“Plan for the rains
and climate changes, but do not entirely rely on nature in farming,” Museveni
tells farmers.
In a Facebook post
on last Sunday, the president wrote sharing with farmers his insights on how to
succeed in farming in the face of changing climate.
In the post,
Museveni articulated that modern farming requires a whole new way of thinking
and new sets of tactics for one to thrive.
“Water and pasture
can be permanently harnessed and preserved in one place,” Museveni wrote.
He emphasized that
farmers need to grow and preserve food for animals just like they do for
themselves irrespective of the weather pattern.
According to
Museveni, modern agriculture is about seizing and bringing nature under
control.
“Modern farming
demands that humanity must tame nature and preserve water at all times both for
their animals and for irrigation to ensure the growth of pasture and
foodstuffs,” the president highlighted.
He added that
preserving these will guarantee the feeding of their stock irrespective of the
changing climate.
The president's
insight comes at a time when heavy down pour is being experienced in most parts
of the country.
According to the
information from Rain Water Harvesting Handbook of Uganda's Ministry of Water
and Environment, water harvesting is lowly practiced in the country despite the
high annual precipitation in most regions.
Rain water
harvesting is highly practiced in developed countries like German and
Australia.
Different Water
Harvesting Technologies in Uganda
Rain Barrels
This is one of the
commonest methods in Uganda which involves installing a barrel at a gutter down
pour to collect water.
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Whereas this method
is easily implemented because of the availability of barrels and the fact that
they don't take up much space, the carrying capacity of barrels are
usually very low.
"Dry" System
This is a form of
rain barrel set up only differing in the fact that it involves a larger storage
volume. In this widely used technology, collection pipe dries after each rain
event since it empties directly into top of the tank. This method allows for
huge volumes of water to be stored and is thus good for areas where rainfall
pattern is unpredictable.
However, the size
of your roof being the determining factor for the maximum possible volume of
water, it is always hard to fill the tanks which are either plastics or
concrete constructions.
"Wet"
System
This is spreading
technology in Uganda. The method involves locating the collection pipes
underground. The tanks are always concrete made constructed underground.
The rain water will
fill the underground piping and the water will rise in the vertical pipes until
it spills into the tank.
The ability to
collect from your entire collection surface and multiple gutters makes this
method the choicest. However, the technology is very expensive especially the
construction process for underground tanks.
