An introduction to water and food production in Uganda and Kenya

Stepping out of the plane at Entebbe airport, the first thing I noticed was Lake Victoria in the distance. The largest tropical lake in the world, it is believed to be one of the first cradle of human evolution (McDougall et al., 2005). Environmental changes around the lake influenced food availability, eventually driving human dispersal out of the East African rift valley (Tryon et al., 2016). Today, human-induced climate change is projected to have a range of impacts on precipitation levels, sedimentation processes and the hydrological regime (Akurut et al., 2014; Marshall et al., 2013; Phoon et al., 2014). This will inevitably affect food availability because the lake is an important fishery and also a source of freshwater for irrigation (Kayombo & Jorgensen, 2006). 

 A photo taken when I arrived at Entebbe airport. Photo: Yi Xi Kang.

In this blog, I will try to shed light on some of the issues with food production and water availability in Uganda and Kenya, which share 45% and 9% of Lake Victoria respectively. I will also discuss some of the solutions which these countries utilise, and how these solutions can be best utilised in the future for adapting to climate change. Where appropriate, anecdotes and pictures from my six-week stay in Kasiisi, Kabarole District, southwest Uganda, will be brought in. 

Where I stayed at in Uganda for 6 weeks. Screenshot of Google Maps.

 

A note on the complexities of Africa

Africa is the fastest growing continent and will have an estimated population of 2.5 billion people by 2050, almost twice the current 1.46 billion people. Numbers are useful for understanding the big picture, but throughout my stay in Uganda, I was amazed by the diversity of ethnicities and tribes, with people speaking different languages just a few kilometres away. Western media often generalises and portrays Africa as a land of drought and famine, even using terms like 'the Hopeless Continent' (Oguh, 2015). This is simply untrue. Life is hard, but most of the people I met - adults and kids alike - were full of hope that they can have a better life. 

Myself imitating how a chimpanzee walks. This was during World Chimp Day on July 14. It was a humbling experience teaching without the use of technology.

When it comes to implementing solutions, the West and the NGOs they fund often use one-size-fit-all approaches to 'help' African countries, which I think is incognisant of the socio-cultural differences within and between African countries. Therefore, in this blog, I hope to create a more nuanced picture of the water and food situation in some parts of Uganda and Kenya. Additionally, I aim to reference African scholars who might be less cited but more culturally-informed than western academics.

Current situation in Uganda and Kenya

Both countries have slightly higher percentages of access to safe water compared to their neighbours, but lower than most other African countries (Figure 1). Smallholder farmers make up 70% and 80% of the rural population in Uganda and Kenya respectively (Omiti et al., 2009). They rely on rainwater for their crops, increasing their risk to climate change, with estimates of up to 50% reduction in crop production by 2050 (Müller et al., 2011). A drought in Kenya in 2022 made up to 5.4 million people food insecure; Uganda has fortunately not been so badly affected.

Figure 1: Map of population with access to safe water in Africa, by country. Source: WHO.

References

Kayombo, S., & Jorgensen, S. E. (2006). In: Jorgensen, S.E., Ed., Experiences and Lessons Learned, Royal Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen.

Müller, C., Cramer, W., Hare, W. L., & Lotze-Campen, H. (2011). Climate change risks for African agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(11), 4313–4315.

Oguh, C. H. (2015). Representation of Africa in western media: still a 21^st century problem. MA Dissertation. Edinburgh Napier University. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292141961_The_Representation_of_Africa_in_Western_Media_still_a_21st_century_problem (Accessed 12 Oct 2023).  

Okello, J. J., Kirui, O. K., Njiraini, G. W., & Gitonga, Z. M. (2012). Drivers of Use of Information and Communication Technologies by Farm Households: The Case of Smallholder Farmers in Kenya. Journal of Agricultural Science, 4(2).

ReliefWeb (2023). Food security and nutrition situation in eastern Africa Q1 & Q2 2023. Available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/food-security-and-nutrition-situation-eastern-africa-q1-q2-2023-july-2023 (Accessed 12 Oct 2023).

Resilience Food Stories (2023). The smallholder farmers of Uganda. Available at: https://mailchi.mp/resiliencefoodstories/new-stories-on-the-website-12361358?e=9c3f1be001 (Accessed 12 Oct 2023).

Statista (2023). Forecast of the total population of Africa from 2020 to 2050. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1224205/forecast-of-the-total-population-of-africa/ (Accessed 12 Oct 2023).

The Encyclopedia of Earth (2012). Lake Victoria. Available at: https://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Lake_Victoria (Accessed 12 Oct 2023).

WHO (2019). Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2000-2017: Special focus on inequalities. Available at: https://www.unwater.org/publications/who/unicef-joint-monitoring-program-water-supply-sanitation-and-hygiene-jmp-progress (Accessed 12 Oct 2023).

Worldometer (2023). Africa Population. Available at: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/#:~:text=Africa%20Population%20%28LIVE%29&text=The%20current%20population%20of%20Africa,the%20latest%20United%20Nations%20estimates. (Accessed 12 Oct 2023).