief and later farm implements and planting materials.

That would pleasantly surprise Eilu, who thinks an NGO, rather than the government, might offer assistance. In the last few weeks Eilu has been selling firewood in Soroti town to earn money to buy food from the market, but there is only a limited number of trees.

The family could offer their farm labour in exchange for food or cash. But with the dry weather, said Akello, there is no farm work to be had. Other people have resorted to selling goats or chickens to raise money for food, leaving themselves even more vulnerable.

“I think I may have to sell my one cow,” said Julius Epudu, a father of four from Ajobi village, Katine, as he surveys his dry, half a hectare (1 acre) garden of sorghum. “When these ones [children] start crying and I have no more money, I may have to sell that cow.”

Affect on project

The food shortages are starting to affect aspects of the Amref project in Katine. In Ajobi village, in Katine parish, one member of the village savings and loan association (VSLA) has disappeared without repaying a loan of UShs 60,000 ($30). The member had borrowed the money in April with the intention of using it for petty trade, but he has so far failed to pay it back and has fled the village.

“Actually some members have proposed that we dissolve the group and share out the savings, but I have said no,” said chairwoman Stella Apeduna.

Already the groundnuts and vegetable seeds distributed to farmers three months ago have gone to waste, as plants are drying in the gardens. Amref fears that contributions by users for the upkeep of water sources could reduce as families use all their money for food.

The health component of the project may not be spared either. Other parts of Uganda have reported severe malnutrition and Sam Agom, the in-charge medic at Tiriri health centre, fears similar problems may be experienced in Katine.

“Right now we don’t have anti-malaria medicines and our people have been selling food to buy medicines that we prescribe. Now if they have very little food, the disease situation in the community could get worse,” Agom said.

Amref’s country director Joshua Kyallo said the organisation was gravely concerned about the situation. Amref and Farm-Africa, which is offering technical support on the livelihoods component of the Katine project, were now gathering information on the effect of the food shortages on the community and the project, and would discuss the matter with district leaders, line ministries in Kampala and organisations like the WFP.

“If we see that the situation is getting out of control, or if government declares this a crisis situation, then Amref would make a separate appeal to respond to the problem,” Kyallo said.

George Mukkath, the director of programmes at Farm-Africa, said he was concerned about the low availability of food in the sub-county because the next harvest was “a long way down the road”. He said the fact that the price of maize had nearly doubled in Katine was one clear indicator that there was something chronically wrong.

Farmers needed more crop varieties that were drought-resistant. The 18 farmers groups established in Katine were given a new variety of cassava “but if they can introduce other crops which can withstand water stress, they will get a crop”, said Mukkath.

“We need to have wider discussions with Amref on how to deal with the current food crisis. We are talking to them and they are talking to people on the ground.”

He added: “I see an opportunity in this situation to address long-term food security. How it can be integrated into health, education and water and sanitation programmes. If there is no food security, health suffers, children don’t go to school. It’s important we all have discussions at a later stage on how to address these things.”

For Julius Eilu, a member of the Emorikikinos farmers group, the situation is getting out of hand.

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Time for action on agriculture

July 10th, 2009 | No Comments

With announcements on agriculture expected from the G8 today, Farm-Africa’s new chairman, Martin Evans, tells Liz Ford what Africa’s subsistence farmers really need

Asked what he would like the G8 to do for African farmers this week, the new chairman of Farm-Africa, Martin Evans, doesn’t hesitate to offer a list. Top of that list is money for research into new disease-resistant seed varieties, improved animal healthcare, particularly in those areas vulnerable to climate change, and help for farmers to access new technology and markets.

“What we’d like to see is basically the same thing as African farmers. We need to look at what they want and how the G8 can help supply these things,” says the agricultural economist.

“Money from the G8 that is put into agriculture research systems can have huge benefits. Fund additional research into improved seeds and animal disease prevention and you will offer a safeguard for years ahead. If they [G8] are really paying for agriculture, let’s see some money go into research.”

Farm-Africa is working with the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) on improving livelihoods in Katine, north-east Uganda, as part of the Guardian’s three-year development project in the region.

