Mr. Joshua Aijuka:

I thank the committee for this opportunity. I will start with the part of Uganda that practises agriculture. This was broadly highlighted. Uganda is predominantly an agricultural nation. All of us are born farmers, or most of us at least. Everyone is linked to farming. One's parent is a farmer. Approximately 66% of Ugandans derive their livelihood directly from agriculture, the majority of these being women. Most of the agriculture in Uganda is family agriculture; it is largely practised by members of the family. There are also cases of commercial agriculture, which has existed in some regions for quite a long time. For example, there have been plantations of sugar cane in the eastern part of the country for quite a long time. It is interesting that the poverty levels in regions in which we have had plantation agriculture are among the highest. There has also been a lot of pressure on natural ecosystems; wetlands have been destroyed and forests are being cut down and given away. There are several cases of that right now. In transforming agriculture and moving it forward, a question arises as to whether this is the approach we need to take. There is commercial agriculture in Uganda. The food that is produced is largely consumed at home but some is sold. That is how the people are able to sustain themselves.

One of the challenges we face is the fact that market prices are not that conducive. Market prices for, for example, hybrid maize fall when the yield is really good so farmers may not be able to afford to buy seed for the next season. There are also programmes under which the Government gives out inputs. For example, right now it is giving out a lot of hybrid maize. Last year there was an outbreak of fall armyworm which almost ate up the bigger part of the yield. Farmers who had gone fully into that area of farming could not even get seed to plant for the next season because they had been used to being given seed by the Government for quite a while and had lost the ability to produce their own inputs.

I will also comment on the issue of women and the situation on the ground. Why are there more women involved? The role given to women has always been to provide the food but agriculture is becoming more unpredictable. Men move out and look for other opportunities but women do not have the opportunity to do so in most cases. They have to stick around to feed their families. Climate change is causing an increase in this trend. As the men go they tend to move into practices that are not environmentally friendly, for example, charcoal burning. I do not know if this is something with which the committee will be familiar; it is fuel produced using biomass. The men move into such enterprises, which feed into land degradation trends, because they can no longer rely on agriculture in such uncertain times.

My colleague has spoken about why degradation is so high. It is partly because of that. As a result of the change in patterns, we have missed a couple of seasons. Traditionally, farmers were used to growing crops in a certain season, but now things have changed considerably. Rains now intensify all of a sudden. Heavy downpours cause erosion and destroy crops and sometimes property. The rate at which the natural cover is being destroyed means there is nothing holding the soil together. When the rains come, intensive erosion takes its course.

Deputy Corcoran Kennedy asked whether agroecology is like permaculture. I would say that permaculture is assisting within agroecology. It is basically a way of designing a system that mimics nature, in a way. While there is a very strong relationship between agroecology and permaculture, agroecology is much broader. It looks not only at the science but also at the social aspects which cause things to be the way they are. It is about being able to organise farmers into a strong movement that is able to change and influence things and take up its rightful position in the food system.

I am not sure if I have left out anything. I will be glad to respond to any further questions.