Building Resilience in Karamoja Contents

Building Resilience in Karamoja Contents

May – Aug., 2013 Volume 4 Issue 14 Building Resilience in Karamoja Contents Chinese foxtail millet shows promising results 31 Cereal Banks – a weapon in the fight against food scarcity in Karamoja 07 Planting trees offers multiple benefits to agro pastoralists 18 FAO and districts agree on Climate change project 28 Hunger costs Uganda Ugs 1.8 trillion per year 29 14 15 16 Nutritional blocks improve Energy efficient stoves Junior farmer field schools livestock production and ease stress on the counter vulnerability of health environment children in Karamoja 2 FAO UGANDA INFORMATION BULLETIN Editorial Dear Reader, welcome to the savings, invest and expand their second issue of the FAO Uganda enterprises. Information Bulletin in 2013. Relatedly, efforts to harmo- Karamoja, the home of a big nize animal health programmes pastoral community in Uganda, among the pastoral communities is better known for the nomadic living along the Kenya - Uganda lifestyle of its people and pasto- border resulted in the signing of ralism, which is extensively prac- a Memorandum of Understand- tised in the region. However, a ing between the two govern- multiplicity of challenges includ- ments in April 2013. Details of ing vulnerability to natural haz- this initiative have been featured ards such as drought, diseases, in this bulletin. floods and conflict, have for a In 2012, a contingent of 22 Chi- long time undermined efforts to nese agricultural experts and achieve food security in the re- technicians came to Uganda to gion. share knowledge and skills with But the situation is changing. This their Ugandan counterparts un- bulletin presents some of the key der the South to South Coopera- programmes that FAO is imple- tion (SSC). This bulletin carries menting in Karamoja, with the some examples of early success objective of building resilience in apple and millet production of the pastoral and agro pasto- resulting from this collaboration. ral communities against their The Bulletin also captures details vulnerabilities, improving food of a discussion that was held in security and diversifying their May 2013 among stakeholders livelihoods. These include live- of the Intergovernmental Au- stock feed conservation, vegeta- thority on Development (IGAD) ble production, cereal banking, on regional priorities for agri- strengthening community based cultural development. This was animal health programmes and in response to a record drought promoting the multiplication that hit the horn of Africa be- of cassava, a key food security tween 2010 and 2011, affecting crop. Through junior farmer field Editorial 13 million people. and life schools, FAO is impart- Alhaji M. Jallow During the quarter, it came to James Okoth ing life and agricultural skills in Joseph Oneka children that have been affected light that Uganda loses USD 899 Rachel Nandelenga and/or orphaned by conflict, million (USh 1.8 trillion) annually gender based violence and HIV – as much as 5.6 percent of its Complied Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Rachel Nandelenga and AIDS. FAO is also promot- ing tree planting and the use of – due to effects of malnutrition. Photographers energy efficient technologies to Find details of this alarming find- Rachel Nandelenga improve environmental conser- ing in this bulletin. Winnie Nalyongo vation. Village savings and loan The Bulletin also captures other Design and Layout schemes are providing a means news and events for the period Abbey Ssemwanga - Footprint Creations Ltd for communities to accumulate Rachel Nandelenga - FAO Uganda May – August 2013. Your comments and contributions are always welcome at [email protected] Happy reading! Alhaji Jallow FAO Country Representative in Uganda FAO UGANDA 3 INFORMATION BULLETIN Uganda and Kenya agree on cross- border animal health Officials from FAO, ECHO, and Governments of Uganda and Kenya witness the signing of the MOU on cross border animal health. Seated (front – centre) is IGAD’s Executive Secretary) Uganda and Kenya agreed to coordinate efforts to Initiative in Support of Vulnerable (agro-)Pastoralist improve animal health in their border areas. Repre- in the Horn of Africa (RISPA) project, an IGAD-FAO sentatives from both countries signed a Memoran- partnership programme funded by the European dum of Understanding (MoU) in the border town Union, the cross-border animal health coordina- of Moroto, Uganda on 24 April 2013. Uganda was tion was moved up the political agenda, resulting represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal in signing of the agreement. Industry and Fisheries and Kenya the Directorate The collaboration is a consequence of meas- of Veterinary Services. ures taken by governments after the devastating The communities living along the Kenya-Uganda drought that hit the Horn of Africa in 2011 and