Pastoralist communities in Nakaseke and Nakasongola districts have started growing drought resistant grass and fodder in a bid to limit the effects of climate change on their livelihoods.
The initiative, supported by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, is meant to prevent the deaths of cattle whenever the weather patterns change.
The rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have warmed the earth causing significant changes in the weather patterns. The changes have particularly had a disruptive impact in Nakaseke district that lies along Uganda's dry cattle corridor.
Five years ago, the pastoralist community in Ngoma sub-county was hit by a severe drought that left hundreds of cattle dead. Some of the locals resorted to selling off their remaining livestock at half the market value to salvage their prized possessions.
As a result of that experience an initiative was started to get the pastoralists to figure out ways they can best mitigate the effects of the changing climate on their livelihoods.
Under this initiative farmer field schools like Umubano, whose members are cattle keepers from Ngoma members of Umubano, were started and their members hold weekly meetings trying to find ways of tackling climate change.
These farmer field schools are supported by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and they are supposed to equip the farmers with knowledge on how they can adapt to the changes in the weather patterns in their area. A number of farmers who have already undergone the training provided at the school say the knowledge has been beneficial to them.
A development organisation of the Catholic church called Caritas, which works with FAO, says that farmers have been taught to plant pasture that is resistant to climate change to ensure that pastoralists living in the cattle corridor have food for their cattle.
Some farmers in Nakaseke district who have been trained on diversifying the crops they feed their cattle have also started large scale pasture growing. They hope to cash in on their new crops in future.