Rice farmers cry foul as climate change bites

The continued construction of structures in wetlands will trigger severe floods and other climate change-related disasters in the country, experts have warned. 

Wetlands are an essential ecosystem that supports biodiversity and climate mitigation and adaptation, fresh water availability, global economies, and more.   

Mr Jackson Muhindo Rukara, the climate justice coordinator at Oxfam Uganda, says the environment is at the mercy of large-scale land-based investments mainly managed by private sector companies. 

“The investors are destabilising the natural ecosystems. An example is sand mining and rice growing in Lwera wetland. The same investors are constructing factories in wetlands thus destabilising nature,” he tells Saturday Monitor, adding, “Some of their factories dispense their discharge in our fresh water bodies.”

Licences of such investors in wetlands, Mr Muhindo opines, should be revoked. The Oxfam Uganda official is particularly perplexed at how rice growing in the Lwera swamp has been green-lit. The swamp, which stretches about 20 kilometres along the Kampala-Masaka Highway, is a major water catchment area that connects Gomba-Mpigi and Kalungu districts. It then drains directly into Lake Victoria. 

Several Chinese companies and investors operate rice fields in the swamp despite environmentalists warning, on several occasions, that such activities have a negative impact on the area’s ecosystem. 

Lwera swamp has in the past decades attracted many companies and individuals. The enterprises they run range from sand mining to fish farming. 

During his wealth creation tour in Masaka Sub-region in 2019, President Museveni said he was “uncomfortable” with rice growing in Lwera. He also ordered the eviction of all encroachers, saying the wetlands are part of public land that is essentially insulated from individuals’ selfish interests.  

Adverse effects 
Climate change impacts continue to affect food security and livelihoods of agricultural communities who depend on crops such as maize and rice. Environmental experts insist that it is hardly accidental that its adverse effects are being felt in the wake of the shrinking of wetlands. 

Wetlands coverage in Uganda reduced from 15.6 percent of the country’s total surface area in 1994 to 8.9 percent as stated in the state of wetlands report in 2019 published by the Ministry of Water and Environment. 

“Empowering youth in good environmental governance and national resources management is the only sustainable solution to economic, political and social development,” Ms Harriet Acham, an environmental activist, says of the need to develop youth-centric wetlands restoration programmes.

Uganda set a target of restoring the wetlands to 12 percent coverage in the National Development Plan three and Vision 2040. Mr Edwin Muhumuza, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Youth Go Green, says this is just as well since “depleting these crucial ecosystems compromises biodiversity, water quality, and exacerbates climate change, directly impacting the livelihoods and food security of the local communities.”

He adds: “Thorough environmental assessments, a shift towards sustainable development practices are urgently needed to protect and conserve Uganda’s wetlands.”

Implementation of environmental law has, however, been historically poor. As a result, Mr Muhumuza says, half of Bungoma forest has been decimated by investors. 

Flooding
Last year Mbale Sino Industrial Park was flooded, with properties worth millions of shillings destroyed. In September, the government started re-channelling River Nashibisho in Mbale Sino industrial park in order to prevent flooding. The river, which runs through the park, was one of many large natural streams of water that burst their banks in Mbale City last August, killing 29 people and displacing hundreds more.

As President Museveni condoled with the bereaved families, he underlined the dangers of environmental degradation by depleting forest cover, invading wetlands, cultivating on riverbanks, and throwing polythene bags in drainage channels. All this, he said, blocks the free flow of water. Mr Joseph Okello, an environmental expert, couldn’t agree more.

“We have loss of soil fertility leading to loss of crop fertility. People have cultivated on the river banks and seasons have changed. We now have two seasons in the region,” Mr Okello tells Saturday Monitor. 

Mr Charles Wakube, the environmental officer in Mbale District, says the science shows that the establishment of factories in wetlands has not been without consequences. He adds that Mbale Sino industrial park was constructed in a flood plain area where excess water can gather. 

“The government sat and approved the establishment of Mbale Sino industrial park and we advised the government accordingly that development can go on after conducting comprehensive environment and social development by Uganda Investment Authority,” Mr Wakube says, adding that the experts advised that each factory to be established should have an environment and social impact assessment certificate from National Environment Management Authority (Nema). 

Dr Barirega Akankwasah, the executive director of Nema, describes Lwera and Mbale Sino industrial park as “legacy projects that were approved before the government suspended any further developments in wetlands.” He also says Nema has—since September 2, 2021—suspended further developments in wetlands.

Ms Rhoda Nyarimbi, the senior environment officer of Mbale City, says they are sensitising the communities not to settle on the river banks but instead plant trees along the same. 

Double standards?
According to Ministry of Water and Environment statistics, Uganda has lost more than 30 percent of its wetlands in the last 23 years. Many nationals have also accused the government of double standards, asking state actors to first address issues of factories that are releasing deadly pollutants into the wetlands. 

They also want the government to rein in the construction of houses and factories in the wetlands to show that it is serious about saving the environment. 

Recently, rice farmers, exporters and millers petitioned the Speaker of Parliament to stop the eviction of natives doing rice farming in wetlands. They cited double standards since foreign investors doing the same in wetlands remain untouched.

“People grow rice in the wetlands, so evicting them has affected the production,” Mr Isaac Kashaija, the chairperson of the Rice Business Sector Association Limited (RBSAL), says, adding that the ban has also led to low production, pushing the retail price for a kilogramme of the starchy grain to Shs3,400. 

Mr Simon Peter Bumba, a rice farmer in Budaka District, says the rice ban in Uganda has not only caused low production but has also affected the school-going children. 

“After the eviction from the wetland our children dropped out of school due to lack of school fees,” he says, adding, “If we are growing rice in wetlands and the government thinks we are not doing it the right way, then we need to be guided on the best modern farming practices of growing rice because rice as a food crop best grows in wetland areas. We are surprised that the wetlands are being given to investors to grow rice, leaving us the local farmers with no space to grow rice and the only option is to quit rice growing.”

Mr Bumba has tasked political leaders and enforcement teams mandated with ensuring good environmental practices to block investors from constructing more factories in wetlands.

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