Various districts of the Eastern Province could experience food shortage due to the long dry spell that affected last season’s yields.

This was revealed, yesterday, by Governor Ephraim Kabaija, while addressing local leaders ahead of the forthcoming grassroots elections.

Kabaija called upon local leaders to sensitize people, to store excess harvests instead of selling it.

François Niyotwagira, the Mayor of Ngoma District, reiterated the importance of storing food, saying that they have started mobilizing people to stock cereal crops.
 "We have to be serious with food storage. It benefits the affected sectors and caters for people experiencing food shortages,” he said.

The Coordinator of the KWAMP project, in Kirehe District, Janvier Gasasira, said that they have planned for short and long time solutions to curb the situation.

He explained that the long drought affected most crops cultivated under the land consolidation programme, hence leaving the population with few alternatives.

"We created employment for over 5,000 people. They work on the water shed project that offers them simultaneous earnings. They are paid cash and given food. The work is at the same time done on their gardens,” he said.

Kirehe district is the most affected district with over 17,000 people in need of help, while Nyagatare comes second with at least 5,000 people in precarious conditions.

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