Working with 18 farmers groups in the rural sub-county, the project has seen the introduction of new disease-resistant, high-yielding cassava, which has just produced its first harvest, and plans are underway to build a storage centre for crops, which will allow farmers to sell in bulk and hopefully get a better deal. Mobile phones are increasingly being used by farmers to find the best place to sell their goods.

Crisis talks

After more than 20 years of neglect from the international community, the world food crisis has pushed agriculture if not to the top, then certainly high up on to the G8 agenda this year, which could mean real benefits for farmers. Today a new initiative to fund farming and to tackle global hunger are due to be announced by leaders meeting in Italy, which reportedly could entail an investment of $12bn over the next three years.

The UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) has already laid out its commitment to revitalising agriculture and improving food security in its white paper, published on Monday. What it promises is not dissimilar to Evans’ wishlist. The paper, Building our Common Future, talks about helping subsistence farmers to get seeds and fertilisers, credit and access to markets, and of supporting agricultural research. It mentions “doubling agricultural production in Africa over the next 20 years” and calls on the international community to deliver the $20bn of new funding for food and agriculture promised last year (perhaps an inauspicious sign for any further cash pledges).

“We are just waking up to the fact that agriculture has been neglected and we’re seeing the impact of that. It’s absolutely true that the volume of aid and financial flows going into agriculture has been in decline over the last two decades,” says Evans, who took over as chairman this week.

The wake up call was triggered by the spike in food prices in 2007-08. Although prices for staple crops have now stabilised, DfID is still predicting long-term problems in producing and procuring food for nearly 1 billion people. The alarming rise in food prices coincided with the publication of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2008, which for the first time in more than 25 years focused on agriculture. The report said agriculture was “a vital development tool” for achieving the Millennium Development Goal to halve poverty by 2015. “The World Development Report refocused everyone’s attention,” says Evans.

Of course, helping farmers involves more than handing out seeds and discussing how new technologies can increase yields â€“ it’s about making farming viable. “Food security is more than growing more food in your own backyard, it’s more of everything. Food security is about making farming more productive and more profitable. You need to improve access to markets. [Subsistence farmers] really don’t have good access to markets. You need investment in roads and communication technology to ensure trading conditions are right. Some money can usefully and sensibly be put into basic things like that.”

He adds: “It’s very difficult for poor people to amass any savings, so we can help them a lot by giving a bit of capital. I’m not suggesting that things are handed out on a plate. But we need to help to create the conditions that make things accessible and ensure farmers are encouraged and convinced that benefits outweigh the risks, and to take an entrepreneurial approach to things. It’s not about us turning up in our 4x4s, dumping things and leaving, it’s about working with farmers to identify problems and come up with plans. It’s very much about people helping themselves.”

He adds that farmers, the majority of whom are women, need educating on new technologies, such as how to conserve water and better irrigate land. But they also need to be convinced these new ideas are going to work. In Katine demonstration farms were set up to allow villagers to do just that.

Passing on the benefits

But with any new money promised by the international community comes the question of how it will get to farmers. Evans admits implementation is the hard bit, but that’s where NGOs like Farm-Africa step in. Donors are increasingly channelling aid through governments, but there has also been an increase in cash filtered through NGOs in recent years. “Assuming money is allocated by the G8, we hope a lot of it will come the way of good NGOs. We can do things neither governments or the commercial sector can do. But we need both.”

Looking to the future, Evans, who has more than 35 years experience working in agriculture, rural development and agribusiness, would like Farm-Africa to explore how large-scale business can benefit smallholder farmers, with whom the charity works throughout east Africa. “There are good examples where large-scale business can connect with small farmers by buying their products under contract, processing them for them and providing advice and seeds and technical support,” he says. “We can’t do these for all crops in all places, but I would like to see Farm-Africa exploring more opportunities for merging large scale agriculture and business to benefit small groups.”

“Like it or not, large-scale business is a fact. It can be a threat, but can also be a great way to look to see how Farm-Africa can open up these opportunities for the benefit of small farmers.”