Kitgum vegetable farmers counting losses

Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Vegetable farmers in Manwoko village in Labongo Amida sub county in Kitgum district are counting losses due to persistent floods, pests and disease outbreaks.

At least 90 farmers drawn from 15 different groups are involved in vegetable growing using Akworo small scale irrigation scheme that was set up by government through the Ministry of Water and Environment last year. However, reports obtained by Uganda Radio Network indicate that recurrent floods, pest and disease outbreaks at the irrigation scheme have grossly affected vegetable farming.

Francis Ochola, a farmer and member of Can Deg Cac group says they planted green pepper in the last farming season but had a low harvest due to flooding that saw many crops rotting. He says despite the benefits from vegetable farming, the threat of floods due to heavy rains is affecting their profits margin.

John Bosco Okot another farmer from Can Deg Cac farmers group says the tomatoes they planted this season have been destroyed by pest and diseases. He notes that they don’t anticipate making any returns like the case was in the first farming season where they sold green paper at Shillings 3 million.

Pamela Akello, a site agronomist at the irrigation scheme acknowledges the challenges faced by the farmers saying it had a devastating effect on the projected sale of crops after harvest in the last season.

Akello says out of the estimated more than Shillings 20 million the farmers had expected to earn from the sale of vegetables, only Shillings 13.7 million was realized in the first farming season from tomatoes, green pepper and onions. She noted that the low return was a result of a combination of factors that included recurrent floods due to heavy rains, the outbreak of early and late blights in tomatoes and lack of market due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Akello, the Ministry of Water and Environment recently dispatched a team of experts to address the challenge of flooding through creation of trenches for overflow of water from the vegetable fields. Wilson Nyeko, the Labongo Amida sub county LC III chairperson says the trenches dug to control floods haven’t been helpful because of the continuous heavy rainfall.

He notes that the Water Ministry officials under the water for production northern regional center have already been informed of the challenges. According to Nyeko, access to pesticides has remained a challenge to the farmers and called for timely deliveries by the responsible officials.

In May this year, the farmers also suffered heavy losses due to invasion of variegated grasshoppers that destroyed tomatoes. Akworo small scale irrigation system was established at over Shillings 100 million to improve the livelihoods of local farmers.

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