[allAfrica.com]  [Africa_2003]


Food Distribution Wrecked By Conflict, Minister Says

New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
August 19, 2003
Posted to the web August 19, 2003
Kampala
KAMPALA (IRIN) - Armed conflict means Uganda is suffering chronic food
shortages despite the country having a big surplus of food, according to
Uganda's Agriculture Minister Dr Mugerwa Kisamba.
He told IRIN that conflict had disrupted the means for distributing the excess
food grown in Uganda's productive areas.
The minister was reacting to a pledge by the US government (USAID) on Thursday
of 20,000 mt of food, valued at US $8.9 million, to feed over 1.6 million
people at risk of severe famine in northern and northeastern Uganda.
The pledge came in response to a joint appeal by the World Food Programme and
the Ugandan government for aid for hundreds of thousands of internally
displaced persons (IDPs), mostly in the north.
"The population of the north has been reduced to eating the most basic foods,
like posho [corn flour dough] and barely enough even of that," Kisamba told
IRIN. "I feel ashamed that Uganda is one of Africa's most agriculturally
productive countries yet we cannot feed our people."
When the government's appeal for food aid was first launched, it caused
controversy, with some MPs objecting that Uganda does not need food aid because
it is one of the most plentiful countries on the continent. MPs said what was
needed was not food but a better system for getting food to parts of the
country in need.
But Kisamba warned that this would not be solved while the conflict persisted
in the north and east of the country.
"I have done my best to ensure our farmers are productive to the point of
having a surplus," he told IRIN. "But the surplus they produce doesn't go where
there is no profit to be made, and
how can you profit from parts of the country that are at war?"
Kisamba pointed out that in many cases, development of transport infrastructure
- which is vital for distributing food - had not happened because of the
instability.

   

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