Godfrey Batalingaya, the LC 1 chairperson of Mazzi-Malungi village in Kinyogoga Sub-County, says that the lockdown saw a ban on Cattle markets in the area to stem the spread of COVID-19. According to Batalingaya, many of the residents in his jurisdiction who could take cattle products to markets every Monday were affected seriously due to loss of income.
About 85 per cent of the residents of Nakaseke
North Constituency in Nakaseke district are facing starvation after
abandoning crop production in preference of cattle farming.
The affected are residents of Ngoma Town
Council, Ngoma, Kinyogoga and Kinoni Sub-Counties, whose mainstay is pastoralism. The National Census and Household Survey conducted by the Uganda Bureau
of Statistics (UBOS in 2014 showed that the total population of Nakaseke North Constituency stood at
79,074.
Only 15 percent are engaged in
crop production. They produce Maize, Cassava and Beans among others.
The remaining people are involved in rearing animals despite holding huge
chunks of land. The pastoralists earn their livelihood through the sale of livestock
and their products. From their earnings, the pastoralists buy food for their
families.
The ban on public and private transport as
part of the COVID-19 containment measures has taken a huge toll on the
pastoralists. Sylvia Nalugo, a resident of Mazzi-Malungi village in Kinyogoga
Sub-County and mother of three months triplets says that her husband, Samuel
Mugenyi abandoned their home after losing his job because of the lockdown.
According to Nalugo, she is finding it very hard
to fend for her family because they used to buy foodstuff due to little or
no cultivation on their home garden.
Luganda Audio
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Cue out: ...nga ebyo kale."//
Godfrey Batalingaya, the LC 1 chairperson of
Mazzi-Malungi village in Kinyogoga Sub-County, says that the lockdown saw
a ban on Cattle markets in the area to stem the spread of COVID-19.
According to Batalingaya, many of the residents in
his jurisdiction who could take cattle products to markets every Monday
were affected seriously due to loss of income.
Luganda Audio
//Cue in: "Emmere teriiyo, ekisooka...
Cue out: ...abantu bali bubi."//
Enock Nyongore, the Nakaseke North Member of
Parliament (MP), says the affected families have turned to their area leaders
for relief support. Nyongore has asked the government to help people in
the cattle corridor to embrace food production.
Luganda Audio
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Cue out: ...tulaba nga abakulembeze."//
The MP has donated four tons of maize flour and
one ton of beans to the cattle keepers who are no longer earning.
Luganda Audio
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Cue out: ...kati okutambula tekusoboka."//
English Audio
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Cue out: …very big problem."//
Speaking to URN, the Nakaseke District
Agricultural Officer (DAO) Titus Lwera said that although low crop
production in Nakaseke North Constituency is partially caused by over-reliance on livestock
farming by the populace there, the little and unreliable rainfall worsens
the situation.
According to Lwera, as a district, they intend to
kick-start a Shillings 700 million irrigation project funded by the World Bank to
support crop cultivation, in addition to increasing sensitization on why they
need to balance food and livestock production.
Bernard Bakalu
Freelancer