In spite of a failed harvest from the 2019 first crop season
Uganda has maintained a relatively low food inflation rate at 1.9 per
cent wing to a spill-over of stock from the 2018 bumper harvest.
The
country experienced a bumper harvest of maize, beans, sorghum rice;
cassava, sweet potatoes, and Irish potatoes that has kept the prices of
all staple foods low since June 2018, meaning households were able to
meet their food needs.
Opolot Okaasai, a crop resources
expert and former director crop resources at the Ministry of
Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries said: “2018 was good since the
first rains came on time across the country and floods hit after the
crops had been harvested.”
This year however started on
a difficult note. Although the first quarter is normally dry, it was
affected by the two tropical cyclones that hit Mozambique and disrupted
the country’s rain pattern.
The March-June rain season
was characterised by drought conditions in March and April, as the
cyclones redirected precipitations away from East Africa.
The
latest Food and Agricultural Organisation brief on Uganda says, “Total
cereal production for 2019 is tentatively set at about 3.4 million
tonnes, nearly 10 per cent down from 2018 and 5 per cent below the
average of the previous five years,” however food inflation is expected
to decline in December when fresh harvests will be reaching the markets.
“We care likely to have a poor harvest in the second crop season
and so we expect prices of food crops to go up,” Mr Okaasai explained.
The
minister for Agriculture Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja said maize
prices have been increasing since September and are expected to remain
high for the next few months as heavy rains in several maize growing
areas disrupt the next harvest.
A kilogramme of maize
is retailing at between Ush1,200 ($0.32) and Ush1,300 ($0.35), up from
between Ush800 and Ush850 ($0.2) in June and July.
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