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| Faridah Nangobi and her family on their sugarcane farm in Kamuli, Uganda/Credit: Send a Cow |
From coffee in Vietnam to sugar in Uganda, governments in developing
countries have over the past decades pushed farmers to grow cash crops: they
are important to the national economy and they provide jobs. This might be a
good idea for farmers who have enough land to grow a variety of crops, but it actually harms smallholders.
Many farmers in
developing countries own just a few acres of land, which means that most of
their plot, often all of it, is dominated by the cash crop. This dependency on
just one crop leaves them vulnerable to crop failures and any fall in the price
of commodities. The lack of biodiversity also has a negative impact on the
environment.
In addition, because smallholder farmers are no longer growing their
own food, the region faces severe shortages and food
has to be brought in from other parts of the country at high prices. The money the farmers do
make from the cash crop is often not enough to feed their families.
"My children
have nothing to eat. My baby just cries and cries. I’m forced to give her vodka
so she can sleep,’’ says Faridah Nangobi, cradling her one-year-old baby inside
her thatched hut. Like most farmers in Uganda’s
Kamuli district, she is growing
sugarcane with her husband on their small plot. Outside, her other
children stand under a mango tree gnawing on sugarcane. The desperation with
which they crush the canes shows that they are not chewing for pleasure: it is
their only meal of the day.
“Uganda must enact a policy to limit smallholder farmers from growing
sugarcane as it has been shown not improve their lives,” says Patrick Sambaga,
Uganda Country Director for Send a Cow, a small international development charity, working
with farmers to strengthen the local economy and help them grow nutritious food
and build greater gender equality.
“Smallholder farmers must concern themselves
with crops that bring in regular income for health care, school fees and food
security,” Sambaga adds. “We encourage farmers to grow high value crops like
citrus fruits, mangoes, kale, tomatoes, amaranth, garlic, potatoes, passion
fruits, and at all times, keep small livestock such as ducks, chicken, rabbits
and goats if they cannot keep cows.”
Here is a story I’ve written for the Financial Times’ This is Africa examining how the sugar business system is operating in Kamuli, a major
sugar hub in Uganda, and its human toll.
