By JOSHUA KATO

The whoosh of the water as it left the water pipes onto the green leaves of the coffee seedlings could be heard for quite some distance. As the water pipes ran in the adjacent coffee gardens, the farm owner, Ssebatta Musisi, shook his head with satisfaction.

His farm is the pride of his village. The farm is located in Kyoko village, Kingo sub-county, Masaka district, 160 kilometers (94 miles) from Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

In the district, he is recognized as a lead farmer. Ssebatta’s water tank, which is underground is not so advanced, can effectively help him grow his crops throughout the year.

“I have over 90,000 liters in these tanks,” he said. “I will add another 90,000 liters in the near future because I have realized how important irrigation is.”

Ssebbatta pointing at one of his water reservoirs at the farm

Ssebatta is one of very few farmers in Uganda practicing irrigation in farming. Although there is agreement that irrigation does ensure food security, it has yet to be adopted as part of the overall agricultural industry in Uganda.

In all, fewer than 1 percent of the ordinary farming population use irrigation on their farms. Overall, 5 percent of commercial farmers use irrigation. However, these are established plantations like Kakira, Kinyara sugar growers, Kibimba rice scheme, Doho irrigation scheme, the flower growers in Wakiso and Mukono and a few others. The rest of the population depends on rain for agriculture.

According to the 2009 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) report, produced by the U.N.’s Conference on Trade and Development, lack of water has increasingly led to a drop in food production in countries like Uganda.

“There are major challenges for sustainable food production in LDCs where water shortages affect both human and livestock consumption and where potential for small scale irrigation and water harvesting is limited,” the report states.
“We are suffering from famine and hunger at the moment because we have failed to adopt the power of irrigation,” said Ugandan Vice-President Gilbert Bukenya.

Bukenya, also a big farmer, recently adopted irrigation on his farm and has never looked back. Bukenya`s model farm is located near Kakiri town, 45 kilometers from Kampala city. He explained that with irrigation, maize would be in plentiful supply all year ’round.

“Can you imagine that this maize is blossoming irrespective of rainfall?” he asked as he walked around his maize shamba. Bukenya said that even without the artificial water reservoirs, the country has got enough water sources to practice irrigation.

According to Bukenya, one of the reasons Ugandans have not adopted full-scale irrigation is that the rains have been relatively good throughout the years. “In Uganda, we normally have two rainy seasons, one running from March to May and another running from October to December,” Bukenya explained.

However, climate change has affected these seasons. Rains have become more unpredictable across the country. In fact, parts of Teso and Karamoja did not receive enough rains in the March-May season, hence the recent drought and famine. “This is the very reason we should start irrigating our crops. We should do more to harvest the rain water when it comes and use it later when the rains stop. We should also make good use of the water bodies in our midst,” Bukenya said.

Lots of water sources

There is no limit in the potential for irrigation in Uganda. The country is gifted with lots of water sources that if there was a concerted effort to irrigate, there should be no shortage of water sources. In the east of the country, where the most severe famine occurred mid this year, there is a water source almost after every 5 kilometers. For example, for Kumi and Soroti, the wide River Awoja can be used as a big water source. There are also small rivers between Soroti and Kaberamaido, and from Kaberamaido to Lira.

“With all these water bodies amidst us, it is a shame that we can even cry of famine and hunger when Egypt with only river Nile practices agriculture throughout the year,” lamented Soroti district chairman Stephen Ochola.

Overall, 11 districts share Lake Kyoga in the Teso and Lango regions, but no farmers use the lake waters for farming-related activities.

In West-Nile, the River Nile that passes through should be a big water source for irrigation. Ironically, the same river is effectively used by both Egypt and Sudan to grow crops all year ’round. However, there is no single irrigation pipe running from the river to a farm on the Ugandan side. And yet, in the central region, there are rivers scattered around.

In Nakaseke, Kiboga and Hoima, the River Kafu and River Mayanja confluences can be a good source of water. There is also River Katonga in the Masaka, Mpigi and Sembabule region, as well as a host of man-made lakes like Kijjanabalola in Rakai and Kakinga in Ntusi- Ssembabule. Kayunga can use rivers Ssezibwa and Musamya. However, farmers who had recently started growing maize along the River Musamya were stopped by NEMA, because they were “polluting” the river.

