KOTIDO: Farmers in the Kotido district have fought with the people in charge of the area because they won’t let them sell their crops.
The disagreement follows the decision by the district leadership to ban farmers from selling the “little” food they harvested in a bid to avert further hunger. But farmers don’t like the idea. They say that the leaders are getting in the way of the harvest and that they had to work hard on their own without help from the government.
Emmanuel Longok, a resident of Kacheri Sub County, believes there is no need for leaders to place restrictions on farmers’ produce when it is clear that the government has done nothing to help them.
Longok said if the leaders were concerned about the wellbeing of farmers, they could have sourced for them seeds for planting during the rainy season, but instead they were left to struggle alone.
He also noted that the produce they harvested was very little, and whether they preserved it or sold it, it still could not sustain them for long, yet they had other household necessities that were required.
‘’We know the harvest was not good but by the time someone carries produce to the market to sell, it means their other problems require money and the only alternative is to sell what is available to solve to them” Longok said.
Another farmer, Joseph Lomokol, said the government should give out the seeds they talked about to the farmers so that they can cultivate them and keep them as government property, not for sale.
Lomokol said they are already used to their harsh way of life and stopping them from selling their own food cannot address the hunger crisis but instead depresses them the most because they are keeping what they can’t use.
John Bosco Akore, the secretary of the Kotido Elder’s council, noticed that the leaders are starting a war that they can’t handle.
Akore says the only crops they harvested were sorghum and maize, which they could not eat alone as food without sauce, which they needed money to buy.
He said most families do not have sources of income, yet they demand household items, and sorghum is the only product they can sell to support their families.
He said that the leaders should instead focus on positive action for Karamoja to deal with the hunger crisis and reduce the amount of aid food that is given out because it can’t feed them for long.
“I can assure you there is no way farmers can avoid selling food because they have other problems to solve with money that can be obtained only through selling the produce,’’ Akore reiterated.
But Paul Komol Lotee, the LCV chairperson for Kotido district, said that they thought it would be smart to persuade farmers not to sell their small amounts of food to make hunger less of a problem, but farmers took it the wrong way.
Komol revealed that he was embarrassed by farmers when he tried moving around the community, sensitizing them about the dangers of selling all the food in the house when hunger is still biting.
“We are trying our best to encourage our people to adopt the system of food protection, but the community has failed to understand the importance because of their ignorance. We have been harassed and we cannot do much, “Komol said.
Komol said that the high level of illiteracy in the community is causing people to say bad things about preserving food.
Currently, farmers across the Karamoja region are harvesting crops, majorly sorghum and maize. However, due to doubled prices and demand, most farmers have been lured to sell their harvest.