The Ministry of Water and Environment has warned farmers against misuse of irrigation.
The unpredictable rainfall and prolonged dry spells have for a long-time threatened Uganda’s agriculture, prompting experts to push for modern irrigation as a vital tool for higher yields, water conservation and climate resilience.
According to the Assistant Commissioner, Water Resources Planning and Management in the Ministry of Water and Environment, Eng Dominic Banaga Mucunguzi, agriculture cannot exist without water, but irrigation requires careful management to avoid erosion.
“There are basically three challenges, I would say, from the water perspective that the farmers have. At times, there is too much water. For example, in the rainy season, you have floods, so the farmers find they cannot do farming that season.
Two, there is too little water when it’s a dry season, and the crops need water to grow. The third one is also the quality of water. Sometimes it is bad because of poor agricultural practices, where you have the sediment going and polluting the water resource.
And if you are to do irrigation, you cannot use that poor-quality water to do irrigation. So, some of the solutions I would propose to that. First of all, on the issues of too much water, I think we need to harvest that water,” he said.
She advised farmers to interest themselves in rain water harvesting during the wet season and later used during the dry season.
He was speaking at the second Green Drops Summit in Kampala, where government officials, irrigation specialists, technology providers and development partners gathered to explore practical solutions for sustainable farming.
The Conference was organized by Sprinktech Company, Uganda’s leading Water & Energy Solutions provider.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Javan Mukundane said that with about 80 per cent of Ugandans dependent on agriculture, reliable irrigation is increasingly essential to protect livelihoods and stabilize food production.
“In Uganda, 80% of the population depends on agriculture. Actually, 80% is employed in agriculture and with these changing climatic seasons, we need to embrace irrigation.
We do not only actually stop at irrigation, but can I have an irrigation system that reports back to me to tell me that today I have irrigated, my crops are thriving, tomorrow when it rains, I suspend the irrigation. We do not only need an irrigation system that will be operated manually, but an irrigation system that works for you,” he said.
Mr Karin Jeannette, Chief Executive Officer, ENNOS AG, a Swiss clean-tech company that designs and manufactures high-efficiency surface solar water pumps, stressed that joint delivery of climate-smart solutions tailored to Ugandan farmers can help to promote production at a low cost.
Mr Gaurav Sharma of Kirloskar Fluid Dynamics (Varuna) pointed to solar pumps as a reliable alternative where grid power is weak or costly.