In the west, there are rivers like Rwizi, lakes like Mburo, George and Edward from which water for irrigation can be drawn.

Outside the water bodies, there is also an opportunity to harvest water from the regular rains across the country. When the floods hit Teso region in 2007, some of the waters would have been harvested if the community had a concrete water harvesting system. Instead, all of it went to waste as the farmers lamented.

“It should not be the case this time round,” Water Minister Maria Mutagamba said after weather predictions pointed at another heavy rainy season. “We should be able to trap some of this water and use it when the rains have stopped.”

But again, no concrete plans were put in place to trap the flood waters. The State for Agriculture Minister Aggrey Bagiire is also aware of the potential of irrigation in Teso.  “These streams can be adopted for irrigation with proper planning. That is what we are aiming at,” Bagiire said during a recent visit to Teso.

In his end of year address, however, President Yoweri Museveni directed the ministry of agriculture to emphasize low-cost irrigation systems in the next financial year.

Experiences of those who have the system

Uganda’s Vice President Professor Gilbert Bukenya is one of the people practicing farm irrigation. “With irrigation, we can practice agriculture 12 months a year,” Bukenya said as he supervised the irrigation of his one-acre vegetable farm. “Water is power and we as a country are gifted with so many water sources.”

He had every reason to be excited about this. His vegetables are green and blossoming as if this is the middle of the rainy season.

The vice president said that seasonal crops like the highly valuable vegetables can be grown year ’round with the power of irrigation. At his Kakiri farm, he has got some of the best vegetables growing anywhere in the country. They include cabbages that can weigh up to 2 kilograms, garlic, sukumawiki, carrots, lactus, chickpeas, okra and others.
“I grow these vegetables all year ’round because I have got this scheme here,” he said. Vegetables have got a very big market not only in the city but also in the Middle East. “If areas surrounding Kampala, for example Wakiso, Mukono and Luwero are able to produce vegetables all year ’round, then they can easily capture the city market. Bukenya said that he earns at least  4 million Ugandan shillings (US $2,105) after every three months from vegetables, which he grows through irrigation.

In the swamps between Gayaza-Zirobwe-Bamunanika, farmers mainly produce vegetables, but only during times when the rains permit. And yet, they could use the various streams running through their midst to grow vegetables all year ’round.

One of the vegetable farmers in Buwambo who has adopted the power of water is Edward Muwanga. “When I took up vegetable farming as a full time job, I decided that I should do it full time, but that was not possible because of the unpredictable rainy seasons,” he said.

Muwanga then decided to start using the water in the stream near his farm. “I bought three watering cans at 20,000 Ugandan shilling (about US $10) each and started watering the vegetables. I do it in the morning and in the afternoon when there are no rains,” he said. He now produces all year ’round.

In Nkuke village, Buwunga sub-county, Masaka district, water hoses, the length of two football pitches are lined up between rows of fine pineapple plants. The farm belongs to Erias Luzinda, a consultant accountant. “We pump the water from the valley,” said Rogers Akugirizibwe, the farm manager. The collection water tanks can store as much as 270,000 liters of water.

Luzinda might have invested over 200 million Ugandan shillings (US $105,263) in the irrigation system alone, certainly beyond the reach of ordinary Ugandan farmers. However, it helps him grow quality food and fruits all the time, including maize. “We have maize here all year round because we are practicing irrigation,” Akugirizibwe said.

Ssebatta’s is one of the cheap systems that can be adopted by every other moderate farmer. He dug a pit with a capacity of 80,000 liters. The walls of the pit are lined with tough tarpaulin, which prevents the water from seeping into the soils. During rainy seasons, the tunnels direct rainwater into the pit.

“I draw out that water during droughts and use it on my coffee seedlings,” he said. Ssebata said that farmers should not be afraid of adopting the system because they can afford it. “Any farmer who wants to adopt my system can visit me, or call me on 07-72-333-303 and I will assist them harvest water cheaply,” he said.

Expensive?

Bukenya admitted that starting irrigation systems across the country is a very expensive venture. However, he said, it is tenable.

