By. Damba Rogers.
Farming in Uganda being rain-fed which sometimes causes frustration mainly when seasons change, Ugandan farmers are now being advised to always use modern technologies as they practice farming if they are to register constant yields.
Daniel Omodo Momondu, the acting team leader climate change and disaster resilience, UNDP Uganda offices advises reveals that they are promoting and supporting climate smart agriculture and for this, they are encouraging planting of short maturing crops, embracing water harvesting technologies and this is being promoted by the ministries of water and environment as well as agriculture.
This is mostly done in high land and lower areas they are encouraging water harvesting and solar water pumping through the building resilient communities and wetlands echo systems and associated catchment project.
Omodo further mentions that most of the farming communities in the country have started castigating the sun yet just a few weeks back, the country has been experiencing heavy rains which have provided water. He expresses worries that all that water has been lost and now farmers are crying.
But with the technologies mentioned above, UNDP is trying so hard to see that farmers in the country transform from depending on water to facilitate crop and animal farming to using technologies to facilitate their activities.
A 2015 water survey carried out by the water and environment ministry, makerere university school of environment science among other development partners reveals that 90% of uganda’s water is just wasted putting only 10% to use. The statistics worried the researchers being that uganda’s backbone is agriculture which depends on water and mainly rain water.
Uganda as a country, receives two rainy seasons a year but most of the rain water which moves upto more than 1000mm is wasted.
Omodo assures us that in communities where they are implementing their resilient project, farmers have fully embrrassed modern technologies to harvest water for future domestic and commercial use.
The development partners note that if Ugandan farmers can embrace modern agriculture technologies, then they will start registering improved yields just like it is in areas where the building resilient communities and wetlands echo systems and associated catchment project is being implemented.
However, the technical advisor, climate change at the German development cooperation (GIZ) John Kasiita Ssemulema is urging the private sector to start investing more in importing and selling modern technologies to farmers, and in this way they will be able to combat effects of climate change as they go on with their daily agriculture activities.
Uganda being vulnerable to climate change effects, this has continued to affect the back bone of this great nation which in the short and long term will translate into poverty.
The 2017/18 world bank report indicates that Uganda lost between 4 to 12 percent of her GDP to insufficiencies in the agriculture sector. It is estimated that only 2% of uganda’s cultivated land is irrigated. This now calls for more action from all parties.
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