Karamoja food prices spike after closure of Moroto-Nakapiripirit-Mbale road

Food prices in some districts of Karamoja sub region have increased again following the closure of the Moroto-Nakapiripirit-Muyembe-Mbale road after April floods washed away several bridges along its length.

The route, which is preferred by traders transporting merchandise from Bugisu and Sebei region to Karamoja, was closed at the start of May by theUganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) for maintenance, forcing traders in Bugisu and Sebei region to take a 350km detour from Mbale, Soroti, Katakwi, and Napak to Moroto and connect again to Nakapiripirit and Amudat.

The increased transport costs have led to a spike in food prices in Karamoja, theCooperator has established.

In just two weeks, the price of sugar in Moroto Municipality has risen 12.5%, from Shs 4000 per kilogramme to Shs 4,500, while the price of maize flour is up 23%, from Shs 3,000 to Shs 3,700 per kilo. Three tomatoes cost between Shs 2,000 to 3,000 depending on size.

Sarah Namboze, a tomatoes trader in Moroto, said the closure of the shortest route to Karamoja has caused many traders to incur losses.

She said although the Mbale- Moroto road is tarmacked, traders spend a lot more taking it because of the distance (350km) compared to using the Mbale-Muyembe-Nakapiripirit-Moroto road which is about 200km long.

According to Namboze, before the closure of the shortest route to Karamoja, they used to pay Shs 5,000 to transport each 100 kg bag of maize flour, but now the cost of transport has doubled, with transporters charging Shs 10,000 per bag because of having to use a longer route to get to Karamoja.

“We are forced to increase the prices of commodities trying to recover what we are being charged for using the long route,” she said, “but still we are not making any profit because customers have no money due to this lockdown.“

Moses Pulkol, another business man from Nakapiripirit district appealed to government to tarmac the Nakapiripirit-Mbale road as well, so that the region can compete fully with the rest of the country in terms of development.

Mark Lomongin, a resident of Moroto town said he has been forced to cut down on the number of meals his family takes due to the high cost of living.

“When my family eats a heavy lunch, they take porridge for supper. That’s how I am trying to manage this situation, because even all my businesses are locked due to the COVID-19 effect,” he said.

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Grasshoppers cause 200,000-acre crop failure in Kitgum district

Farmers in Kitgum district have suffered crop failure on an estimated 200,000 acres of farmland due to a voracious pest known as the variegated grasshopper, the district’s Production Officer, Alfred Omony has revealed.

The destructive pest, which feeds on a wide variety of food crops, has been reported all of Kitgum’s nine sub-counties plus three divisions in the municipality.

“They [grasshoppers] are more destructive to sorghum. They eat the panicle, causing the whole plant to dry up. Three farmers in three sub counties reported that the grasshoppers had destroyed all their acres of sorghum and they need replanting. We suspect there are other farmers who did not report,” Omony said.

He said other crops such as cassava, maize and soya beans are also greatly affected by the pests.

“Although the pests don’t destroy the entire garden in all cases, the surviving plants are left with poor health, leading to reduced yield.”

According to Omony there is an estimated 200,000 acres of total crop failure due to the pests.

Counting losses

Among the affected farmers are five vegetable farmer groups in Kitgum district who say they have lost more than 10 acres of vegetables to the grasshoppers.

The most affected farmers are beneficiaries of Akworo Irrigation Scheme, a 100-million shilling project established in Labongo Amida Sub County by the Ministry of Water and Environment in 2018-2019, to mitigate the effects of prolonged drought in the area, reduce dependency on rain-fed agriculture and subsequently boost vegetable growing in the Sub-County.

The irrigation scheme, which sits on a 17-acre piece of land, serves more than 200 vegetable and fruits growers under an umbrella farmers’ group called Akworo Small Scale Farmers, and further divided into farmer sub-groups.

Barely a year since they began using the irrigation scheme, the farmers have been hit by the voracious pests which are eating up their tender crops, causing them to wilt and dry prematurely.

Geoffrey Ocaya Nyeko, a member of Ribbe Aye Teko farmers’ group, which comprises 11 members, said the grasshoppers invaded the area in March this year, and have continued to ravage vegetables, grain and other crops for more than two months.

Ocaya said the group, which started in 2016 as a savings group, incorporated farming into their activities after the irrigation scheme was established so as to boost their income and grow their group. He says he has benefited a great deal from the farming group.

“The group has given me access to many trainings, improved my farming skills and enabled me increase my earnings. Paying my children’s school fees and buying other household items was eased the past one year,” he said.

