FAO Climate Action in Uganda

The Cattle Corridor in central Uganda, a semi-arid area of the country which is currently on the front-line of the nation’s battle against climate change.
Agriculture here is largely rain-fed, and unexpected long dry periods and limited rains are making life unpredictable and increasingly difficult.
To counter this, measures are now being taken here to help farmers adapt to climate change, through the Global Climate Change Alliance or GCCA, a programme funded by the European Union in partnership with the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, with additional funds by Belgian and Irish governments.
The initiative started by bringing locals together in Farmer Field Schools, where villagers identified key problems and together developed plans for their future.
For the first time pastoralists began to grow drought resistant pasture so that they could continue to feed their cattle during dry seasons and periods of drought
Villagers were encouraged to harvest water and to store it in order to water their cattle and to irrigate their crops during dry periods
And locals built barns to store their dried pasture throughout the year.
Group members have invested their new found earnings into higher yielding breeds of cattle, which means that milk production is consistently higher all year round, leading in turn to higher incomes and hope for their children’s future.
In a country like Uganda where 80% of the population relies upon agriculture for its livelihood, putting agriculture at the heart of plans for climate change adaptation is essential, for which there is full political support.
Although the GCCA Programme is currently active in only 6 of Uganda’s 120 districts, other parts of the country are learning from its successes and those activities will be replicated.

SHOTLIST:

LOCATIONS: Nakaseke District, Kampala (last SOT), Uganda
SHOT: October 2016
SOUND: Natural, English, Luganda
TRT: 3’28”
SOURCE: FAO

1. GVs of landscape, Nakaseke District
2. Cow walking past
3. Chickens walking by on dry ground
4. Farmer field school (Umubano - Friendship) meeting taking place at a hut
5. Farmer speaking to a trainer
6. Sign for the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) Uganda
7. Various of group members listening to a female farmer
8. Adaptation plan they have devised together
9. Pan from farmer Ellyson Arinawe’s house to his field of growing fodder
10. Ellyson Arinawe looking at his fodder
11. Ellyson Arinawe feeding his cows
12. Cows arriving and eating
13. Harvested and stored water
14. Various of Ellyson Arinawe using a foot pump to water his cattle, cattle arrive
15. Cattle drinking
16. Pan from water tank to a barn
17. Women stacking hay bales in a barn
18. Proscovia Nakibuye stacking hay
19. Various of farmer field school member milking cow
20. GV of women stacking hay bales in a barn
21. Young girl drinking milk
22. Various of farmer field school members making ghee
23. Various of woman farmer field school member polishing the ghee containers in a hut
24. Farmer filling up a yellow jerry with water in a water storage area
25. Farmer walking away with the jerry can of water
SOTs:
1. Ellyson Arinawe, Farmer, Nakaseke District (Luganda):
Our animals have to walk long distances to look for water and most of the cows end up dying. The pasture dries up and vanishes and we end up with areas without any vegetation at all.
2. Proscovia Nakibuye, Farmer, Nakaseke District (Luganda):The best thing is that actually we have got some benefits from climate change. We have learnt how to plant pastures. And we have also been taught good livestock keeping. We used to get less milk but now there is a difference. And we have managed to save some money because of the increased milk production. Now each cow can produce about 15 litres a day.
3. Proscovia Nakibuye, Farmer, Nakaseke District (Luganda):
As parents the best thing we have appreciated is that our children used not to go to school. Because they would have to go and graze the cows and had to walk as far as 5 kilometres away.
4. Proscovia Nakibuye, Farmer, Nakaseke District (local language):
But now there is a difference. There is a change. We get a lot of milk and we produce ghee. And we earn money.
5. Chebet Maukut, Focal Point, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Kampala (English):
Agricultural food security is a matter of life and death in Uganda. It’s about the survival of humanity. And therefore, the sectorial NAP or integration of agriculture has been seen as a key starting point. How to have a harmonised and a prioritised approach. How to address agricultural investments in the midst of the problem of climate change.

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