|
I wonder if you have ever heard of a
small country in Africa called Uganda. It is an inland
country, the size of about 200,000 km2, bordered by
Kenya to the east, Congo to the west, Tanzania to the south, and
Sudan to the north. As located in the eastern highlands of
Africa sandwiched between two great grabens, the highest temperature is slightly below 30C (86F) and the
lowest temperature reaches far below 20C (68F) in Kampala
(at an altitude of 1,300m/approx. 4,300ft.), the nation's
capital, despite being
right on the equator. To the south is Lake Victoria, where
the Nile starts, and the southern
lakeshore region has a lot of rain because of the updraft generated by the
water surface warmed up during the day. Also, there are volcanoes to
the east and west along the grabens, and their eruptive
activities rejuvenate the soil repetitively, making it very fertile compared to other areas in Africa.
Thus, crop productivity in Uganda is high and so as its population
density.
The staple
of Ugandan people varies depending on the climate; plantains
(starchy, non-sweet, potato-like bananas boiled and mashed to be
eaten like mashed potatoes) in the south where there is a lot
of rain, and sorghum, millet and other grain in the north where
there is little rain. Cassava and sweet potatoes are
cultivated in hilly areas and also rice in the lowlands of valleys. 
[Trans.:
TS] |
Uganda became independent from the United
Kingdom in 1962. However, in the 1970's then-President Idi
Amin's rein of terror with the banishment of foreign
nationals, oppression of political opponents, and ethnic
purification policy, etc., lasted for almost 10 years, during
which the nation's socio-economic foundation was
destroyed almost completely. Even after that,
political unrest and the state of
disorders, which arose from ethnic oppositions, remained for several years.
It was not until
1986 when the situation improved as present President Museveni
came into power. Today, Uganda is hurrying to reconstruct
its socio-economic foundation, which had almost been annihilated
during Amin's rein, assisted by European countries, the U.S. and
international organizations. Agriculture is the
backbone of the country's economy. Farmers take up over 80
percent of the entire workforce and businesses related to
agriculture, forestry and fishery constitute more than 50
percent of the GDP. Further, 85 percent of the export
revenues is by agro-products such as coffee and tea. Large
amounts of sesame and whitefish caught in Lake Victoria and Lake
Kyoga are exported to Japan.
Taking on
economic revitalization, the country has some problems from
agricultural perspective, one of which is the soil degradation.
Crops have been cultivated over the years without using fertilizers
because of the fertile soil. As a result, nourishments in
the soil have become depleted and crop productivity has been on
a decline. In areas that once produced bananas, crops have
shifted to those that can be grown in poor soil, such as
cassava and sweet potatoes, and banana farming has moved to the
western region where plantains were not cultivated traditionally.
Crops are likely to become more susceptible to diseases as
the soil becomes degraded and the growth of crops stunted,
and there
have been reports of damage by diseases and insects in
recent years. Granted that a short-term solution to that is to
use fertilizers and chemicals, farmers cannot afford
them. So then what can they do? It is a problem that
needs to
be addressed immediately.
|
