Heavy rains have destroyed several hectares of crops in Lamwo , according to farmers and local leaders in the district.
Recently, Meteorologists warned that the country would receive heavy rains.
“I planted about two hectares of groundnuts and maize in my garden and they are ready for harvest but most of the crops are getting rotten because of too much rain falling,’’ George Obwa Lupwach, a farmer in Okol parish Madi-Opei sub-county told Acholi Times.
Lupwach said rain has so far destroyed one hectare of his groundnuts and maize crops.
‘‘Even what we have harvested is getting spoilt from home because it can’t get dried,” Lupwach said.
The most affected crops, according to local farmers in Lamwo are, maize, Sim-sim, groundnuts, sorghum and peas which they say are rotting away in the gardens due to too much exposure to moisture.
Lira, Pader, Lamwo, Gulu, Nwoya, Oyam and Kiyrandongo are among the districts experiencing major rainfall.
Local Lamwo farmer, Lupwach said he expects loses from the sale of his crops due the heavy rains
“I usually earn between Shs 5 million to Shs 6 million after selling my harvested crops, but this season, my earnings will drop to Shs 2 million because rains have destroyed hectares of my crops,” he said.
Madiopei Sub-county LC3 Chairperson, Mr Charles Obong Okwera, in a telephone interview over the weekend said the destruction of crops is likely to affect food prices.
“At the moment produce dealers have shunned the area because the crops people are harvesting are not quality due to the poor storage and too much moisture. Many people are also hoarding their crops creating scarcity of the food crops,” said Obong.
“As leaders in the area, we are emphasizing much on advising farmers on proper storage of their harvested crops so that they don’t get rotten since majority of them solely depends on agriculture,” added the LC3 Chairman.
The District Agricultural Officer Lamwo, Joe Okot expressed concern over the heavy rains
“For the past one week, it has been raining very heavily in the district, our forecasts are that the farmers in the region are likely to lose out on their crops if the rains continues.”
Okot advised farmers in Lamwo to grow resistant crops like Sunflower and take opportunity of the rain to grow vegetable that mature within two to three months.
The metrological department in a recent projection said the country is going to have heavy rains from August until February next year. For northern Uganda, the rains projected to stop in late December.
Denis Otim
