Consider irrigation as an option in our agriculture

Uganda is predominantly an agricultural country in which about 80 per cent of households depend on farming for food security and income.

The country is also endowed with fertile soil, many rivers, swamps, and lakes. However, over 90 per cent of its agriculture depends on rain.

Irrigation, which has been practiced for thousands of years in some countries such as Egypt, is still considered an unsustainable and labourious activity by most farmers. Even households close to wetlands often complain about vagaries of prolonged drought and merely look to the sky praying for rain.

It is our attitude towards irrigation that is mainly responsible for the big difference between our low agricultural productivity and Egypt’s impressive agricultural success.

It is the different ways we use our water that makes Egypt produce more fish than all the East African countries put together.
Egypt has an arid climate and only about three per cent of its total land area is under cultivation but it is food secure and earns far more money from agriculture than we do. The Nile is the country’s chief source of water and farming is confined to the Nile valley and delta.

Uganda is certainly the source of the Nile and ‘the Pearl of Africa’ with scores of other rivers and lakes as well as swamps spread across the country but we constantly worry about long droughts and famine.

As we dream of attaining middle-income status by 2020, what is our water usage strategy to ensure that we have enough water for agricultural production? Why should River Nile for us continue to be just a beautiful spectacle to marvel about?

Vietnam, which came late into coffee growing, now produces more coffee than all the countries in Africa because it has invested in a sustainable water management system. Given the expected revenue from the recently discovered oil and other sources, our leaders ought to consider investing money in water management so that as we embark on climate-smart agriculture in the days ahead, we have a dependable piped water system across the entire country.

E-mail: ssalimichaelj@gmail.com