The Role of Food Banks in Food Security in Uganda : the Case of the Hunger Project Food Bank, Mbale Epicentre

Abstract

This study addresses the role the food bank plays in food security, sustainable livelihoods and building resilience to climate change among smallholder farmers in Uganda, and in particular eastern Uganda. Currently, it is difficult to measure the socioeconomic impact of the food bank on smallholder farmers in eastern Uganda due to the difficulty of isolating its contribution from that of interrelated programmes and farmer activities. It is, however, evident that the food bank plays a significant role in improving the smallholder farmers’ food production and incomes. The food bank is actively engaged in training smallholder farmers in modern farming methods, providing improved seeds and safe storage facilities for farmers’ produce, helping farmers to diversify their livelihood sources and providing climate-related information. Prolonged drought and lack of access to sufficient seeds of good quality are the main sources of food insecurity among smallholder farmers. Distance from the food bank and lack of access to information are among the other factors that affected many farmers’ ability to participate in food bank activities. Community ownership of the food bank is still lacking, and this is a long term threat to the sustainability of the project. There is therefore an urgent need to establish community-managed food banks at lower levels that ensure community ownership; equitably distribute benefits among target farmers; encourage seed-saving among farmers; initiate community-supported agriculture programmes to improve access to farm credit; and invest in rainwater harvesting for irrigation.