Kanungu solar irrigation scheme repaired after media exposure

Kanungu, Uganda |THE INDEPENDENT |  The Water and Environment Ministry has repaired the Ntungwa river solar irrigation scheme in Kanungu district a few days after URN reported about it. The solar irrigation scheme, which commissioned in January 2019, is found in Kameme village in Kibimbiri parish in Kihihi sub-county.  

It was built in line with the presidential directive issued in 2017 following a public outcry by residents about the prolonged dry spell, which had resulted in food insecurity forcing families to survive on mangoes and spear grass. The crisis had affected Kihihi, Nyamirama, Nyakinoni and Nyanga areas.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni ordered the construction of the irrigation scheme to ensure that residents have a steady supply of water for their crops. However, our reporter visited the scheme on March 5th, 2021, and found it dysfunctional. Residents said the scheme worked for a few months after commissioning and broke down because of a technical fault. 

Farmers complained that the scheme did not help them because it worked for a very short time. This prompted a team of officials from the Water and Environment Ministry to dash from Kampala to Kanungu last week to establish what had happened to the scheme and how to restore it.

Over the weekend, a team of engineers from the ministry fixed the scheme to resume operations. The Engineers declined to talk to our reporter about the matter. Nelson Natukunda, the Kihihi Sub-county LC III chairperson told our reporter that following numerous complaints from farmers he reported the matter to Kanungu Resident District Commissioner to alert the president for intervention. 

Gad Ahimbisibwe Rugaaju, the Kanungu Deputy Resident District Commissioner, says that engineers examined the irrigation plant and realized that it had developed a fault resulting from clogging of pipes that pump water from the river to the reservoir tank.  

He says the clogging resulted from silting due to flooding from river Ntungwa. He also says that the engineers have trained some of the farmers on how to clean the pipes in case the same problem happens.    

Rugaaju however expressed dissatisfaction with some of the farmers who have opted to use fire to clear bushes as they prepare for the rice-growing season.  

One of the farmers who declined to reveal his names told our reporter that they resorted to their old method of bush burning after losing hope that the scheme would be repaired. 

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URN