Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Major General David Kasura, said the project to improve food security and resilience of production systems food security, funded by the European Union, aims to build resilience and support sustainable food and nutrition security solutions in the country. the Karamoja region.

“The project strategy is designed to achieve four outcomes: building more inclusive and economically sustainable food systems, protecting improved and environmentally sustainable food systems, stabilizing improved food sustainability of food systems, and enabling governments to lead and proactively respond to the food crisis. It will be implemented in selected parishes in various sub-counties of the nine districts of Karamoja sub-region, targeting at least 16,000 households as direct beneficiaries and 80,000 people as indirect beneficiaries,” he said. -he declared.

Mr. Kasura’s remarks were made by the MAAIF Undersecretary, Mr. Ronald Ssegawa, who delivered his speech at the launch of the project on October 30 at the ministry’s headquarters in Entebbe.

“The action is funded by the European Union with a total budget of 5 million euros (about 20 billion shillings) and focuses on removing some of the obstacles to improving food security and resilience food production systems in Karamoja. three years, from September 2023 to August 2026,” he said.

Mr Kasura said there was a need to accelerate the implementation of the project as a lot of time had been lost compared to the planned start-up period of 2023.

The European Union (EU) Head of Cooperation in Uganda, Ms. Karolina Hedstrom, said the project aligns with the EU’s need to address the challenges of climate change and promote sustainable development.

“This program builds on previous efforts and in particular the EU-funded PROACT, Pro-Resilience Action for Prevention and Response to Food Crisis project, which was designed to increase resilience to food shocks. Resilience to food shocks is even more urgent today. due to the impact of climate change,” she said,

The Deputy Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in charge of programs in Uganda, Dr. Charles Owach, said the main objective of the project is to improve food and nutrition security in the Karamoja sub-region by strengthening sustainable food production and productivity.

“This will be achieved by strengthening agri-food value chains, empowering small-scale farmers, women and youth to build resilient agri-businesses and strengthening early warning systems and anticipatory actions,” he said. he declared.

Mr. Owach said the project builds on the expertise, mandates and ongoing efforts of the two agencies in the Karamoja sub-region, including the Stock Sensitive Systems Strengthening initiative in the Karamoja region. Karamoja.

Deputy Director of the World Food Program (WFP), Mr. Marcus Prior, said the project is part of its efforts to combat hunger across the country, in partnership with the government.

“We also need to help at-risk communities be more resilient to climate shocks. We must address the root causes of hunger through multi-year projects that protect communities from the impact of the climate crisis. In Karamoja, WFP is working with the Government of Uganda and partners, including FAO, to implement long-term solutions to reduce hunger by ensuring increased food production, livelihood diversification, resilience programs and climate adaptation,” he said.