CULTURAL LEADERS WARN FARMERS ON CASH CROPS

By RONALD SEEBE

Namutumba. Farmers in Namutumba District are paying the price for abandoning growing food crops in favour of groundnuts as a cash crop, leaving residents with acute food shortage, with children being the most threatened.
Coupled with prolonged period of unusually low rainfall, the people of Namutumba, majority of whom are farmers, are now struggling to feed themselves, according to Busiki royal chief Yokonia Isiko.

In an interview with this newspaper at his residence in Kigalama village, Namutumba Sub-county on Wednesday, Omulangila Isiko said farmers in the district have since been put on a hunger alert by a section of cultural leaders in Busoga sub-region.
“This is a notice to the farmers in Namutumba to not sacrifice food crops at the expense of ground nuts as a cash crop,” he said.
The royal chief continued: “The hunger alert we are sounding in the district is as a result of farmers resorting to planting groundnuts on large scales at the expense of food crops to feed their family and also supply the market.”
The effect
As a result of lack of balance between growing cash and food crops to feed the family, Omulangila Isiko said at the peak of the drought two and half years ago, several children, mostly under five years, succumbed to death as a result of hunger, with many more ending up malnourished particularly in Magada Sub-county.
“Growing ground nuts on large scales is a deadly practice in the area and farmers must stop it because of its consequences,’’ Omulangila Isiko said.
He is now fearing that if the same mistake is repeated this season, then the district should brace for the worst.
DAILY MONITOR