Ugandan farmers have been urged to embrace organic farming to increase the share of over $80B global market of organic produce.
While launching the long-awaited National Organic Agriculture Policy (NOAP), at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and fisheries (MAAIF), offices in Entebbe, Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, explained the many opportunities that organic farming presents to Uganda’s economy.
According to the statistics presented by MAAIF in 2016, the global market demand for organic products is over $80B where Uganda is currently earning only $291.2m per year from the exportation of organic products to the international market yet the country has the potential to increase this income.
“Although many Ugandan farmers seem to be practicing organic farming, there is much more needed, to be done, especially with the standards and agronomical practices under organic farming. Farmers also need to understand that for one to qualify to be an organic farmer, they must be certified,” explained Ssempijja.
Prof. Charles Ssekyewa, the African Continental Chairman for the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative who is a trainer and researcher in Organic Agriculture and promoter of Agro-Ecology, says that organic farming is the best farming system to promote, protect and conserve the environment.
MAAIF launches National Organic Agriculture Policy
By Herbert Musoke
Added 30th September 2020 01:18 PM
“With the way the environment is being destroyed, we need to embrace organic farming because it allows the interaction and healthy living of all elements of the eco-system.”
Ugandan farmers have been urged to embrace organic farming to increase the share of over $80B global market of organic produce.
While launching the long-awaited National Organic Agriculture Policy (NOAP), at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and fisheries (MAAIF), offices in Entebbe, Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, explained the many opportunities that organic farming presents to Uganda’s economy.
According to the statistics presented by MAAIF in 2016, the global market demand for organic products is over $80B where Uganda is currently earning only $291.2m per year from the exportation of organic products to the international market yet the country has the potential to increase this income.
“Although many Ugandan farmers seem to be practicing organic farming, there is much more needed, to be done, especially with the standards and agronomical practices under organic farming. Farmers also need to understand that for one to qualify to be an organic farmer, they must be certified,” explained Ssempijja.
Prof. Charles Ssekyewa, the African Continental Chairman for the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative who is a trainer and researcher in Organic Agriculture and promoter of Agro-Ecology, says that organic farming is the best farming system to promote, protect and conserve the environment.
“With the way the environment is being destroyed, we need to embrace organic farming because it allows the interaction and healthy living of all elements of the eco-system,” he said.
Alex Lwakuba who is the commissioner, crop production department with MAAIF, commended the policy formulation team for the work well done and asked the legislators to quicken the process of enacting laws that will facilitate the implementation of the policy.
“This long-awaited policy that has taken us 16 years is a very fundamental tool in the promotion of organic farming in Uganda. Now we need to teach and tell all the stakeholders of what is expected of them so that everyone is on board. There is much we can get from organic farming because we have the potential,” he says.
Uganda is one of the countries with the highest comparative advantage for organic production in Uganda with the only 262,282Ha of land under organic farming, with 210,352 certified farmers producing 115,062 tons of organic produce.
A smallholder tomato farmer in the northwestern Uganda region of West Nile sprays his half-acre tomato garden without adequate protection. Many farmers around the country interact with hazardous agro-chemicals without using adequate PPEs. COURTESY PHOTO/SASAKAWA AFRICA ASSOCIATION.
A consortium of civil society organisations (CSOs) has in a Jan.05 statement shown concern about the continued wrong use of dangerous pesticides in the country.
Members of the concerned CSOs mainly work to promote sustainable agricultural trade, food safety and sovereignty, climate justice, biodiversity restoration, and human and environmental rights.
The activists say there are growing concerns about pesticide misuse, including improper application and storage, counterfeit products, insufficient training in use, and use of poorly maintained or totally inadequate spraying equipment.
The activists insist the agriculture ministry should deregister at least 55 agro-chemicals that it registered in 2023 well-knowing that the same pesticides, herbicides and insecticides are banned by the European Union, a major market of Uganda’s agricultural produce.
Glyphosate-based herbicides, in particular, have raised significant alarm due to their potential environmental and health risks. Globally, they have been linked to contamination of water sources, soil degradation, and potential carcinogenic effects on humans.
In Uganda, glyphosate which appears in brands such as Rounduo and Weed Master, is widely used, especially among large-scale commercial farms and in weed control.
Betty Rose Aguti, the Policy and Advocacy Specialist at Caritas-Uganda who also doubles as the National Coordinator of Uganda Farmers Common Voice Platform says Uganda’s smallholder farmers need to be guided on the danger posed by some agro-chemicals.
“No one is guiding them on what to do with the agro-chemicals. Nobody is telling the farmers which agro-chemicals to use in what type of soils or on which type of crops and thereafter, what period of time they should take before they harvest.
