Preliminary Appeal Target: US$ 220,497

Balance Requested: US$ 220,497

Geneva, 13 May 2013

Dear Colleagues,

The information farmers in Uganda provide via mobile phones does more than just help them order and pay for supplies. It allows the collection of data that will help them sell their crops, build a credit history, and receive other services, such as crop insurance.

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05/07/2013 11:13 GMT

Par Anne CHAON

PARIS, 07 mai 2013 (AFP) - Le manioc, qui nourrit 500 millions de personnes dans le monde, est attaqué en Afrique par un virus en expansion d'Est en ouest à travers le continent. Un congrès de scientifiques et de donateurs réuni cette semaine en Italie va tenter de leur déclarer une guerre totale.

KAMPALA, 3 May 2013 (IRIN) - In Uganda, a new pilot project seeks to understand the threat climate change poses to coffee, which will enable growers to enhance the crop's resilience to extreme weather events.

Coffee contributes about US$400 million of Uganda's total annual export revenue, directly or indirectly employing at least two million people. But coffee production, like other export crops in Uganda, is mainly rain-fed, making it vulnerable to climate variability.

First season rains start favorably across the country

KEY MESSAGES

• Both bimodal and unimodal areas of the country have received average to above average seasonal rainfall and a timely harvest in June is expected. Minimal acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 1) is expected in bimodal areas through September 2013.

• Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes are expected to continue through at least June 2013 in the Karamoja region due to the effects of last season's below‐average harvests. In both agropastoral and pastoral zones.

Le maïs blanc est la céréale de base principale consommées en Tanzanie, au Kenya et en Ethiopie. En Ouganda, le maïs blanc est cultivé principalement en tant que culture commerciale pour l'exportation dans la région. Le riz importé est un aliment de base majeur pour Djibouti et la Somalie, qui consomment principalement Belem‐le riz importé rouge. La Tanzanie est également un producteur majeur et source de riz dans la région tandis que le Kenya et l'Ouganda sont de petits producteurs. Les deux rouges et le sorgho blanc sont produits et consommés dans la région.

Uganda’s Karamoja region is known for its harsh climate, cyclical cattle raids, the ever high rates of malnutrition, and alcoholism. It is one of the poorest regions of Uganda, and home to about 1.2 million people, most of them living in abject poverty.

North-east Uganda has been dependent on aid hand-outs for decades. Every time a car passes by the manyattas (traditional huts), kids come running hands outstretched. The four-wheel drive branded car represents some form of freebie, and the jeeps roaming these plains are many.

The overall district remained on Alert, since the livestock sector is on Alert across the two livelihood zones. This was attributed to the frequent outbreak of CBPP among cattle, tick-borne diseases remained a problem to most livestock farmers, but vaccination is on going. The crop sector remained on Alert across the two livelihood zones. This was attributed to poor crop yields, due to floods and water logging especially in low lands leading to food stocks becoming quickly depleted. However, the tractor scheme has come to open up land (block farms) for farmers from the OPM.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Several weeks of heavy rainfall have displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes in Kenya

• Despite crop damage, regional food security continues to improve

• Refugees continue to cross borders, albeit in reduced numbers, due to protracted insecurity in Sudan, South Sudan, Eastern DRC and Somalia