On my recent trip to Uganda I travelled extensively throughout the country and came across people without food and others with too much of it.
I for instance visited a school at the source of the River Nile in a town called Jinja and the teachers told me that they had a food problem as the World Food programme had discontinued the school's food programme because the area where the school is located cannot be characterised as being short of food.
The World Food programme was not wrong in it's assertion, the missing link here is how to get the food to the school or the school should start a food growing programme within it's grounds.
In Western Uganda, I found all sorts of food, fruit and vegetable, bananas, carrots, cauliflowers,onions, aubergines, peppers, oranges, peas, peanuts, potatoes and sweet potatoes as well as cattle ranches, and herds of goats.
You travel elsewhere and there is no food at all. What surprised me too was the discovery of peas donated by the Canadian government as part of the Food Aid programme to Rwanda on sale in Ugandan fruit and veg markets!
I have long argued that we never really know where whatever it is we donate here in West goes and here was my proof! What was interesting the chap selling these peas was also selling Uganda grown peas but for a higher price than those from Canada
Another obstacle in the food distribution here is the lack of refrigeration storage and other preserving methods. You then have a feast and famine type of situation where in some months food is abundant and in others there is not enough. The people have no means of preserving food for those months when it is less abundant
Matoke, (kind of banana) this is staple food in Uganda and there were lots of it in west and East Uganda but really expensive in central Uganda
Organic tomatoes on a fruit and veg stall in western Uganda, I was surprised to note that the whole lot cost a mere £2
Avocados on a fruit and veg market in Western Uganda
long horned cattle in Western Uganda
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