Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
20.4.4 Soroti district
Soroti district was severely disrupted in the 1980s and the security situation did not
improve sufficiently to allow ready access to the area until 1991. It was then learnt
from discussions with farmers that a severe epidemic of CMD had already occurred
and caused a drastic decrease in cassava cultivation. The crop had previously been
grown so extensively and profitably for sale locally and for export to northern
districts of Uganda and into southern Sudan that it was referred to as 'white gold'. A
survey in 1991 revealed that cassava plantings were few, the incidence of CMD in
the remaining fields in all counties was almost total and the symptoms were very
severe (Otim-Nape
et al.,
1998).
Ebwanateraka was virtually the only variety being grown in the district in the
late 1980s. It was highly susceptible to infection and the failure of this variety due to
CMD caused grave food shortages and hardship. A further survey in 1992 confirmed
that many farmers had largely abandoned growing cassava and switched to sweet
potato and other crops. The cassava area had decreased by 95% as farmers realized
the futility of planting infected cuttings. These were the only ones available in
quantity due to the insecurity and limited access to material from the relatively
unaffected areas south of Lake Kyoga.
Because of the insecurity, no attempts could be made to restore cassava
production until 1991, by which time little cassava was being grown and there were
few remaining sources of infection, especially in counties where farmers had heeded
the official advice to remove any remaining infected stands before planting CMD-
free cuttings introduced from elsewhere. This explains why the first attempts to re-
stock the area with cuttings of Bao and Aladu obtained from Apac district were
more successful than previous ones in Luwero, West Nile and Kumi, which were
made earlier at the height of the epidemic. Another important difference is that
farmers in Soroti were encouraged to plant the introduced material in large isolated
blocks. These were under group management and extension staff provided advice on
roguing and other aspects of control (Otim-Nape
et al.,
1997). Infection was much
less than when the same varieties had been introduced several months earlier into
Kumi. Other later projects were also successful, especially when Nase 3 and other
CMD-resistant varieties became available. By 1996, there had been a considerable
recovery in cassava production based on the improved varieties released through the
various rehabilitation projects and other varieties introduced by farmers themselves
from elsewhere in Uganda. There has been a big increase in varietal diversity and
resistant varieties predominated in 69% of the plantings assessed in 2003, when the
overall incidence of infection in the district was 27% and even less in the resistant
varieties (Bua
et al.,
2005).
20.4.5 Kitgum, Lira, Apac, Masindi and Kiboga districts
Kitgum, Lira, Apac, Masindi and Kiboga are other districts of Uganda where
cassava has long been the traditional staple food crop. From anecdotal and other
evidence, it became apparent that many parts of these districts were affected by
severe CMD epidemics in the late 1980s and the remaining areas were affected
