By Emmanuel Olinga
KATAKWI
Katakwi district in eastern Uganda has lost over 1000 livestock due to water and pasture scarcity during a four-month dry spell that ran from November 2024 to March 24, 2025.
During a joint survey on Sunday, 23rd March, 2025, teams visited various locations and witnessed firsthand the unbearable conditions faced by the community. Geoffrey Omolo, the district LCV Katakwi, reported that approximately 1000 livestock animals died as a result of water and pasture shortages in the district caused by a long drought spell.
Omolo claims that on average, three livestock animals die per day, and that every sub county loses between five and ten livestock owing to a lack of water and pasture caused by a prolonged drought.
However, he is optimistic that after the dam is desilted, the Uganda Climate Smart Agriculture Transformation Project UCSATP, supported by the World Bank, will go a long way toward addressing the issue of livestock farmers losing animals and journeying long distances in search of water and pasture.
Samuel Elvis Ojula, LC3 chairperson for Katakwi Sub County, confirmed that the water crisis is a major challenge, after the Awaya Valley Dam in Apolin silted in 1964 but was vandalized, leaving the community with only one valley tank in Osudam, which serves over 15,000 livestock farmers in 17 villages in the sub county.
Ojula indicated that his sub county has lost 121 animals from a four-month drought that began in November 2024 and ended on March 24, 2025, as opposed to the typical two months.
On Sunday, March 23, 2025, MAAIF, an implementer of the Uganda Climate Smart Agriculture Transformation Project funded by the World Bank, conducted a ground survey in Apolin Village, Apolin Parish, and Ocorimongin Dam Katakwi Sub County Katakwi District to reveal the alarming conditions that livestock farmers face as a result of water and pasture scarcity, with over 1,000 animals reported dead due to insufficient water and pasture.
Moved by the plight of the livestock, funding agency World Bank and Ministry of Agriculture Animals Industry and Fisheries will implement 354 dollars a six-year project called the Uganda Climate Smart Agriculture Transformation Project, aimed to support climate-smart agriculture technology and management practices that enhance productivity, household income, and resilience to climate choke for infrastructural development.
However, Sam Okwi, Rose Amuda, and Robert Ibwala are demanding assistance for dam building while also being dissatisfied with the behavior of area residents Ignatius Apuda Loyola, who has encroached on wetland, depriving livestock farmer’s access to grazing grounds.
According to them, they walk 5 to 10 kilometers across Angobo wetland and Ongole Dam in Usuk.
Moses Anguria, Senior Social Development Officer, Uganda Climate Smart Agriculture Transformation Project implemented by MAAIF and funded by the World Bank, says they have visited Awaya dam in Apolin to address the issue, and engineers will visit shortly to quote Bills of Quantity (BOQs) as the project is still being approved.
He stated that the project will involve the desilting of 300 dams as well as the creation of animal holding areas for fattening and disease management in 69 districts around Uganda.
Katakwi district’s population is 165,553, with a rural population of 95.8% and an urban population of 4.2%. Agriculture and animal husbandry are the district’s principal economic activities. According to the National Livestock Census 2021 data, the Eastern and Western areas had the most cattle, estimated at 3.3 million (23 percent).