The vice president’s irrigation system cost him around 16 million Ugandan shillings (US $8,421). This is certainly not in the range of an average farmer. He spent 6 million Ugandan shillings (US $3,157) to create a water reservoir, which is a tank, and 10 million Ugandan shillings (US $5,263) to buy the other implements. These include nozzles for off-ground sprinkling of water and pipes that take the water around the farm. However, he said, the best system is using drip pipes. These pipes are laid in between the plants and during irrigation, allowing water to directly go to the plant.

The government said that it is not capable of giving an irrigation system to every farmer across the country. However, according to Bukenya, government should be able to offer subsidies to farmers.  “For example, if a farmer buys a water pump for irrigation purposes, it should not only be tax free, but even the fuel that he uses should be reduced,” he said.

He also explained that pipes that act as water conduits are also expensive for the common farmer and should be subsidized. “Overall, farmers should also realize that the investment in an irrigation scheme might look big at the beginning, but because it will help you produce crops throughout the year, this money is quickly recovered,” he added.
However, there are cheaper alternatives. Take the example of the Wonder Water Pump.  The pump, which goes for 250,000 Ugandan shillings (US $150), is relatively affordable to medium-size farmers across the country. It is a foot operated, two cylinder, high performance equipment. “A farmer can move it from one corner of the farm to the other without any problems because it is light,” said Abdul Mugambe, an irrigation systems trainer.

Cheap and easy-to-use Wonder pump

Adoption of the Money Maker system is still low in Uganda. In Kenya, more than 6,000 small-scale farmers have adopted the Money Maker irrigation system in the last few years. While some of the current systems use motors and fuel, this one depends on human energy. Even a ten year old child can operate it effectively. No wonder the system is referred to as “a simple pump that could be the solution for millions of farmers in the country who cannot afford large irrigation systems.”

The pump can be operated from any source of water. The water can be harvested and stored in under ground tanks. A horse pipe attached to the pump is dropped in the water source while another longer pipe, also attached to the pump with a stand at the end, is placed in a section of the farm that a farmer wants to irrigate. Then, the farmer starts moving his feet on the pedals. “The pressure can push water through 200 meters if the ground is flat,” Mugambe said.

The pump is capable of irrigating at least two acres of land per day. This is the size of two football pitches. The fact that the pump is mobile means that two farmers or even more from the same area can pool funds, buy one pump and share it out.

However, according to Mugambe, adoption of this pump by farmers has been low. He thinks that the government should come in and help farmers acquire this water pump, just like they are doing with the acquisition of walking tractors for farmers.

Given the changing trends of the climate, which is likely to bring even more unpredictable rains, there is no way Ugandan farmers will survive without adopting irrigation because, in the words of Vice President Bukenya, “That is where the future of agriculture lies.”

*1 USD= 1,900 Ugandan shillings

Joshua Kato writes on agriculture issues in Kampala for New Vision, the leading daily in Uganda.

New York Times: Threats Lead Food Agency to Curtail Aid in Somalia
The World Food Program announced Tuesday that it was suspending food aid to one million people in southern Somalia after receiving several threats and demands to pay a “security fee” to the Shabab, an Islamic extremist group.  Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for the program, said that the demands had been followed by a rise in intimidation, threats and harassment.  The Shabab pressed a demand that the agency not import food during the harvest season in order to encourage the development of local agriculture. Several previous Shabab statements accused the agency of undermining local agriculture, as well as importing poor quality food.  Smerdon said the agency tried to negotiate with the Shabab and community elders but ultimately made the decision to close several distribution centers.  The suspension is indefinite and will affect about a third of the 2.8 million people that the program anticipated feeding in January.

Farming Matters Magazine: What Is The Future of Family Farming
A debate between Rudy Rabbinge and Fabio Kessler Dal Soglio ensues about whether family farming can essentially compete with large-scale agriculture and feed the growing world population.  For Rabbinge “family farming should not be romanticised. Weeding and ploughing for a meagre crop is not romantic, but pure poverty.  Supporting existing structures and romanticising the poor life of farmers in fact consolidates poverty.”  He says that farmers’ children will move to cities to find other relevant work and farmers will therefore need to increase the scale of their farming.  Dal Soglio says “in general, technologies generated by family farmers are better suited to the local socio-economic and ecological conditions, and therefore are appropriate for sustainable development.”  He believes that family farming technologies adopted have essentially ensured the world’s food supply.

