33,000 people in Ngora go without a meal - report

NGORA | HUNGER | FOOD

NGORA - Urgent food relief is required in Ngora district as 33,160 people cannot afford a meal. 

A report released by the district on Wednesday (August 4, 2021) puts the total number in need of food relief at 165,800. 

It says these people should be supported urgently because they are on the verge of dying. 

“The farming fraternity dedicated time and efforts to production during the lockdown. However, the dry spell has put the farmers’ energy to waste with total crop failure,” the report noted. 

The document was presented by the chief administrative officer, Lawrence Wadada, and addressed to the permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office. 

The majority of the farmers in Ngora are subsistence, with less than 10% practising commercial production. 

The report attributes the source of hunger to a prolonged dry spell that affected the crops planted in the first season. 

“Farming started at the onset of rains in April with expectations of a good harvest. However, the rainfall pattern changed in late May and June, with a dry spell setting in at the critical stage of production,” the report said. 

The planting materials that Operation Wealth Creation distributed such as 3,281 bags of cassava cuttings, 22,000kg of maize, 40,000 mango seedlings, 32,750 citrus seedlings and 4,000kg of beans were lost due to the prolonged dry spell. 

“My people have been surviving on mangoes or sleeping on empty stomachs. I call upon the Government and partners to come to the rescue of my people,” Mike Odongo Lo’Asio, the Ngora district LC5 boss, said. 

“We cannot run anywhere in the region because the food shortage cuts across. It is only the Government that can help. The most vulnerable are the children, breastfeeding mothers, elderly and people living with HIV who cannot take their medicine on empty stomachs,” Odongo said. 

Cassava is the main staple food in Teso, but most farmers are counting losses with tubers rotting due to drought. 

Abubakar Kalema of Uganda Meteorology Authority on Tuesday said their August rainfall outlook predicts that Teso is expected to get enhanced rainfall by mid-August that will intensify at the end of the month.