“We have scenarios where some of these farmers apply these agro-chemicals bare-chested with no face masks and other protective gear; these farmers are using agro-chemicals as though they are using ordinary water.”
“They spray their gardens as they converse with their children and wives. In the course of doing this, they are inhaling the chemicals and after some time, they fall victim to the toxicity of these agro-chemicals and end up flooding the Uganda Cancer Institute,” she says.
What are pesticides?
Pesticides are defined by UN agencies; the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as substances or mixture of substances of chemicals or biological ingredients intended for repelling, destroying or controlling any pest, or regulating plant growth.
These often include ingredients that modify pest behaviour or their physiology (insect repellents) or affect crops during production or storage (herbicide safeners and synergists, germination inhibitors), as well as insecticides, fungicides and herbicides.
However, according to the activists, most of the chemicals on the Ugandan market are quite hazardous to both human health and the environment and yet they continue being used inappropriately by Ugandan smallholder farmers.
An agro-chemicals dealer displays a wide array of brands of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides that are available in his shop in Kampala. INDEPENDENT/ALFRED OCHWO.
“We call upon the government of Uganda to regulate and ban all hazardous pesticides especially glyphosate and chlorpyriphos on the market in Uganda,” said Jane Nalunga, the Executive Director of the Uganda chapter of the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI), a regional NGO that promotes pro-development trade, fiscal and investment-related poicies and processes.
Backbone of Uganda’s economy
The activists say Uganda’s agriculture sector is the mainstay of Uganda’s economy as it remains the main source of food, raw materials for industries, and employment of about 70% of Ugandans. The sector contributes about 24% to the country’s GDP.
“We cannot allow people with intellectual dishonesty to continue playing with the sector,” one of the activists said on Jan.5 during a press conference at the SEATINI-Uganda headquarters in Kampala. “We are aware that pesticides are significantly impacting health, biodiversity, socio-economic well-being, trade, and food security,” added Nalunga.
According to a 2020 World Health Organisation report, about 385 million cases of unintentional pesticide poisoning, including 11,000 deaths, mostly in low- and middle-income countries such as Uganda, are registered annually worldwide. According to UNICEF, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, children under the age of five and the elderly are the most vulnerable to the effects of pesticides.
The activists say increased use of highly hazardous pesticides in Uganda is a threat to the right to adequate food, people’s livelihoods and farmers’ rights. They say pesticide runoff is reducing aquatic species diversity by 42% and threatening pollinators like bees. These insects are particularly critical for 75% of global crop production.
According to the European Environmental Agency, pesticides are intrinsically harmful to living organisms. When used outdoors, they can impact ecosystems even when they are intended to exclusively target a specific pest.
Herbert Kafeero, the Programme Manager at SEATINI-Uganda says the use of hazardous pesticides also has implications for trade. He says, in 2015, the government of Uganda imposed a self-ban on the export of agricultural produce to the EU because agro-chemical residues had been found in Uganda’s agricultural produce. “The self-ban was meant to address the challenges that were cited by the EU,” he says, “So we cannot ignore the fact that hazardous pesticides negatively impact the country’s trade and food security.”
He says, at the time, the government committed to retrain farmers and exporters to the EU regarding the EU’s sanitary and phytosanitary standards. Kafeero says the government must find solutions to the mushrooming agro-chemical dealers on the market.
“In every trading centre, you will not miss finding an agro-chemical shop and the person operating that agro-chemical shop presents himself as an expert when they actually are not.”
The activists want the Agricultural Chemicals Control Board under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries to quickly profile the various agrochemicals, acaricides and inputs and their various sources that are available on the market in Uganda and ban the highly hazardous ones.
They also want the Department of Crop Inspection and Certification at the agriculture ministry to strengthen the regulation, management, use, handling, storage and trade of agrochemicals in the country.
They also want the government and other stakeholders to purposively plan and budget for education and awareness on the management, use, handling, storage and trade of agrochemicals in Uganda.
Prof. Ogenga Latigo disagrees
The activists were infact responding to Morris Ogenga Latigo, a Ugandan professor of entomology (study of insects) who had written an opinion on December 31, 2024, downplaying civil society’s concerns about hazardous pesticide and insecticide use in Uganda.
Prof. Ogenga Latigo in his article said the issue of agro-chemical use on farm pests and weeds and households was being exaggerated by civil society. He said the targeted agro-chemical inputs (pesticides, insecticides and herbicides) were being used in other countries.