— ARP Staff

3:10 p.m

Beyond the police barricades and legions of international security officers, a group of more than 30 representatives of the People’s Food Sovereignty Forum gathered.  Many were in national dress, hoisting signs, flags and speaking with members of the media.

Their message: In an age where agrobusiness corporations tend to dominate the conversation, remember the small farmer.

The People’s Forum, which is happening at the same time as the World Food Security Summit in Rome, is a civil society conference made up of farmers, indigenous people, women, youth and international non-governmental organizations.

“Small food producers are the solution to the food crisis,” their website proclaims. “With local agriculture and local markets we can cool the planet.”

While police watched from several feet away, representatives spoke in Italian, French, Spanish and English about the importance of small-scale agricultural solutions.

Some of their demands included equal access to land and water for indigenous people, banning genetically modified food, and allowing local populations to decide how land is used and food is produced.

Representatives of individual NGOs also spoke up for their causes.  Abla Mahdi Abdel Moniem of Sudan talked about stopping Israel from uprooting trees on Palestinian land.  One man from the Philippines silently stood in front of the cameras, holding a sign explaining that he was on a hunger strike.  “No to Large Scale Mining, Yes to Food Security,” it read.

“We have great hope that our governments may be able to press upon FAO so that they can really implement the concept of food sovereignty,” said Aichatori Sami, a representative of the organization Plate Forme P, in Niger.

–Alexia Underwood

12:50 p.m.: Pope Benedict just finished addressing the summit. Dressed in a white cassock, the pope spoke about the importance of balancing social responsibility and cooperation in addressing hunger.

He said the problem of food insecurity needs to be addressed with a long-term process that sorts out issues relating to subsidies and eliminates greed so that food is placed on “equal footing just as any other commodity.”

He also implored leaders to redefine the principles governing international relations on food security. He said the response should not be beholden to corporations but rather to the “members of the worldwide human family.”

“If the aim is to eliminate hunger, we need to promote balance and economic growth,” he said, “but also secure new parameters … which are capable of inspiring the cooperation required to create parity between different states in development.”

He also spoke about the importance of addressing climate change in eliminating hunger. He said countries and international organizations have a “moral duty” to protect the environment as a shared goal.

“It is important to remember that the destruction of a nation is connected to the culture that shapes human coexistence,” the pope said.

–Martin Ricard

Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization addresses the summit.

10 a.m.: The United Nations World Summit on Food Security began in Rome this morning. Sirens could be heard throughout the city as delegates and ambassadors made their way to the Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters.

The Honorable Jacques Diouf, director-general of the FAO, addressed his colleagues in a passionate speech that focused on “putting food security at the top of the global agenda.”

Diouf, who called for a day of fasting last week, spoke about food quality and safety standards.  He also thanked the European Union and World Food Program for participation in past programs that helped provide poor farmers in developing countries with otherwise costly seeds and inputs.

The summit will continue through Wednesday, allowing representatives from various countries to address their colleagues. Delegates from Africa include Kgalema Motlanthe, deputy president of South Africa, Fidelia Akuabata Njeze, minister of state for agriculture and water resources of Nigeria, and Jean Ping, president of the Africa Union.

–Shalwah Evans

Audio slideshow by BAGASSI KOURA and JILL REPLOGLE

Kijiji Grows from Jill Replogle on Vimeo.

BERKELEY – Wearing a UC Berkeley sweatshirt and talking like any young American woman, Tendekai, 25, looks like one of the few African-American students in the campus. She is actually part of an even smaller group. An African student, she comes from Zimbabwe.

Over the last few years, her country has been described in the world’s media as a disaster area, a land of dreadful human rights violations, widespread poverty, riots and cholera outbreaks. Yet she did not mention any of those tragic facts at first. Instead, Tendekai told me about her family and her peaceful youth in Harare, known as the Sunshine City.

“I guess it is called like this because it is a modern and clean city, always sunny, with wide roads and nice buildings,” she said.

Only one decade ago, the capital of Zimbabwe was considered one of the most prosperous cities in the south of Africa. The country could rely on a powerful agricultural system and lucrative mineral reserves. Its economic growth reached about 4.5 percent each year during the 1980s and 1990s.

