Africa-Press – Uganda. The recent unpredictable weather outbursts have raised concern among environmental and agricultural experts. These outbursts have been coupled with violent winds and rainfall in some parts of the country, including Kampala.Like the case last Sunday, many suburbs in Kampala experienced a downpour, which was accompanied by lightning and thunder.
However, some other parts of the country remained dry.“I was in Biharwe, a neighbourhood in Mbarara City last Sunday but did not see any rain,” Mr Frank Muramuzi, the executive director of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), said yesterday.“I just heard it rained in other parts of the country and it was heavy and violent,” Mr Muramuzi added.Indeed, in some parts of the country, the rains have been heavy causing some serious impact.
For instance, last month, Lake Kyoga burst its banks following heavy rains and displaced more than 5,000 households in Nakasongola District.Then in May, hundreds of families in Napak District in Karamoja Sub-region were displaced and gardens destroyed following heavy rain. “Why wouldn’t these calamities happen when we are cutting down the trees and forests, settling in wetlands and clearing hill tops? We have destroyed our own environment and we are continuously paying the price for our actions,” Mr Muramuzi said.
While trees and forests act as windbreakers, wetlands are drainage areas for water but when misused, flooding occurs. In an August 5 statement, Mr Festus Luboyera, the executive director of Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA), said the rainfall outlook for August indicates that areas of northern, eastern and parts of mid-western are likely to receive enhanced rainfall while the rest of the country will get occasional rainfall.“Generally, the month of August forms the last month of June, July and August rainfall season and is always characterised by southward movement of the rainfall belt from the north,” Mr Luboyera said in the statement.
He added: “ The rainfall regime is expected to start drifting southerly from its current location in the north and that will lead to isolated outbreak of light showers over central, western, southwestern, lake Victoria basin and some parts of eastern regions whose weather conditions had been characterised by dry spell during the months of June and July. Wet conditions therefore are expected in areas of West Nile, Acholi, Lango, and Karamoja, parts of eastern and mid-western of Uganda.”Mr Luboyera said chances of flooding are likely to occur in low lying areas, including urban centres with poor drainage as a result of the potential impacts of the predicted and occasional rain showers.
Mr Joseph Nkandu, the executive director of National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises, said the unstable weather is affecting farmers in different ways. “The recent weather is quite unpredictable. You will find that it rains today and tomorrow, it does not. What happens normally in this kind of micro-climate is that pests and diseases are never good for plant growth,” Mr Nkandu said.He added: “That’s why it is advisable that if there has been a dry spell and it eventually rains, don’t plant immediately. Rather, one should wait at least until the second downpour which would have stabilised the micro-climate for the crops.”
Mr Micheal Ssali, a farmer in Lwengo District, said the unstable weather was having an effect on his farm produce.“It has been dry for the past three months in some parts of the district. The rain has not been forthcoming. It stopped suddenly in May and because of this, other farmers and I had a very poor harvest of beans and maize,” he said.
