The Jinja district leadership has called upon the government of Uganda to promote food security in country in a bid to fight the incidents of hunger in the country and avert the malnutrition among younger
children through enacting bi-laws in all local councils in the country.
The leaders want a bi-law requiring every home to grow a certain amount of food crops to avoid hunger.
Leaders are concerned that most of the land owners in Jinja have sold off or leased it to sugar cane factories for sugar cane growing living themselves with no land to grow food and some sale all the food they grow.
The leaders believe by the introduction of these bi-laws will restrain residents from selling off all the food they grow and renting of all the land to sugar cane factories.
The most affected areas are Butagaya, Busede, Budondo and Buyego sub-counties in Jinja.
Jinja farmers’ chairperson Daniel Mwanga says hunger has been increasing in most areas of Jinja due to land owners who resort to hiring out land to small amounts of money and selling all their harvest.
He says local leaders should call for meetings at village level and pass food ordinance on food growing and shortage as well as hiring off their land.
Godfrey Kyalo the Nabago village LCI chairman says most of the land owners in Jinja had resorted to hiring out their land in Nakabago village.
He however says several village meetings resolved that every household should plant 150 cassava plants which he thinks can also work in other areas to save people from hunger.
Jinja municipality mayor Muhammad Beswale Kezala says government should find a way of passing the laws through the local governments to control inflation in the country.
He says this will fulfill the Uganda national food and nutrition policy of 2003 which states that adequate food nutrition is a human right.
By Mugisa Isaac Mathias