Tendekai–her first name has been changed because she did not want her real name to appear in the media–was born in 1983 and lived there until 2004. Her parents are teachers. As a child, she went to the primary school where her mother worked, a 15-minute walk from home, and then attended a private Christian school. Her middle-class family also includes one older brother and one older sister. “I had a good life growing up in Zimbabwe,” she said.

When she turned 18, “things became more difficult. There have been shortages of food, petrol and basic commodities,” she remembered. In the early 2000s, the economy of the country seriously deteriorated, notably as a consequence of the land reform initiated by President Robert Mugabe. The government confiscated lands from white farmers who owned most of the country’s arable land in order to redistribute it to the black people of Zimbabwe.

“That was why we had independence: equality. But the way it was done was chaotic,” Tendekai recalled.

According to her, if the operation really meant to give land to indigent people of the black majority, it should have been done with more care and preparation.  “Those people also needed equipment, fertilizers, irrigation systems and training. And, you know, it is almost like it just happened overnight, just before the elections! It was a political operation.”

Destabilized, the agriculture of the country suddenly slumped, partly because the new owners of the land did not have appropriate skills to manage the farms. Once a breadbasket in Africa, Zimbabwe could not produce enough food for its own population anymore and had to import it.

“In 2002, there was a drought, the first of my life,” Tendekai said. The shortages got worse. “I remember my parents staying overnight in a queue to get some petrol and coming back the next day without anything.” The whole economy was affected by the collapse of agriculture and crumbled. Factories shut down, unemployment went up. The inflation rate rose at a very fast pace: about 50% in 2000, 100% in 2001, 200% in 2002, and 600 % in 2003.

“You had to take a backpack to go to the bank,” Tendekai said, taking out a green bank note from her billfold: a Zimbabwean 10 trillion dollar (ZWD) bill from 2008. Indeed, hyperinflation eventually peaked at incalculable rates – more than 10 million percent in August 2008 – until the government decided to temporary suspend the national currency in April 2009.

Back in 2002, Tendekai was able to vote for the first time. “Everybody was so excited. There was such a big hope for change and leadership. I waited in line for 10 hours at the polling station. But when the results came out, people got really discouraged,” she said.

Robert Mugabe was declared “re-elected” in spite of strong assumptions of fraud. At the University, she recalled, students rioted. “But I would stay at home, trying to get away from that. Many people were scared because of the ‘green bombers,’ a kind of militia aiming at ‘restoring order’ within the University. The atmosphere was not conducive for working,” she said. The University of Zimbabwe – one of the best in Africa – was declining. In 2004, Tendekai decided to leave the country. Leaving her family behind, she flew to the U.S. where a relative could welcome and support her.

Tendekai follows closely what has been happening in her country ever since she left. In 2005, she read about the “Operation Drive Out Trash.” Officially aiming at clearing the cities’ slums in order to tackle crime, illicit trades and disease outbreaks, it was actually a violent governmental campaign targeting poor people, supporters of the political opposition. According to the United Nations, this “disastrous venture” left 700 000 people homeless or jobless. Tendekai also worried about the 2008 cholera outbreak and the general degradation of the conditions of living. This year, Harare was even pronounced the world’s “toughest” city to live in by an Economist Intelligence Unit’s livability poll, regarding health-care, stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Nevertheless, Tendekai does not always agree with the way the media reports on Zimbabwe. “Sometimes, I feel it is a little distorted or exaggerated. For example, beatings in Harare last year have been described as though violence happened throughout the city, whereas it only happened in certain areas on the outskirts of town. From an outsider point of view, it sounds like there is a big war going on. But there are more violent cities in the world,” she said.

“Now life is getting better, basic commodities are available again,” she added. But in the same time, she does not believe that just because President Mugabe is now officially sharing the power with Morgan Tsvangirai, the main figure of the opposition, all problems are about to be solved.

“I have not heard much in the media about how the opposition have had the power within the government of unity, and it is hard to tell whether the opposition have just been swallowed up into the main party. Those changes take time,” she said.

Although Tendekai plans to stay at least five more years in the U.S. to get a master’s degree or even a Ph. D, “I still identify myself as Zimbabwean; that’s always my home,” she said.

An undergraduate in biology, she hopes to go back to her country as a physician or as an epidemiologist studying diseases and viruses such as HIV.