Well as it is true that history repeats itself, it seems to be eminent that the dry season has not been friendly to Ugandans especially farmers more so pastoralists in the cattle corridor.But with positive weather changes, the country has received rains beyond.
And during rains we see people positioning basins, jerrycans, and small drums outside when raining to collect water for domestic use. Milly Matumbwe Kassozi a farmer and a resident of Semuto Sub County Nakaseke district from his knowledge, Nakaseke is one of the worst affected areas during the dry season in Uganda.
Pasture dries to zero as well as the water sources also remain empty. The situation mainly affects the poor. “Some people who have the capacity have constructed underground tanks and they have water but the majority cannot afford the problem being they are low-income earners.” Said, Ismael KassoziMatumbwe – Resident, Semuto Sub County.
Charles Lwasa a resident of Luweero who is practicing zero grazing of goats raises a similar argument. Lwasa said that he has not been able to harvest water this season for not having money to buy the necessary equipment like tanks and pipes but given his newly constructed house, he would wish to harvest water.
Luweero District Production Officer Dr. KidhaMakubuya advised farmers to use cheap water harvesting technologies like water retention ditches. “Retention ditches are where water settles as it is running off it reduces soil erosion but also helps on retention of the water.” Said, Dr. KidhaMakubuya – Production Officer, Luweero. Dr.
Kidha said farmers producing on a large scale need to acquire loans and invest in constructing permanent water harvesting reservoirs. “They have those provisions that can help them access agricultural loans and these are loans that are given out at a friendly cost recovery regime.”
Early this week, the Republic of China donated solar irrigation pumps and other irrigation kits worth 30,000 US dollars to help farmers pump water from flooded zones for irrigation during the dry season. “…this is very important. Thousands of people their survival depends on agriculture and even in China, China is also an agricultural country.” “…take good advantage of gravitational irrigation.
So, all in all, we believe that this demonstration you have made is going to enable us to use both the water surface, river and also in this country unless it’s a rocky mountain area, it’s how deep you go in order to have water. So when you bring the submassive pumps you are demonstrating that agriculture must achieve its full potential.” But even as rains continue farmers are reluctant to harvest water due to lack of adequate water harvesting techniques.