The acrimonious debate has since sucked in the agricuture ministry. Stephen Byantware, the Director in charge of Crop Protection at the agriculture ministry told the media in Kampala recently that Uganda has an Agriculture Police Force and a Department of Inspection and Certification of agriculture inputs that “ensure that only nationally and globally approved agro-chemicals enter the Ugandan market.”
“The chemicals allowed into the country are those that have been approved,” he said, “There are no banned products on sale in Uganda. You cannot find DDT or Endosulfan in Uganda.”
Agrochemicals spraying equipment on display at a dealership in Kampala. INDEPENDENT/ALFRED OCHWO.
But David Kabanda, the Executive Director of the Centre for Food and Adequate Living Rights, a Kampala-based non-profit, says Ugandans should know that hazardous pesticides have become one of the “loudest killers” and yet Ugandan smallholder farmers continue to associate with these chemicals on the farms, in the food stores, and in the homes.
“It’s only in Uganda where we don’t have a farmgate policy and yet we have scientific reports that have pointed out that the food we buy in markets in Kampala is contaminated.” “Don’t we see tomatoes and broccoli full of Mancozeb fungicide yet this chemical has been banned everywhere including the EU?”
“Pesticides are silent killers of humans, of nature, of our soils that are getting barren, of our water, of our agri-food system. I don’t imagine an agri-food system in Uganda without bees, without butterflies, and above all, without grasshoppers,” said Agnes Kirabo, the Executive Director of Food Rights Alliance (FRA).
Desperate smallholder farmers
According to the activists, Uganda’s agriculture system is by default largely organic but in recent years, pest and disease management has become one of the major production constraints for the country’s millions of subsistence farmers. And in recent years, farmers have turned to pesticides to control the pests.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the number of agricultural pesticides used in Uganda doubled in 12 years (2010 – 2022) from 2,990.23 tonnes to 6,009.78 tonnes.
Similarly, the monetary value of pesticides imported to Uganda more than doubled from US$ 32.57 million to US$75.87 million in 2022 with a peak import value of US$108.57 million reported in 2020. The lucrative agro-chemical business has attracted more than 40 registered pesticide importing companies in the country.
The activists say the increased use of pesticides is attributed to their use for weeding and the increased use of hybrid seeds and livestock. According to the CSOs, equally alarming is that many of these pesticides are “synthetic pesticides” which are persistent organic chemicals.
A study published last year by the Food Safety Coalition Uganda (FoSCU) titled: ‘‘Food Safety-Crop Protection Nexus: Insights from the Uganda’s agriculture sector,’’ noted that of the legally registered active ingredients, 47.8% (of the active ingredients) and 68.6% of the brands in Uganda qualified as “Highly Hazardous Pesticides.”
Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) are classified as “reproductive toxicants” meaning they potentially can negatively affect the human reproductive system and have adverse effects on pregnancy outcomes and reduced fertility.
The same study noted that 15.6% of the registered active ingredients and 19.2% of the registered brands in Uganda qualified as highly hazardous pesticides in accordance with the FAO/WHO-Joint Meeting on Pesticide Management (JMPM) criteria.
According to the activists, by July 2023, over 65% of the 55 flagged active ingredients registered for use in Uganda and yet considered as highly hazardous pesticides according to the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) criteria, were not approved for use in the European Union economic bloc.
The majority (49%) of these pesticides are highly toxic to bees, 20% are carcinogenic and reproductive toxicants while 18% are probable carcinogens, and 9% are highly persistent in water and soil and are highly toxic to aquatic organisms.
They say that, based on the Uganda agrochemical register at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and the National Drug Authority (NDA), the country had at least 115 active ingredients and 669 brands of synthetic pesticides legally registered for use in Uganda by the end of 2023.
“These are presenting in 459 brands, but all these active ingredients in the 459 brands, according to the PAN, are classified as highly hazardous,” said Bernard Bwambale, the head of programmes at the Global Consumer Centre, or CONSENT, who also coordinates the activities on food safety at the Food Safety Coalition of Uganda.
If it is hazardous in EU, it is hazardous in Uganda
Bwambale says his organisation has found that of the 55 active ingredients registered in Uganda, 65.5% of them cannot be used in their countries of origin. “Now, if a chemical, a highly hazardous chemical, is produced in a particular country and that country cannot use it, who are we to start thinking that we can use it? This is where our concern is.”
“So, whatever is not used in the EU, it means it’s not fit for use for human beings. The human beings in Uganda and the human beings in Europe are all human beings. And we are all sharing the same human rights.” He says some of the highly hazardous pesticides are mutagenic, meaning they can alter one’s DNA or genetic make-up.
