Greens from Karamoja
With only six acres of land in Nadiket village Nadunget Sub County in Moroto district where World Food Programme (WFP) started an irrigation pilot project, the Karimojong are now earning big with the sale of vegetables.
“Life has become better because we have got market and we supply our vegetables in all the big hotels and restaurants in Moroto Municipality,” Mr Paul Loruk said, adding that greens in this dry season in Karamoja are on high demand.
He said they sell five uprooted stems of greens, locally called gobe, at Shs300 to Shs1,000. He believes that doctors in Moroto will begin registering fewer malnutrition cases, especially in their village in Nadiket.
Mr Loruk is excited and positive about the new venture because when he and his team went to sell their first batch of greens, they got Shs70,000.
Ms Jessica Naput another beneficiary of the programme said they are planning to open up a bank account where they can keep their money that they will be getting from the sale of their produce.
“We will use part of this money for buying more seeds,” she said.
The irrigation technology, started by WFP in November last year, uses water flowing from the springs of Mt Moroto.
The water is tapped from the rivers of the mountain that flows throughout the year. The in-charge World Food Programme Mr Bai Mankay Sankoh said the project cost Shs56m.He said WFP is planning to expand the acres from six to 10 using the same method of irrigation.
The Karamoja region located in the northeastern part of the Uganda comprises seven districts of Moroto, Kotido, Kaabong, Nakapiripirit, Amudat, Abim and Napak. The region has fertile land but inspite of that, it has for the last 10 years suffered from the highest level of malnutrition and hunger caused by persistence drought.
