Banana, coffee intercropping pose acute food crisis

Some of the farmers and local leaders at one of the coffee farms in Koboko District. PHOTO BY JOSEPH EIGU ONYANGO.

Agricultural experts are foreseeing a more adverse food crisis situation likely to hit the country with the unguided practices of intercropping, many farmers are adopting in different parts of the country.

With the onset of seasonal rains, farmers are restocking their plantations following an unprecedented dry spells that scorched their crops, leading to famine and financial stress.

Dr Emmanuel Kalungi Kayoowa, the Sembabule District production officer, warns that simultaneous growing of banana plantations with coffee, a practice embraced by many farmers, may instead worsen the food crisis, especially with future occurrences of prolonged dry seasons.

Speaking at a community meeting at Lwebitakuli Sub-county recently, Dr Kawooya observed that although intercropping is a farming practice aimed at maximising land use, the anticipated benefits may be overridden by huge losses, especially to perennial crops like coffee and bananas.
He says besides the extensive competition over soil nutrients between plants which causes deficiency in yields, the roots from coffee plants become stronger as they grow hence fighting off the banana plants.

“And because the two plants are not stable in feeding and growth, they exhaust the soils so fast and eventually become vulnerable to drought hence their general failure,” he noted.

Best practice
Dr Kawooya asked farmers to preserve their banana plantations and have perennial cash crops separately if they wish to earn sustainable incomes and at the same time be assured of food security.

Disan Muwanga, an ecologist and chairperson of Greater Masaka Banana Growers Association, argues that given the unfavourable seasonal changes and invasion of strange pests and diseases, farmers stand high risks of losing out on their intercropped plant varieties in the near future.

According to him, a banana plantation mixed with coffee can at most last for a period of three years; a time when the farmer should be enjoying steady harvest. He urges that anybody intending to practice intercropping of any sort should first seek advice from agricultural experts for due guidance.

“We are also seeing some pests and diseases after destroying coffee plantations, evolve and finish up the entire banana plantation. These are indicators of a more serious famine that awaits the country if farmers are not guided and trained,” he said.