Climate - the hot topic for farmers weathering the changes in Uganda

Justine Alaso, a farmer from Ojama, a village in eastern Uganda, has plenty to say about the ‘confusion of the weather’.

The 70-year-old grandmother has seen her fair share of long, hot dry spells and torrential rains, but recently, like so many farmers, Justine has watched helplessly as her crops have been decimated, in turns, by floods and drought. It’s been bad before, but not this bad.

‘‘This year the biggest challenge has been weather. We have experienced here many extremes, heavy rainfall or excessive heat, but now the dry spells are longer, the rains heavier,’’ said Justine.

‘‘These challenges mean we are not able to feed well. I now survive on one meal a day, but previously I could afford three meals a day.’’

Justine is part of the Ojama Ageing Farmers Group, a collective which received vital support from local charity, Self Help Africa.

‘‘Before the project I used to toil like any other old helpless woman in the village. We were people begging from people. I didn’t have access to financial services, but when the group set up, old as I am, I got sunflower seeds which I planted. When I sold my harvest I was able to buy a heifer.’’

Self Help Africa is doing amazing work in Uganda, helping people get back on their feet after years of displacement and hardship, but where one battle is being won, it seems another is looming large, threatening to scupper all the good work.

Behind Uganda’s verdant beauty, climate change looks like dulling the shine off the so-called ‘pearl of Africa.’ Prolonged dry seasons and more intense rainfalls have become the new normal. The resulting floods damage homes, crops and businesses, and thus household incomes, They also, of course, pose a serious risk to health due to water-borne disease.

Environmental change is a common refrain among the Ojama Ageing Farmers group, which was formed in 2008 and now has 45 members, made up of women and men.

The group’s chairman, John, reflects on Self Help Africa’s assistance.

‘‘Before, feeding ourselves was difficult, but Self Help Africa gave us 26 bulls for ploughing. They also gave us some groundnut seeds and cassava cuttings, which we have been planting, except for this year - we lack those things due to last year’s heavy rains. Most of our seeds were rotten because there was too much rain, so there was no good harvest. People are not feeding properly now.

‘‘There is not any other crop apart from sweet potatoes. We cut them in pieces and then they dry for future eating in February, March, April - that’s what we will use.’’ It is a terribly sad story and one echoed by other members of the group.

Abraham Etelu, 47, a father of 10 children, said before joining the group and getting help from the charity ‘‘life was very difficult.’’

‘‘I never used to have plants, I just survived on a daily basis, whatever I got, I just ate. But when Self Help Africa came along, they trained us and gave us knowledge.’’

Life has been better for Abraham, who is in the process of building a permanent house, but climate change, he says, ‘‘has pulled us down.’’

‘‘The visions that we had for our lives have reached a standstill at the moment.’’