UGANDA: WETLANDS DRY UP AS RICE DEMAND SOARS
Climate change prompts farmers to plant new rice varieties in an attempt to
save the country’s ecologically-sensitive swamps
Studio cue
Uganda’s wetlands – lying in Dokho, three kilometres from the Eastern Uganda
town of Mbale have provided drainage and prevented flooding during rainy
seasons for centuries. Communities living in these areas traditionally depended
on food crops like cassava, millet, maize grain and bananas.
Now rice is rapidly replacing those to become the food of choice. Sadly, that
favorite food is also becoming an environmental liability as planting it threatens
to destroy the fragile wetlands. And in the face of changing weather patterns, it
has become clear that Uganda must find a solution - and quick.
Emmanuel Okella finds how a local initiative is trying to ensure that rice remains
on the menu without destroying the environment.
Duration: 00:05:40
Sfx: sound of the wetland being cleared
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: The wetlands of Dokho near the eastern Ugandan
town of Mbale are a vast buffer zone measuring over two thousand hectares.
They provide drainage, farmland and grazing field to farmers in this area.
Decades ago the area was predominantly covered by papyrus and other shrubs.
Now, over one thousand hectares of these wetlands have been reclaimed for rice
production.
Sfx: wetland sound
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: Thirty-two-year-old Richard Massa is a rice
farmer. He is clearing about two hectares ahead of the next planting season. He
speaks to me in native Luganda
Richard Massa speaks in Luanda
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Voiceover in English: I have been growing rice here in the last five years. Rice
is my source of livelihood- food, school fees, everything comes from here. My
parents used to farm here and I inherited it from them. Here, we demarcate the
field into partitions and temporarily drain the water from each to allow us plant
the rice.
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: Richard’s family have been growing rice for
generations and are confused by the severe weather in recent years. In 2008
this area was hit by the floods that swept across eastern Uganda, displacing
thousands. Severe droughts followed
Massa fades up again
Richard Massa: I know the weather is now erratic but that’s god’s plan. Even
those days our forefathers grew rice here and weather was never as severe. I
don’t know, may be god has changed his climate programme
Clip; sounds from a city busy restaurant
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: At this busy city restaurant in Kampala, rice is
the favourite dish on the menu. Farmers like Massa are being forced to increase
their production.
But Richard Mafabi, the Commissioner for Wetlands, says the actions of farmers
who clear and grow rice on the wetlands is making it harder for the country to
cope with climate change
Richard Mafabi: they have opened up a lot of wetlands to the extent that
whenever we even get a short drought, those places that should have retained
the water; because that’s the function of wetlands, once it rains now because
they have opened up these places all the water just goes to the extent that they
were not even able to sustain even the shortest drought that was there everything had dried up which was not the case before.
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: floods have already become more regular, and
the commissioner warns that unless rice farmers stop planting on wetlands, the
country could be headed for an environmental disaster.
Commissioner: in fact if you for to the Mpologoma system, you will see the
water there is right now very brown which never used to be the case meaning
that the capacity of even the wetlands to filter have also now been lost. So you
can see the effects are going to be beyond just the wetlands.
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: New solutions are now being developed to
mitigate the environmental impact of rice growing. The government has started
distribution of new rice variety called the New Rice for Africa or NERICA that
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grow on higher ground than the wetlands, which are basically reclaimed
swamps.
Dr. Okware Steven a Crop Development Officer at the National Crops Resources
Research Institute says more and more farmers are taking up the new rice
variety with thousands of hectares so far being planted.
Dr Okware Steven: The majority of people joining rice growing are actually
planting upland rice, which is good news to us In fact as we speak, 48,000
hectares of land are under upland rice. At the moment the acreage is growing by
the day. We expect that at some point lowland rice cultivation will actually stop.
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: Dr, Are you sure upland rice can solve our food
needs?
Dr. Okware: Yeah sure, why not? First of all, the upland rice varieties we have
today mature early, secondly they can withstand dry weather and they
encourage larger acreage cultivation, and this is especially so, since cultivating a
swamp is normally hard compared to cultivating uplands.
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: The government hopes the new upland rice will
not only meet the increasing demand but also boost earnings for farmers Massa
has already planted three hectares of the new variety. He is eager for better
yields. His only worry is whether there will be enough land because of the
pressure already placed on dry lands.
Massa fades up
Richard Massa voiceover: This upland rice is very good but existing land is
very small. Let government try popularising this variety because I have planted
and from what I see, I will have good yields. The only problem I see is the
availability of land - we grow rice in wetlands because the rest of the available
land is inhabited and we also use it for growing other crops like maize, beans
and bananas.
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: But Dr. Okware says the rice variety can be
grown alongside other crops grown in uplands
Dr Okware: Land has always been a limited resource as you know, but if every
other food crop is being cultivated on the dry lands, then why not rice?
Especially now, when we are talking about saving our own future, through
environmental protection.
Reporter Emmanuel Okella: Africa is already having difficulty feeding its
population. If the weather gets even warmer, countries like Uganda will need
crop and vegetable varieties that can withstand heat and dry weather. This new
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rice variety is one way in which Uganda is trying to increase food production,
while also preserving the critical wetlands. – and trying to adapt to climate
change.
Emmanuel Okella reporting for Panos
ENDS
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