Teso famine: people eat swamp weeds and dregs

Written by DEVAPRIYO DAS

Wednesday, 08 July 2009 17:02

A malnourished boy at Soroti regional hospital Teso’s long exposure to irregular climate patterns and armed incursions by rebels and pastoralists, has led to chronic food insecurity. A dry spell that began in April 2009 has withered fields of cassava, maize, millet, beans and groundnuts, and precipitated a food crisis in an already malnourished population. Affected communities initially uprooted half-matured crops for food, then resorted to eating mangoes and wild fruits, and recently, turned to eating swamp weeds and leaves, and even recycling the dregs of millet-beer (adakai) into an unwholesome porridge. As starvation haunts parts of Teso, the state’s responsibility to protect its citizens from hunger, is being questioned. But in our July 6 story: The Ugly Face of Hunger in Teso, Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere, Minister of Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees said, “The situation is not extreme. We are not yet talking of a crisis.” He detailed a Shs 11 billion assistance plan to supplement food aid provided by the UN World Food Programme. Unlike the upbeat Kabwegyere, local politicians understandably paint a grim picture, and question whether the hunger-stricken region was part of the much talked about holistic growth of Uganda’s economy. “You cannot say that the economy of this country is better-off when people here cannot afford a meal!” thunders Soroti District Chairman, Stephen Ochola. “It’s very dangerous. And when we say there is famine here, people are starving, people are dying of hunger, they (government) don’t want to believe it.” Ochola fears that the 530,000 people who live in his district are rapidly becoming food insecure because of wrong attitude on the part of the central government. “We are rich with water,” Ochola continues, referring to the region’s perennial swamps and lakes. “Why don’t we utilise irrigation? Time has come for the central government to think of irrigation. There should be water for production in this area.” POOR TECHNOLOGY His counterpart in Amuria, Julius Ochen, who says up to 35,000 households in his district are facing hunger, similarly blames the central government for the poor water management, failure to re-stock cattle herds depleted by conflict, and for not warning communities about the impact of climate change on Teso. Arguing that chronic animal theft and drought has resulted in poor opening-up of farm acreage, he suggests legally binding commitments to planting food crops. “As a district local government, we are legislating on an ordinance to see that food security is tackled. This ordinance will demand that every household should have [i.e. plant] a minimum of two acres of cassava [although the] low capacity of our people to open land is a hindering factor,” he said. For his part, Kabwegyere explains that almost 10% of Uganda’s population has recently become food insecure, owing to climatic irregularities and over-reliance on seasonal crops. “The areas which have perennial food crops and perennial cash crops tend to resist changes in the weather,” he explains. “We must really aim at encouraging introduction of perennial food crops and perennial cash crops. In case perennial food crop production goes down, there are some perennial cash crops which can enable you to buy food.” He even suggests domesticating those drought-resistant wild plants that local people are forced to eat now, as they might provide food security in future. Eventually, he envisions commercial farming on large land-holdings, with a new land tenure system that will secure individual ownership for higher acreage and output. “Economic transformation is based on food security,” he said. “Food security has to do with land, and the land tenure system defines the ability to produce more or less.” Their solutions are seemingly practical, and intended to empower local communities to be self-sufficient and food secure. If correctly managed, they would be beneficial to future generations in maintaining the region’s ecology while helping its economy. However, those are long-term plans that place the primary responsibility to act in the hands of central or local government structures. This leaves the common man with few options should these plans fail: a likely outcome if the requisite will or financial resources is not available to take these plans forward. POOR FUNDING When asked why irrigation, food stores and disaster response has not been clearly orchestrated by Soroti District itself, Ochola replies: “Local government cannot manage it because our local revenues are dwindling everyday. Now that there is no food to be taken to [the] market, our markets will not be giving us any revenue.” Indeed, bad roads and other transport infrastructure have long contributed to poverty among Teso’s farmers. Their produce struggles to reach markets and command fair prices, and in turn negatively impacts on their earning and purchasing power. Centrally managed solutions may not be much better. Soroti Regional Hospital caters for roughly two million people but can only admit 30 malnourished children at a time, and cannot provide nutrition therapy to the elderly patients. “If you talk about per capita funding for this hospital,” it comes to something like Shs 500 per person per year,” said Dr. Bernard Odu, the Medical Superintendent. He added: “Even if we thought of who actually attends [the] hospital, it comes to about Shs 4,000 per person, per year. Don’t expect that money to be enough.” WHO’S ROLE? Even on paper, responsibility remains elusive. Fredrick Kawoya, Food Rights Analyst at ActionAid Uganda, a global advocacy group, says the government is a signatory to global food rights covenants that enshrine its responsibility to protect its citizens from hunger. However, the national framework of these rights, contained in Uganda’s Food and Nutrition Bill, has not been passed by Parliament. “In the actual operationalisation of the right to food, people must have a legal mechanism through which they can sue the state,” says Kawoya. “But currently it’s not possible because they have refused to pass the Bill […] they are leaving the responsibilities to the poor, they are saying every household head is supposed to provide food.” The debate is set to rage on even as the affected communities are the only ones who can reliably tell how hungry they are. And how annoyed they are, that Uganda’s decision-makers are discussing their fate, on full stomachs.