“Literally, it would mean that when you consume food consisting of this kind of product, you stand a risk of your DNA or your genetic makeup being altered. And that is why some research is pointing to some of these chemicals being responsible for birth defects.” He says other chemicals are carcinogenic, meaning the chemical has the potential to cause cancer.
But Prof. Ogenga Latigo says some chemicals like Mancozeb the civil society claim are carcinogenic are not. He describes others as ‘probable carcinogens.’ A probable carcinogen is a substance that has a strong but not conclusive amount of evidence that it can cause cancer in humans.
But Bwambale says, “They don’t want people to keep confusing us with science.” He says other chemicals have been considered fatal when inhaled. “Imagine a farmer who doesn’t know these things and is spraying but is carrying a baby. So both the mother and the baby are inhaling this chemical,” he says, “We need to regulate these chemicals as much as we can.”
He says recent studies have indicated that some of these chemicals were found in human bodies –in sweat, urine and blood, in food and in water. “When the Europeans send us, for instance, these chemicals and we buy them, they also have regulations on which kind of food we can sell to them. We all know that.”
He says when farmers use these chemicals in the name of commercialising agriculture, they may produce very big tomatoes that do not rot, for example, but they cannot sell them beyond Uganda.
“You cannot put them on the EU market because they don’t meet the standard of the EU market. So they (agriculture products still remain with us,” he says.
Mbale, Uganda | Coffee farmers from Bulambuli and Sironko districts are counting their losses after being attacked by coffee leaf rust disease. The disease, caused by the rust fungus Hemileia vastatrix, can reduce coffee production by between 30% to 50%.
The most affected sub-counties in Sironko include Buhugu, Masaba, Busulani, Bumasifwa, Bumalimba, and others. In Bulambuli, the hardest-hit areas are Lusha, Bulugeni Town Council, Buginyanya, and Kamu, among others.
In an exclusive interview with our reporter, Francis Nabugodi, the Sironko District Agricultural Officer, spoke about the devastating effects on farmers. “This disease has negatively impacted farmers in terms of production, and since it’s coffee season, they are going to make losses,” Nabugodi said.
He added that he had instructed extension workers to start massive sensitization campaigns in the six affected sub-counties about preventive measures, such as spraying, to curb the spread of the disease.
Nabugodi also urged the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry to supply the district with chemicals so they can distribute them to farmers, as many cannot afford to buy them.
Julius Sagaiti, the LCIII Chairperson of Lusha Sub-County in Bulambuli District, stated that his sub-county is the worst affected, with over 100 farmers having all their gardens hit by the disease. He called for urgent action from Bulambuli district leaders, warning that the situation would have severe consequences for farmers.
Timothy Wegoye and Suzan Nanduga, both affected coffee farmers from Bukisa, the worst-affected sub-county, shared their concerns. “The majority of farmers are ignorant about preventive measures and do not know the chemicals for spraying,” they said, urging extension workers to use the media to sensitize them.
Along Bwera-Mpondwe road, in Kasese district, farmers till the land, with every hoe raising more dust than dirt, a testament of how hard the sun has scorched the ground. Located at the slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains, the low altitude leads to high temperatures as the district also sits on the Equator. In January this year, the average temperatures were 25.1 °C
Gideon Bwambale walks through drying maize garden.
Today, the temperature is 28.6 °C. The most affected areas are low-lying sub-counties like Kahokya, Nyakatonzi and Muhokya.
High deforestation levels have also exposed the mountain slopes and tampered with rain formation. Twelve sub-counties in the district have been hit with drought and prolonged dry spells. The dried maize and banana plants on Gideon Bwambale’s quarter-acre garden, in Kahokya sub-county, could mean there was a harvest a few weeks ago. However, he is quick to share that they did not harvest a single cob.
“Before the cobs would form, the sun dried them. Indeed, the sun has defeated us this season. The situation has been the same for the last eight seasons (four years). We are waiting on the mercy of God to send us rain because we do not have an alternative source of livelihood,” he laments.
To mitigate the effects of the sun, Bwambale and his neighbours are now planting trees in the hope that the rains will come. Bwambale’s neighbour opted to grow cotton and beans, which are believed to be more drought resilient than other food crops.
However, his cotton garden speaks a sad story because although planted a month ago the cotton is stunted, looking like it is a week old. Kasese District has two rainy seasons – March to May and September to December, and there is hope that with the rains on the way, agriculture will pick up.
On the descent to River Nyamugasani, the situation is no different for Sam Nabugere, a mango farmer who started planting when it began drizzling in late August.
“I planted 400 mango trees on four acres, but now, a month later, half of the trees have died. The weather forecast indicated that we would get rain by September 15, but that has not happened. I believe I will only salvage about 100 mango trees,” he says.
