Food shortage hits Butebo 

Several families in the eastern district of Butebo are on the verge of starvation due to a severe food shortage.

The leaders attribute the dire situation to a poor food harvest.

Mr James Okurut, the chairperson of Butebo, said several homesteads have resorted to having a single meal a day.

“Although this isn’t the first time the district is experiencing a food shortage, the current situation is becoming worse owing to the prolonged drought, which affected the harvest,” he said on Sunday.

Mr Okurut added that the food shortage has put close to three-quarters of the population on the verge of hunger.

The little food that some families harvested is being sold to raise money for basic needs and to pay school fees.

Mr Rita Kaidu, a district councillor, said the situation is worse in rural settings.

“The harvest was frustrated by the bad weather and dry spell,” Mr Kaidu said.

Mr James Mpande, a father of six children and a resident of Kanginima Sub-county, said they are depending on porridge.

“We don’t know how the situation will be in the coming months,” Mr Mpande said.

Butebo District is prone to natural disasters such as storms, which also partly contributed to crop failure.

 Mr Wilber Tazenya, a resident of Kakoro Sub-county, said: “We don’t have food and hunger has started to bite us, please, before the situation gets out of hand, we appeal to the government to come to our rescue.” 

The chairperson of Kakoro Sub-county, Mr Robert Opolot, said locals should be provided with improved seeds in the second season.

Storage plans

The Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Dr Monica Musenero, advised locals to resort to the traditional practice of storing food.

“This could be done through revamping food granaries as family strategies of mitigating the looming hunger and famine,” he said.

Ms Musenero made the remarks as she embarked on the distribution of improved maize seeds to Parish Development Model (PDM) Saccos as part of a drive to fight the prevailing food insecurity at the weekend.

While meeting the PDM Sacco executive leaders at different sub-counties, she said the PDM programme will be vital in mitigating the poverty levels.

BACKGROUND

    About 88.3 percent of the households in the Butebo District depend on subsistence farming as the main source of livelihood. The current poverty rate is 43.7 percent with a GDP per capita of less than $135 in the Bukedi Sub-region. The sub-region comprises Pallisa, Budaka, Butebo, Butaleja, Tororo and Busia.