By PATRICK JARAMOGI

Kampala, UGANDA| SHIFT MEDIA NEWS: Government funding in the irrigation sector is still low and could greatly affect food production needed to meet the growing population, an expert has stated.

Eng. Richard Cong, the Managing Director MARS Engineering and Services and former commissioner for Water in the Ministry of Water and Environment observed that water, food, and energy are key elements needed in the ecosystem cycle.

Presenting a paper: “Strategic Investment Areas in Water Agriculture” at the Food Rights Alliance (FRA) organized public dialogue, Cong said “Uganda has an irrigation Master Plan, but the funding to implement the plan is still lacking. Uganda has a budget of 5 percent towards irrigation yet countries like Egypt and Ethiopia where irrigation has transformed the country spend over two-thirds of their budget for water production.”

The experts drawn from the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries, the Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change and Civil society were discussing at the FRA organized event under the theme “High Level Policy convening on water for agriculture production “Leveraging the water burden to offset the future water needs” that was held at the Golf Course Hotel in Kampala.

Cong said 70% of the global water use is for agriculture production

“34% of the water in Uganda has disappeared in the last 16 years while 80% of Uganda is in rainfall deficit. It rains but the evaporation is so high, that is why need irrigation,” said Cong.

He noted that ICID  (The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage) calls for upgrading modernization and expansion of irrigation, drainage and flood management as key issues to address food insecurity.

Dr. Joshua Wanyama from the Makerere University Department of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering said there is need to produce more food to meet the increasing global population.

“By 2050 we shall have 9.7 billion. Uganda’ s growth rate now stands at 3.4%. meaning that by 2050 we shall have a population of 100 million people and these people need food,” he said.

He observed that a multidisciplinary approach is needed coupled with better storage of water during the rainy season to boost food security.

“Often there is enough rainfall, but not enough storage. We need to scale up water buffer management,” he told the participants.

Eng. Dominic Banaga Mucunguzi, the Asst Commissioner Water for Production in the Ministry of Agriculture said clear land tenure rights are a prerequisite to irrigation investments.

“Farmer managed or jointly managed irrigation systems perform better than systems managed solely by a government agency,” said Banaga.

He said gravity smallholder schemes have the highest likelihood of success, and conversely pumped group schemes have the highest risk of failure.

He called for massive investment in irrigated agriculture by all stakeholders. “There is need to focus on water use efficiency, conservation & waste prevention,” he said.

Henry Kimera, the FRA Treasurer Board and a renown consumer advocate urged the government to focus more on having a minimum price for agricultural products.

Before we focus more on irrigation, we need to ask ourselves why are the youth leaving agriculture for boda boda? Agricultural mechanization is a myth, seeds are bad, fertilizer are bad. I spend shs10 million in my farm and end up earning shs2 million and you call me lazy?” said Kimera.

He said the focus should also be centered more on the production of quality agricultural products. “Most produce is rejected due to contamination of heavy metals. Farmers produce very good maize but the hullers infect the produce leading to rejection in markets,” he said.

Background To The Irrigation Master Plan

For many years, Ugandan farmers have relied on, and thrived, on rainfall to water the land, with irrigation mostly associated with large-scale schemes.

But the climate is changing and droughts are becoming more frequent.

Most regions in Uganda, especially north and northeastern have been hit by food shortages after much of the area’s harvests failed due to drought.

Following studies, government developed a 25-year master plan on irrigation that has been spread across leading regions in the country.

One of the reasons for the low levels of irrigation in Uganda has been the reliance on rain-fed agriculture, which has become less reliable with the fluctuations in weather.

The master plan envisages that to popularise irrigation, demand-driven demonstrations will be necessary. And once farmers see that irrigation can be the difference between a good harvest and starvation, the uptake will be expected to increase.

Parliament recently approved a Euro 101.8 million loan to develop a solar-powered irrigation and water supply system across the country.

The loan will be borrowed from the UK Export Finance (UKEF) and will go towards developing 920 water supply systems for domestic use and irrigation across the country, and will be implemented through the Ministry of Water and Environment over a three-year period.