Nabugere has eight acres of land but is now irrigating six of them to try and help his mango trees develop.
“My farm is about 500 metres from the river so I use a pickup truck to ferry 500 litres of water for irrigation. Every day, I spend Shs100,000 on watering the farm. My long term plan is to build a ground tank on the next hill to store water for irrigation,” he says.
Cattle keepers not spared
Among the Basongora community, who are mainly cattle keepers, up to 1,000 heads of cattle have been known to perish in some dry seasons.
Kenneth Muyambi, the vice chairperson of Muhumuza Cattle Keepers Cooperative Society in Nyakatonzi sub-county, says the government has constructed three valley dams – Kakogye 1, Kagongo and Kyasenda – to try and address the crisis.
“The valley dams have minimised cattle deaths as they facilitate a constant water supply, even in the dry season. The main source of water is rainfall and the Kyanyampara water canal. When the valley dams are full, the water can last for up to six months before it is used up,” he says.
However, the valley tanks were last full in January. Now, they are now dry. Each dam feeds about 40,000 heads of cattle from the three different communities.
“Since there is no rain, the valley dams are empty. The Kyanyampara water canal feeds a number of sub-counties. During the dry season, like this one, farmers build channels to divert the water to their farms for irrigation. This means the cattle keepers downstream are deprived of water,” Muyambi adds.
The community calls on the government to instead tap into River Nyamugasani and create a canal through which water can flow into the valley tanks.
“We thank the government for building the valley dams. But the dams need water. Besides channelling water from River Nyamugasani, we request the government to dig solar powered boreholes to pump water into the dams,” Muyambi says.
Tapping into River Nyamugasani will increase the milk production in the area to satisfy the available market around the Mpondwe-Rubiriha border. The cooperative society has 4,000 heads of cattle, but its milk production stands at 5,000 litres in the dry season and 15,000 litres in the rainy season.
The pastoralists say this can improve if the cattle is well watered.
Government response
Julius Rukara, the principal agricultural officer for Kasese district, says the sub-counties experiencing drought are on the leeward side of the Rwenzori Mountains.
“We used to have two rain seasons but because of climate change, the seasons are unpredictable. For instance, the second rain season of the year starts in September and ends in November, but right now there is no rain. In other parts of the country, people plant crops throughout the year. Our farmers struggle to plant crops but end up depending on the mercy of God,” he says.
The district has four rivers and lakes but the farming population is yet to adapt to irrigation. Rukara says the biggest challenge the district is facing is mind-set change.
“Many still view farming as a punishment rather than an opportunity, making it difficult to encourage sustainable practices like agroforestry. People need to be sensitised to understand why we have a drought and then be encouraged to adopt climate smart technologies. People also do not have enough land to plant trees. The population in Kasese now stands at one million,” he explains.
Kasese town has two irrigation schemes – Mobuku and Mobuku II – which can cover 4,000 acres. With support from the government and development partners, the district is constructing smaller irrigation schemes in different sub-counties to cover 100 to 200 acres.
“Additionally, under the UgIFT Micro-scale Irrigation project, some farmers in the dry corridor are being helped to procure irrigation equipment. About 45 micro-irrigation systems, that can irrigate one or two acres, will be set up for small-scale farmers by the end of September,” Rukara adds.
The Micro-scale Irrigation program, hosted by the Ministry of Water and Environment, supports farmers to purchase and use individual irrigation equipment. Cattle farmers in Kahokya are being advised to dig shallow underground wells to store water for irrigating their pasture and watering their animals.
Eliphaz Muhindi, the LCV chairperson of Kasese district, is optimistic about ongoing efforts to improve the situation, especially in the water distressed areas like Kahokya sub-county.
“With support from the Ministry of Water and Environment and the local government of Kasese, we are constructing a solar-powered borehole that will have six tap stands. Secondly, we are also constructing the Nyamugasani Gravity Flow Scheme, which will have two lines, one with 1,500 tap stands and the other with 2,000 tap stands,” he says.
Construction of the Nyamugasani Gravity Flow Scheme will cost Shs61 billion. The district has also allocated funds to sensitise farmers who are diverting water from Kyanyampara canal to rationalise it so that cattle farmers in Nyakatonzi can also benefit.
Rukare says the district is also urging farmers in Kahokya, Muhokya and Lake Katwe sub-counties who are far from fresh water to dig shallow wells.
Kasese’s population continues to grow and yet the arable land between the Rwenzori Mountains and QENP is limited. If the effects of a changing climate are not intentionally dealt with, matters can only worsen.