However, Ocaya thinks all these might change, because the pests have destroyed their main source of livelihood.

“We expected to raise at least Shs 10 million from planting onions, green pepper and watermelon, but the dream is being shattered in our faces,” he said, adding that the group had recently transplanted five plots of onions, all of which have now been destroyed by the pests.

Janet Akiyo is a member of Can deg Cac group who have specialized in growing green pepper and tomatoes. She said their harvest of green peppers was profitable in the last season, but the group is unsure of reaping much this season.

She said they had planted six plots of tomatoes, but the pests ate the leaves, causing the tomatoes to dry before flowering.

An efficient pest

Ocaya, who is also the General Secretary of Akworo Small Scale Farmers’ group, said they first sighted the grasshoppers in the December planting season till February when they were harvesting green pepper, watermelon and tomatoes.

“At the time, the level of destruction was not too much because it was dry season but the pests are now so many,” he said.

He described the grasshoppers as slow-moving, which gives them the chance to destroy all the crops around them.

Lillian Lanyero, Parish Chief of Manwoko Parish, said they visited the affected crop fields three weeks ago, and registered massive destruction of crops such as tomatoes, onions, watermelons by the pests.

Wilfred Nyeko, the LC III Chairperson of Labongo Amida Sub County, said the most affected villages are Manwoko and Bipong villages in Mawoko parish.

Nyeko said apart from the 10 acres of green pepper, onions and tomatoes ravaged by the pests in Manwoko village, the pests are also destroying maize, sorghum, beans and other crops in Bipong village.

“The pests are continuing to destroy the crops, and the extent of the damage on other cereal and grain crops is still not definite,”

He said although the district is aware of the problem, nothing is being done by the responsible district authorities to help the farmers because of the disruptions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Immune to pesticides?

Even more baffling, farmers say, is that the grasshoppers seem immune to common pesticides.

“We are using a pesticide called ‘Striker’, but it is not killing the grasshoppers,” Ocaya said.

Responding to the farmers’ pesticide challenge, the District Production Officer advised them to switch to Cypermethrin, Rocket and Ambush to spray their crop gardens, and consult the Field Extension Workers in the Sub Counties for guidance on how to optimise efficiency in their use.

Omony stressed the importance of adopting a correct spraying technique if farmers are to obtain the desired results.

“We advise that they spray in the morning when the grasshoppers are not yet active. Spraying should be started from the boundary and go towards the middle of the garden, because if you start from the middle, they pests can smell the chemical and start running in all directions,” he said.

Manwoko Parish chief, Lillian Lanyero also suspects that the problem might be with the farmers’ spraying technique, and not with the pesticide itself.

“We learned that farmers start spraying from the middle of the fields, which gives the grasshoppers channels of escape,” she said, adding that they have since advised them to start spraying all-round their crop fields.

Lanyero said that following up on the level of destruction so far inflicted by the grasshoppers is hampered by the ban on transport due to COVID-19.

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Kenya rolls out USD 500m post-COVID economic stimulus plan

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday, May 23 announced an 8-point economic stimulus programme to boost the economy and mitigate the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on livelihoods and business activity in the country.

The intervention, projected to cost Kshs 53.7 billion ( Ushs 1.9 trillion) aims to stimulate economic growth and aid companies and families to “navigate out of the COVID-19 Pandemic”.

Announcing the plan, Kenyatta noted: “COVID-19 is not only a health crisis; it’s also an economic crisis.” The stimulus program will target key sectors of the economy.

Infrastructure and Manufacturing

The program’s first focus area is on rehabilitating access roads, footbridges and public infrastructure that has been “adversely affected” by the ongoing excessive rains. This, Kenyatta says, will cost Kshs 5bn, that has been set aside to hire local labour for the undertaking.

“We are convinced, with use of local labour and local construction materials, in line with the Buy Kenya Build Kenya policy, we will stimulate and support the micro and small business enterprises,” he said.

Similarly, Kenyatta’s plans for the manufacturing sector include a strategic enforcement of the Buy Kenya Build Kenya policy, with an initial Kshs 600m already set aside to purchase locally manufactured vehicles. The government hopes, with this intervention, to sustain the operations of local vehicle manufacturers and their attendant employees.

Agriculture

For the agricultural sector, the plan allocates Kshs 3bn for supply of farm inputs and aims to reach 200,000 small scale farmers in Kenya. A further Kshs 1.5bn will go to support the flower and horticultural industries’ access to international markets, during a period when their work is adversely affected by shortage of flights into and outside the country.

