Populations, Agriculture and Food Security in Ntoroko District, Uganda

Asiimwe Taddeo, Department of Agriculture, Ntoroko District

POPULATION, AGRICUTURE AND FOOD SECURITY In Uganda, the prevalence of food energy deficiency stands at 37%. Vulnerability risk to starvation increases with environmental stress, drought and floods because of dependence on rain-fed agriculture. The farmer’s means of increasing food production is by expanding cultivation area to virgin wetlands areas. Surveys on food security revealed that 59.2 % of people eat less than 3 meals daily. Farmers attribute food insecurity to crop failure and use of rudimentary technologies. Women are the ones mostly engaged in cultivation of fields yet are generally denied land ownership. The food security and nutrition sustainability plan focus on women empowerment and establishment multiplication sites of high yielding and fortified seeds and planting materials for distribution to households especially cassava, sweet potatoes and beans fortified with Vitamin A and iron respectively coupled with appropriate farming technologies that ensured sustainable use of wetland resources for food security.