Uproar over move to divert lake water for rice growing

Residents from different villages in Bukulula Sub-county, Kalungu District are up in arms over a move by Chinese investors to divert water from a key catchment area of   Lake Victoria to create space for rice growing.

The rice project in Lwera is managed by a Chinese firm, Zhong Industries Limited.

The section of the Lake, which is yet to be encroached upon, covers the landing sites of Bulingo and Kalangala.

According to residents from villages, including Bulingo A, B, Kalangala and Kamugombwa, who derive their livelihoods from Lake Victoria, Zhong Industries Limited, which grows rice from Lwera swamp, is plotting to extend its rice fields to cover the lake’s catchment area, measuring approximately four square miles.

Mr Edward Bbaale, a fisherman at Bulingo Landing Site, said encroachment on the lake shores by the Chinese investors has already started and heavy machinery is already on ground.

“They have already mapped the lake along the swampy shoreline and they want to establish a murram barrier to block the stream that links the swamp to the lake and later pump the water off this basin to start rice growing,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.  

Mr Maria Nabukeera, a fish dealer in Lukaya Town Council, said if Lake Victoria is drained, thousands of fish and other aquatic animals like the wetland antelopes and others will die in the process. Mr Bazadde Kaweesi, the chairperson of Bukulula Sub-county, called upon authorities, who are supposed to monitor the activities of Zhong Industries Limited in Lwera, to deter it from causing serious ecological disaster by stopping it from diverting water that flows into the lake.

‘It’s unfortunate that in whatever is being done here, we are not involved as local leaders, but according to what we have seen, it is very unfortunate that such plans can just be looked at by authorities like National Environment Management Authority (Nema),” he said.     

Mr Frank Kasibante, the assistant public relations officer at Biodiversity Conservation Foundation (BCF), a grassroots conservation organisation, said the destruction of part of Lake Victoria arm in Kalungu District, which serves as a breeding ground for Tilapia, Lung and Catfish, will seriously affect the entire water body.

“All the aquatic life there will be lost, but the most deadly impact will be exposing the main lake system to the volumes of chemicals and fertilisers involved in rice growing,” he said.

Mr Victor Mpinga, the project’s community liaisons and communications officer of Zhong Industries Limited, said they have no plan of encroaching on the lake.

“It is true the company has been expanding its fields, but we are doing it within specified limits, even local people are growing sweet potatoes on the shores of the lake, that’s what we are also planning to do with rice,” he noted.

Ms Naomi Karekaho, the principal communications officer at Nema, revealed that as they are not aware of the issue and they will investigate.

While launching the anti-littering campaign in September 2023, at Lukaya Town Council in Kalungu District, Dr Barirega Akankwasa, the Nema Executive Director, said several complaints have come up about rice growing in Lwera and pledged to engage the district leadership.