Attachments
The below-average harvest will temporarily relieve the Crisis (IPC Phase 3) in Karamoja
KEY MESSAGES
- Delayed and below-average green and dry sorghum harvests in Karamoja will increase food availability and access from October through December, with many households moving to Stressed (IPC Phase 2). The amount and duration of household stocks will vary by area. Overall, higher phases of acute food insecurity will likely return by January.
- Despite the disruption of livestock trade due to the quarantine, some limited livestock sales continue. Increased livestock-to-sorghum Terms of Trade (ToT) have increased food access in Karamoja. As the vaccination campaign continues to increase coverage against foot and mouth disease, new cases become less likely.
- Land preparation and planting for the second season are ongoing in bimodal areas despite below-average rainfall since the start of September. Steady rains are anticipated by mid-October, and overall normal to above normal rainfall is expected through December. Early harvests are likely to increase food availability in November/December.
CURRENT SITUATION
- Countrywide, atypically heavy rains fell in late August and early September. Normally, rains intensify in mid-September, and that’s when land preparation and planting for the second season is most intense. However, the heavy rains caused many farmers to complete land preparation and planting somewhat early. However, a dry spell of around two weeks followed these heavy rains when normally steady rain would fall. Localized waterlogging and storms destroyed germinating crops in some of the newly planted fields. They also damaged maturing root crops and perennials in some northern, eastern, and southern districts. Some households had post-harvest losses of first season cereals that were harvested in August. These crops could not be dried due to the heavy rains.
- With heavy rains early September, landslides occurred in Bulambuli District in eastern Uganda. Fortunately, no deaths or destruction of houses was reported, but livestock deaths and destroyed crops were reported from two villages. This area is prone to landslides during prolonged, heavy rains.
- In Karamoja, sorghum performance varies between different areas. Most of the sorghum has not yet reached maturity due to the erratic June to August rainfall and the residual impact of the April/May dry spell. In a normal year, the green harvest begins in July while harvesting of dry sorghum occurs from August through October, though long-cycle varieties may not be fully mature until as late as January. For this year, the green harvest was delayed until September, and the dry harvest will continue through at least December. Some minimal amount of green harvest of sorghum, maize, millet, and cowpeas is happening now. Temporary waterlogging following the heavy rains in late August and early September along with nearly two weeks of hot sunshine without rain caused wilting of much of the sorghum planted in June. It has had less flowering and even fewer plants reaching the grain-filling stage than the sorghum planted earlier. Apart from sorghum, the well below-average millet harvest started in Kotido, and both the well below-average green and dry maize harvests in Abim District are nearly complete.