Effect of Precipitation on Food Security in Kasebwera Parish, Butenga Sub County, Bukomansimbi District, Uganda

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue IV, April 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

Effect of Precipitation on Food Security in Kasebwera Parish, Butenga Sub County, Bukomansimbi District, Uganda

Henry Stanley Mbowa^1*, Specioza Asiimwe², Beatrice Birungi^3
1,2,3Kampala University, Uganda
^*Corresponded Author

Abstract:-Over 800 million people in the world are food insecure where 180 (23%) million are found in the Sub Saharan Africa. The study establishes the relationship between precipitation and food security in Kassebwera parish, Butenga Sub County, Bukomansimbi district, Uganda. The study employs both cross-sectional and descriptive survey designs which included mixed methods data collection approaches. The study targets 1996 people from who 322 respondents were determined using Krejcie and Morgan sample size formula. Data was collected through observation, interview and questionnaire. Quantitative data was organized, edited and coded and entered into the SPSS for analysis into descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data was transcribed as per the tools, grouped into themes, categorized and analysed using content value analysis. Results reveal that, an increase in precipitation by 100% retards food security by 58.7%. Therefore, precipitation had a negative correlation to food security which implies that in the area, precipitation (rainfall, hailstorms and drizzle) had significant effect on food security. There is a negative significant relationship between precipitation and food security with correlation coefficient of (r = -0.587; p > 0.000).The study recommends that, the government, district in collaboration with the NGOs should sensitize, create awareness and build capacity of farmers in Soil and water conservation practices, implement and enforce supportive environment and natural resources law and policies.

Key words: Awareness, food security, precipitation, SMART agriculture

I. INTRODUCTION

Food security has been and remains a key issue to address across the globe so as to harness quality of life of the masses and thus this study is built on drought and food security.
Literature indicates that, richer societies have more ways of securing livelihoods and those options translate into resilience (Khalafallah, 2006). He further asserts that, the availability of food on the market is obviously correlated with food security, but the relationship is not absolute, and many other factors act to determine whether an individual can buy, prepare, eat and utilize it efficiently. Smith and Haddad, as cited in Khalafallah, 2006) further reveal that, between 1970 and 1995 increased food availability accounted for only about one quarter of the global child malnutrition reduction.

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