OPM flags off food items to vulnerable people in Karamoja

The  Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Esther Anyakun Davinia, on Friday flagged off relief rood to vulnerable people affected by food insecurity in Karamoja sub-region.

The package included over 2.2 million kilogrammes of maize flour and over 1.1 million kilogrammes of beans to cover 115 administrative areas, including all sub-counties and town councils in the region.

The relief food was allocated to a total of 230,000 people (2,000 people per sub-county/town council), with each vulnerable person getting 10 kilos of maize and five kilos of beans to cover a period of 20 days.

She said the number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity and requiring food assistance and livelihood improvement interventions in Karamoja is expected to be 308,900, a slight reduction in magnitude from 314,700 people projected in April 2022.

The region in Uganda's northeast has been hit by a prolonged dry spell that has affected food security and left the population vulnerable.

“Between June and August 2022, 25% of the population (about 315,000 people) experienced high levels of acute food insecurity,” said Anyakun.

“Following approval of sh135b through a Cabinet meeting in July 2022 towards provision of relief food to Karamoja sub-region and other affected areas across the country, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has released sh40b in total so far."

She said that the Office of the Prime Minister has procured relief food from the recently released sh20bn by the finance ministry in February 2023.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, from September 2022 to January 2023, the food security situation in Karamoja was projected to remain as earlier projected in April 2022.

The Uganda National Meteorological Authority, through regional dissemination of weather forecasts for the Karam sub-region in Moroto district, indicated the likelihood of normal rains to support agricultural production during the March-April-May 2023 rainfall season.

Accordingly, the agriculture ministry, together with Operation Wealth Creation, have embarked on initiatives to improve food production through deployment of tractors aimed at opening and ploughing substantial land for sustainable food production.

Anyakun said 15 tractors have been deployed, starting with Nabilatuk and Kaabong, two 50 HP tractors based in Napak, a fuel tanker, a mobile workshop and 30 walking tractors.