Residents of Kihiihi Sub County in Kanungu District are now feeding on spear grass, locally known as “omushojwa” owing to the famine that hit the area.
Gad Byomuhangi, the Kanungu LC5 vice chairman says, Kanungu, formally a food basket of the country, following the dry spell can hardly feed itself today.
Many families, he said, as matter of survival, have resorted to cooking spear grasses.
Nelson Natukunda, the LC3 chairman of Kihihi Town Council explained that the famine that hit in Kihiihi was due to the prolonged dry spell that spanned the last two seasons, leading to crop failure.
He says government needs to come in and extend to the area, the ongoing supply of relief food under the Office of the Prime Minister, to hunger stricken areas.
Natukunda says the sub county has a population of 17,874, majority of who are affected.
A number of people in the area recently launched a campaign through the Rotary Club of Kihiihi to mobilize for relief in form of cash and materials to help the residents.
Meanwhile, Natukunda urged President Yoweri Museveni to honor his pledge of providing an irrigation scheme to Matanda parish which is a water stressed area, as a long time measure.