President Kenyatta intimated that: “these interventions will support the sustenance of our farming communities and provide continued gainful employment for thousands of workers in our bread basket areas.”

Tourism, hospitality

On a related note, the tourism sector, which has been especially hit by restrictions on movement and termination of international flights, will receive a jumpstart to cushion it from heavy financial losses.

Government plans to provide soft loans to hotels and related establishments through the Tourism Finance Corporation (TFC), a statutory body set up to facilitate long-term investment in Kenya’s tourism industry by providing affordable development funding and advisory services.

SME support

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), whose liquidity has been adversely affected by COVID-19 are also targeted to receive stimulus. Ksh 10 billion is earmarked to fast-track payment of outstanding Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds and pending government arrears, while the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme will receive a Ksh 3 billion injection in order to ease access to credit for small businesses.

Health and education

For the health sector, the Uhuru administration intends to hire 5,000 healthcare workers with diploma qualification, for a period of one year, to enhance the country’s COVID-19 rapid response capability and quicken implementation of its Universal Health Program (UHP).

Ksh 1.7 billion will go into expansion of bed capacity in public hospitals as well as supporting critical medical research and innovations.

Government has also allocated an additional Kshs 6.5 bn to the ministry of Education, to renovate schools’ infrastructure, hire 10,000 teachers and 1000 ICT interns to support digital learning as they draw plans for re-opening of schools, among other interventions.

Rough times ahead

While it’s still unclear when businesses will fully return to economic productivity following the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent government containment policies globally, its devastating impact on the world economy is readily apparent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that the global economy will contract by 3%, while Sub-Saharan African economies are expected to contract by 1.6%.

A recent survey of 147 firms in Uganda by the Economic Policy Research Centre found that most enterprises are struggling to stay afloat and could close if the prevailing economic situation persists for about three months more.

The think tank proposed cuts on tax rates, reducing taxable income, offering tax credits and tax refunds as possible ways that government could come to the aid of distressed businesses.

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Teso citrus farmers look to regional market in the post COVID-era

Contrary to widespread gloomy economic projections in the post-COVID future, citrus farmers in Teso sub-region are optimistic that they will grow their market share in the East African region due to “the mutual understanding that the sister countries have developed during the pandemic.”

“I know post COVID-19 will offer orange farmers a good platform to sell their produce to countries in East Africa and this will fetch us market,” said James Elianu, the Chairperson, Aipecitoi Farmers Group Association (AFGA) in Kyere sub-county, Serere district.

The farmers are especially looking forward to restoration of bilateral relations between Kampala and Kigali since, they say, Rwanda was an important market for them.

Ivan Aisu, a beneficiary of the Operation Wealth Creation programme and Local Council Chairperson for Akumoi village in Pingire sub-county, Serere district, said:

“Before Rwanda and Uganda went into the state of disagreement, the Rwandan businessmen offered us good prices for our oranges. But immediately there was a border issue where Kagame closed his borders with Uganda, our products lost market.”

Aisu, who owns a 10-acre orchard of oranges, urged presidents Museveni and Kagame to resolve their differences for the sake of their countries, saying he has failed to sell his oranges to Soroti Fruit factory citing low prices.

Meanwhile, John Onapito, the biggest orange producer in Teso says he is capable of supplying the factory with at least 40 tonnes of oranges per season, but is unable to do so because he is not a registered farmer with any cooperative society, which is a qualification for all farmers wishing to sell their citrus to the factory.

He too is counting on supplying buyers from the region after lifting of the COVID-related strictures.

“I am waiting to see what the post COVID-19 situation will be like in the region. The moment businesspersons from Rwanda are allowed to come back to Uganda to buy our farm products then I will not have any problem,” he said.

White elephant

Jorem Opian Obicho, the Chairperson, Teso Tropical Fruit Farmers Cooperative Union,which is comprised of 59 cooperative societies, said many farmers in Teso started growing oranges at the President’s urging, hoping that Soroti Fruit factory would buy their produce. Instead, he says, it has turned out to be a white elephant.

“There are eight million orange trees in Teso, and we produce over 1.2 million tonnes of oranges, but only supply 300,000 tonnes to the factory,” Obicho says.

“The factory is incapacitated in its consumption rate of the oranges and this has forced farmers to look around for market in the neighbouring countries such as Kenya, South Sudan and Rwanda.”

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Four dead as floods hit Kasese again

Four people have been confirmed dead and dozens more are still missing after River Lhubiriha that connects Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) burst its banks Thursday morning, sweeping away three major bridges.

