Farmers' Children Going Hungry Because of Land Scarcity

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Shortage of land for farming is causing food insecurity in families. Several farmers in Kabarole district lack adequate land for cultivating crops, ending up with too little to sell and not enough to feed their families.

Statistics at the district agricultural department indicate that 65% of the farmers in the district face a problem of scarcity of land to improve food production.

Some farmers have resorted to growing lesser quantities of food that fit on the available pieces of land, while others are spending too much money to rent land. Those who can’t afford the money to rent land have been forced to abandon farming. 

Henry Katuramu, a farmer in Rwimi Sub County, says that he has only three acres of land and yet he requires more than seven acres to plant rice. Katuramu says that he is forced to sell what he has planted and raise school fees for his children. He then struggles to feed to feed his family.

In Kakonga parish, Kisomoro Sub County, some farmers have resorted to renting pieces of land, where they temporarily grow their crops as they look for money to purchase land.

David Kyomuhendo, a farmer says that he paid 400,000 shillings to rent one acre of land to grow maize but he isn’t reaping anything because of problems such as price fluctuations, pests and diseases, unpredictable weather and lack of market for his produce. He says the piece of land he owns isn’t enough to grow food on and feed his family.

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Some of the farmers who don’t have the funds to pay for renting land are now stuck with some of the seeds and are in search for cheaper land.

Florence Mwesige, a maize farmer in Kaina parish, Rwimi Sub County, says that he is stuck with 50 kilograms of maize seeds because she has nowhere to plant them. She says the landlords charge 450,000 shillings per season, which she can’t afford.

Amos Omono, the Kabarole district agricultural officer, blames the scarcity of land on the increasing population especially in Rwimi Sub County. Omono says that farmers have gone ahead to cut down trees to create more land for cultivation and have even encroached on gazetted natural forests.

Omono says that the department is encouraging farmers to use the small pieces of land they have, to only grow food for home consumption.

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According to a new joint report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), scarcity of productive land for cultivation has created a vicious cycle of hunger and food insecurity for millions of families in Sub-Saharan Africa.