border in the Pokot and Turkana Counties of Kenya which affected over 10 million people in Somalia, and the Karamoja Sub-region of Uganda are among Kenya and Ethiopia. After the drought, govern- the first to benefit from the agreement. Thousands ments spearheaded initiatives to increase resil- of families in these areas depend on livestock as ience of vulnerable communities in arid and semi- the primary source of livelihood. In search of pas- arid areas. tures and water sources and in pursuit of trading “This agreement will boost cross-border trade in opportunities, pastoralists frequently cross the livestock and livestock commodities between the Uganda-Kenyan border with their livestock. two countries and harmonize livestock disease “The new partnership will improve animal health management among the pastoral communities service delivery as coordination and information across the borders,” Alhaji Jallow, FAO Country sharing between both countries will be strength- Representative in Uganda, adds. ened,” says IGAD’s Executive Secretary, H.E Am- “IGAD foresees this agreement as the beginning bassador (Eng.) Mahboub M. Maalim. “As a result, of enhanced cross border collaboration, and we local trade will be stimulated while resilience of lo- hope Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan cal communities is further strengthened.” and Sudan will soon follow suit,” IGAD’s Execu- Generally, there has been limited coordination in tive Secretary, H.E Ambassador (Eng.) Mahboub animal health across countries and other service M. Maalim, concludes. “We cannot stop droughts providers in Eastern Africa. The agreement, which from happening, but with the implementation of bridges this gap, was initiated by technical offic- agreements like these, droughts should no longer ers on the ground, led by the NGO ACTED with have to lead to disasters. • funding from ECHO. With help from the Regional 4 FAO UGANDA INFORMATION BULLETIN IGAD countries agree on regional priorities to further agriculture development Stakeholders of the IGAD approved the regional CAADP compact in May 2013 Major stakeholders of the Intergovernmental Au- and management; thority on Development (IGAD) validated the ag- (ii) Improving rural infrastructure and trade-relat- ricultural priorities for the region during a meeting ed capacities for market access; that was held in Kampala in May. Under the leader- ship of IGAD and with technical support from FAO, (iii) Increasing agriculture production and food the member states, NGOs and representatives of and nutrition security; and the private sector also approved the regional Com- (iv) Supporting institutional development and prehensive Africa Agriculture Development Pro- policy harmonization. gramme (CAADP) Compact. These categories are based on, and are in conform- Developed by NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s ity with, the priorities identified in the agricultural Development) to eliminate hunger and reduce development strategies in all IGAD countries. Dji- poverty, the CAADP harmonizes efforts of African bouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have already governments to accelerate agriculture-led eco- signed a CAADP compact and completed the prep- nomic growth. IGAD initiated the elaboration of a aration of national agricultural investment plans to regional CAADP compact to increase the produc- operationalize their national CAADP agenda. The tivity of high potential agricultural areas in the Horn process has been initiated in the other three mem- of Africa and to more effectively address cross-bor- ber states: Somalia; South Sudan; and Sudan. der issues. “The need to crank up the CAADP process in the “The regional CAADP Compact will be instrumen- IGAD region was prompted by the record drought tal in coordinating joint regional effort in improving disaster of 2010-2011, which affected over 13 mil- food security, nutrition and incomes for sustainable lion people, particularly in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia agricultural development in the IGAD Region,’ says and Djibouti,’ Moahmed Moussa, IGAD’s Director Modibo Traore, FAO’s Sub-Regional Coordinator of Agriculture and Environment, added. “Despite for Eastern Africa. “FAO is committed to partner- the abundant natural resources, most IGAD coun- ing with member states of IGAD and development tries are categorized as low income countries. This partners in realization of CAADP goals,” he added. agreement will be instrumental to guide investment During the May meeting, priority areas for the re- in our region, stimulating agriculture growth”. gional CAADP were identified and grouped under The regional CAADP compact will be signed be- four categories: fore the Platform Steering Committee meeting in (i) Supporting sustainable natural resource use September 2013. • FAO UGANDA

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