This is the third devastating weather incident to hit Kasese district in less than two weeks after rivers Nyamwamba , Mubuku and Nyamugasani recently burst their banks, leaving destruction in their wake.

According to Kasese deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Joshua Masereka, the four confirmed dead were from the same family.

”We can only account for four people, all from the same family, but we cannot say those are the only fatalities since the flooding is still too much,” Masereka said.

He noted that the deceased were all killed by a landslide that happened in Buhalirwa village, Kiraro Parish, Kitholhu sub-county.

Masereka revealed that the UPDF had come in to help with rescue efforts and advised residents of the affected areas to vacate them immediately.

“The UPDF has taken over whole valley, and we are relying on them to rescue any people that may be trapped.”

The Chairperson of the Mpondwe –Lhubiriha Town Council, Selvester Mapoze said that the floods, which came around 7:00am, had destroyed crops, houses and other property, in addition to claiming lives. He appealed for government’s help in dealing with the situation.

”So far, four people from Kitholhu, a UPDF soldier and another man from Isango have lost their lives. We appeal to government to come to our rescue as we save our people otherwise the situation is not good,” Mapoze said.

A UPDF officer who was rescued from the flooded Lhubiriha River told his ordeal:

“There were four of us here. Two managed to climb a tree, but another one was taken by the water. I survived narrowly after pulling my rope and calling on my officers for help,” he narrated.

Meanwhile, residents are worried as reports indicate that rivers Nyamwamba , Nyamugasani and Mubuku have started filling up again.

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Masindi municipal council loses Shs 50m in revenue due to lockdown

Masindi municipal council has lost Shs 50m in revenue over the past two months as a result of restrictions imposed in response to the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic, says Gafa Kate, the Masindi municipal Town Clerk.

In a bid to control the spread of the novel Coronavirus, the President Museveni instituted a national lockdown that included closure of so-called non-essential businesses, as well as suspension of passenger transport, a situation that has led to a reduction in revenue for districts.

According to Gafa, the Masindi Municipal council had a 12 billion budget for FY 2019/20, of which 1.5 billion was to be generated from local revenue while other funds would come from the central government.

However, with lockdown ongoing, revenue collection is a problem.

“Since we went into the lockdown we cannot collect property tax, street parking tax, loading and offloading fees and market dues, since most businesses are not working,” Gafa explained.

In total, the Town Clerk revealed, the Municipal Council is Shs 50m short of its revenue target for the past two months.

“The most affected department is Health, especially when it comes to garbage collection. Most of the local revenue is attached to paying casual labourers especially those who collect garbage. Currently our hands are tied; we have to persevere with the situation,” Gafa noted.

She added that, come next financial year, the Councillors may miss out on their allowance, which is normally paid out of the local revenue.

Abdul Latif Agaba, the acting Chief Finance Officer, Masindi municipal council, says currently most revenue coming in is from issuance of operational permits to people who need to enter their houses and those that need business licenses in order to get loans from financial institutions.

“People who directly get services from the municipality will have to be patient especially when it comes to garbage collection since the local revenue has drastically reduced,” Agaba said.

Joy Namata, a vendor at Masindi Central market is concerned that the reduction in local revenue will exacerbate the market’s existing garbage management problem.

“We have already been grappling with garbage in this market when the municipal was collecting enough money. How will it be in this situation of Coronavirus?” Namata wondered.

Collateral damage

According to residents of Masindi town who spoke to theCooperator, the restrictions imposed as part of the lockdown have affected even businesses that were allowed to remain open.

For example, several restaurants remain closed on grounds that most of their customers went back to the villages as a result of the lockdown.

Mary Kabagaya, a business woman who operates a small restaurant in Masindi town says she was forced to close her business since most of her customers like boda boda riders, welders, mechanics and saloon operators returned to their villages and have never come back due to transport challenges.

Violet Katusiime, a food seller, at Masindi Central Market observed that they have suffered a significant drop in customer numbers , adding that she has gone from earning between Shs 25000 – 35000 daily, to Shs 5000- 8000 per day during lockdown.

She hopes that district authorities will give the beleaguered traders a break from paying taxes until business stabilises.

“I don’t expect to see revenue officers at my stall when I am also not working,” Katusiime said.

Another food vendor who declined to be named re-echoed Katusiime’s sentiments, saying that while she would have loved to pay the requisite taxes, she is overwhelmed with many responsibilities and yet her income is much reduced.

“How can I pay revenue when my children are starving at home?” she asked.

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