Africa-Press – Uganda. On Thursday, UN officials and non-governmental organisations sent out a warning that deaths from hunger are on the rise in Africa.
Experts warned that the continent is facing an unprecedented food crisis due to droughts, climate change and conflict.
Officials from Unicef, NGOs Care and Oxfam told a joint press conference in Paris, France, that there is a death by starvation every 36 seconds on average in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
Uganda could be East Africa’s food basket since we export more food than any other country in the region, but we should be reminded that we face the same threats causing hunger deaths in other African countries.
The hundreds of deaths in Karamoja sub-region less than a year ago must be fresh in many people’s memories. Mid last year, Uganda’s media was awash with stories and images of hunger-stricken Karimojong, a crisis that is reported to have caused more than 900-hunger-related deaths.
Just like other parts of Africa that are facing food crises, the hunger in Karamoja was blamed on drought, climate change and conflict.
It is said that the biggest challenge we face in our generation is climate change, and its negative effects are already being felt. Among the most affected sectors in Uganda by climate change is agriculture that feeds and employs millions of Ugandans.
The weather patterns have become less predictable and this has resulted in drought as seen in parts of Uganda last year, and downpours that have caused deadly flooding as seen in Bugisu sub-region last year. Therefore, we need to pay attention to the warnings since more hunger-related deaths could be closer than we think.
To avert the looming hunger crisis that UN and the others are warning about, Uganda needs to urgently deal with the issue of over reliance on rain for farming. We appreciate the increasing adoption of irrigation by farmers, but government needs to make a deliberate effort to see to it that majority of farmers transition to irrigation.
Government also needs to set up an emergency fund to specifically deal with food security. We do not want to see officials running around in circles like we witnessed when we faced the Karamoja crisis last year.
Finally, to deal with crop failure, government needs to invest in drought-tolerant seed varieties. This is the only way farmers will adopt to the changing times and ensure they have both food on the table and money in their pockets.
We need to take heed of warnings of rising hunger deaths, or soon we could join the list of African countries losing citizens every minute to hunger.
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