- The number of food insecure people in Uganda is estimated at about 1.1 million people with at least 81 percent of this population in the Karamoja Region in northeastern Uganda. Unseasonable rains in this region have kept livestock close to home and improved production, thereby ensuring access to livestock products for the most vulnerable – children, the elderly, and women. The rest of the food insecure population is in northern Uganda and parts of eastern Uganda.
- Increased availability of staple crops from the above?normal second season harvest, adequate market supplies, and availability of root crops and tubers have maintained normal food security conditions in most bimodal areas. Eastern Kitgum and Pader still face high levels of moderate food insecurity, although recent rains have provided some vegetables to ease the situation in the short term.
- Higher than normal 2009 second season rains extended into February and merged with the March 2010 onset of first season rains, causing rivers to overflow and swamps to fill in eastern Uganda. The floods have led to land inundation, population displacements, and damage to property in Butaleja and Bududa districts, with 94 deaths confirmed and 260 people missing in Bududa. The floods have also damaged roads and communications links and limited movement in many areas, thereby hampering any recovery efforts.
- The above?normal second season harvest in most bimodal areas has increased market supplies, leading to an overall decline in prices in many locations. In Kampala and Masindi, wholesale prices in January and February 2010 were about 50 percent less than the same period last year and nearly equaled the five?year average. Prices in Karamoja Region, however, have remained high, due to restricted household stocks and market supplies.