Africa-Press – Uganda. Over the last two years I have lost close to 50 cows and a sizeable number of calves,” Steven Muvunyi, a pastoral farmer in Nyakarongo Village in Kinoni Sub-county, Nakaseke District narrates, adding, “The dry spell lasted more than we expected.”
Mr Muvunyi’s sense of loss is shared by several other farmers in the cattle corridor who have been driven to despair by climate change. For the past two years, water levels have dropped steeply as the sun burned bleakly amid several failed rainfalls. This has left pastoral farmers caught between a hard rock and a hard place.
“We used to receive at least three or four months of rain, but, due to climatic changes, it’s hard to predict the outcomes now,” James Nuwagaba, the chairperson for Nyakarongo Dairy Cooperative, said.
Uganda’s cattle corridor spans a vast area from central to south western Uganda and right through to some parts of Karamoja Sub-region in the north east. This is about 40 percent of Uganda’s land area. While the cattle corridor plays an important role as far as local—even national—food security is concerned, it has been vulnerable to climate change.
The resource variability has taken on a more ugly outlook this time round in the face of the recent long drought. Pastoralists have found themselves exhausting coping strategies at their disposal such as livestock mobility. Farmers have watched helplessly as their cattle succumb to heat and hunger. The losses are in billions of shillings.
To salvage the situation, pastoralists have been forced to sell off their cows at giveaway prices. With feed prices escalating and income dwindling, the pastoralists have had to make some tough decisions.
“A person who had like 200 cows had to sell off like 50 to save the rest. However, the traders were offering at most Shs50,000 per cow,” Mr Muvunyi told Saturday Monitor.
He further revealed that the sustained periods of severe water stress compounded their woes, forcing many to spend Shs500,000 daily to hire tankers that ferry water from neighbouring districts.
Mr William Matovu, the country director of Heifer Uganda, an organisation that works with pastoralists in the cattle corridor, says: “Climate change is now real and these farmers are now feeling the pinch. The interesting thing is that we are at a point where farmers are willing to listen and learn.”
After counting losses for years now, farmers are now waking up to the challenge of adopting new ways of farming such as paddocking their lands, planting improved and drought-resistant pastures, agroforestry, to mention a few.
Majority of the farmers in the cattle corridor keep local breeds such as the Ankole longhorn cows which—despite their low yield of milk and beef—are darlings purely on account of being drought resistant. Those with herds of cross and hybrid or friesian cattle in their possession are however feeling the pinch because they can’t withstand the hard conditions.
“Despite the different interventions to help the farmers to cope with the extremes of weather, some stay out because they see some things as being impractical,” Mr Matovu told Saturday Monitor, adding, “Take planting pastures, some [farmers] question if it is even possible to plant grass.”
Mr Matovu further revealed that farmers that warmed up to adaptation interventions have been able to mitigate the adverse effects of the extreme weather. He adds that mass sensitisation is of the essence if the green adaptation is to be achieved.
“At this point we need to support our farmers to be able to adopt the new ways because climate change is no longer a myth but a reality upon us,” he said.
Mr Alex Kabale, a Nakaseke-based extension worker with Heifer’s Accelerating Diary Production and Productivity (ADAP) project, notes that the biggest pull factor to climate-smart farming are the benefits.
“The farmers growing and storing fodder and silage are reaping big compared to those depending on the natural grass,” Mr Kabale observes.
Cows feeding on fodder and silage have a higher milk production rate because of the rich nutrients in this grass.
The ADAP project—initially a three-year project, running from 2020 to 2023—has transformed the thought processes of many pastoralists.
“Initially, there were many resistances, including the farmers who thought growing pastures was impossible, but with time they have realised that growing pastures and conserving the environment is the way to go,” Mr Kabale revealed.
As Uganda grapples with extreme weather, the place cattle and other farm animals occupy is also bound to come under scrutiny. Globally, livestock are reported to produce nearly 14 per cent of human-induced climate emissions. The digestive process that allows hoofed animals to absorb plants while emitting methane—a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide—compounds global heating.
Places like Uganda’s cattle corridor are bound to come in for criticism. Experts have advised that options for reducing methane such as alternative feeds for cattle as well as cutting meat and dairy production be explored.
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