Kagadi hailstorm destroys 1000 acres of crop gardens
KAGADI – More than 3,000 farmers from 7 villages of Kisuura parish Bwikara sub-county, Kagadi district are counting loses after heavy hailstorms destroyed their farms and killed animals.
The heavy rains coupled with hailstorms started in the wee hours lasting for seven hours, destroying hectares of food crops.
The most hit areas are Kicwamba A, Lusaka, Mantuntu, Ngoma, Rugaana, Karambi, Kisuura and Harubaaki all in Bwikara sub-county.
The affected residents are in fear that hunger might strike the area since all they had planted including maize, beans, sorghum and banana among others had been destroyed.
Tibareka Adrian, one of the affected farmers and an area counselor, told theCooperator news that he lost 50 acres of banana plantation to the hailstorm.
Simewo Tubahemuka another farmer, also lost 10 acres of banana plantation and one acre of cassava.
According to them, the plantations have been their source of income and food for their families, adding that they are now stranded.
Moses Murungi, a farmer from Ngoma village lost two acres of maize and one-acre beans and another for cassava. He said the crops had already flourished and were ready for harvest in one months’ time.
Moses Murungi said some of his fellow farmers lost hectares of plantation of coffee, groundnuts and sugarcane which had been their sources of livelihood.
He called on the authorities to come to their rescue and provide them with food, saying they are likely to starve.
https://thecooperator.news/farmers-worried-about-unpredictable-weather/
Dr. Moses Amanya, the Kagadi District Production Officer (DPO) said, the catastrophe left several people homeless after a storm unroofed over 30 houses, schools and churches.
According to him over 3,000 people were affected by the catastrophe and more than 1,000 acres of plantations were destroyed adding that several animals such as pigs, goats and poultry were killed.
Amanya said the Kagadi district disaster management committee will assess the magnitude of the damage before lobbying relief to the affected residents.
Barnabas Tinkasimiire, the Buyaga West MP through his Political Assistant, John Twesige expressed concern over the disaster and blamed it on environmental destruction.
He promised to lobby for relief from the Prime Minister’s Office to the affected residents, adding that this time, the government through the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness will take on the concerns of the residents and provide them with food and seeds to people whose gardens and plantations have been destroyed.
They said people had utilized the lockdown well by engaging in agriculture but now all their efforts have been despised.
Kagadi district is prone to such catastrophes; last season over 100 families in the same district were left homeless after a hailstorm hit the area leaving several houses and plantations destroyed.
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