Uganda is endowed with very rich resources and occupied by well-meaning generous, happy, and peaceful people. However, Uganda is one of the poorest nations in the world. Despite this, enormous progress has been made in reducing the countrywide poverty incidence from 56 percent of the population in 1992 to 24.5 percent in 2009. Poverty remains deep-rooted in the country's rural areas, which are home to 84 percent of Ugandans.
Overview of Kamwenge District
Kamwenge District, located in the Southwestern region of Uganda, is considered one of the poorest and most challenged districts throughout Uganda. Kamwenge was made a district in the mid-western region of Uganda in 2001 and is still in its infancy stages. It comprises of 2 counties of Kibale and Kitagwenda that constitute present-day Kamwenge District.
Kamwenge shares boundaries with eight Districts namely; Kasese in the West, Kabarole and Bunyangabu in the North West and extreme North, Kyenjojo in the North and Kyegegwa in North East, Kazo in the East, Kitagwenda in the south, and Ibanda in the South East. The district was created in 2000 by an Act of Parliament. Previously, it was part of Kabarole District. It covers an area of approximately 1788.5 Km2. 2.6% is covered by open water. It is predominantly a rural district with some of the worst poverty levels in the country.
The population of Kamwenge District is 263,730 people and this is estimated to grow at a rate of 3.2% per year. The population projection for 2018 is 270,668 of which males are 132,537 and female 138,131.
A Day In The Life Of A Farmer
Location of Kamwenge District in Uganda.
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Historical Context
Up to the 1940s, Kamwenge was mainly inhabited, though sparsely populated, by the tribes of Batooro and Batagwenda. Also along the Western arm of the Uganda Railway were linear settlements composed of a mixture of various tribes. The countryside was sparsely populated except in the two refugee settlements of Kahunge and Rwamwanja. Starting in the 1960s, the population of the Kamwenge area started to drastically increase, mainly from immigrations of people from South Western Uganda (Kigezi), thus creating a very mixed community characterizing the Kamwenge district of today.
Access and Geography
Kamwenge district can be accessed from Kampala, the capital city of Uganda either through Mbarara town via Ibanda or through Mubende - Fort Portal road via Fort Portal. This is a distance of about 400km. The area is endowed with rich natural equatorial rain forest vegetation especially Kibale and Kitaka forests and rich natural grasslands and scattered bushes in the relatively drier areas. There are flat plains in the rift valley floor especially in Mahyoro Sub County where part of Lake George and its swampy margins are located. The area receives fairly well-distributed bimodal annual rainfall averaging 1200mm throughout the year for most parts.
Altitude and Climate
Because of its tropical location and the relatively low altitude ranging from 1,300 - 3800m above sea level, Kamwenge District has temperatures ranging between 200 - 25 0C (maximum) in most parts.
Socio-Economic Characteristics
Kamwenge district lies in the Ankole/Masaka cattle corridor farmers for the long-horned cattle. In Kibale County, there is a high concentration of cattle rearing culture of indigenous cattle.
A recent Uganda study showed children from Kamwenge District rank second in malnutrition in the entire country. Many citizens are former refugees who returned home in 2002 after being displaced from their homes in the 1970s by Idi Amin. The Ugandan government offered these families small plots of land where they survive as subsistence farmers.
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Communication and Infrastructure
The district has a fair road network that connects it to others like Mbarara, Bushenyi, Kasese, Kabarole, Ibanda, and Kyenjojo. This network eases transportation and marketing of farm products and other services.
- Roads: The Government of Uganda has invested in upgrading two major roads connecting to Kamwenge, making it easily accessible from Kampala, Mbarara, Ibanda and Fort portal.
- Real Estate Development: Kamwenge town hosts a wide range of housing including permanent commercial buildings, office buildings, permanent residential houses and apartment blocks.
- Financial Infrastructure: The district has three commercial banks namely Finance Trust, Centenary and Post Bank. There are various Microfinance institutions, Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) as well as Farmer Cooperatives.
Economic Activities
Agro-processing and commercial farming are the major economic activities and source of livelihood in the district. Bananas dominate the grown tradable crops followed by maize, cassava and sweet potatoes. Other crops include sorghum, millet, groundnuts, beans, tea, coffee, cotton, nuts, beans, tea, coffee, cotton, tomatoes, cabbage, onions and pineapples, which are all grown on a small scale mainly for subsistence. There is also animal husbandry.
The District population is also engaged in agro-forestry, aquaculture, apiaries. The coming of Congolese refugees affected cattle keepers in the area as they were displaced and had to relocate to other places within and outside the district. Land in the refuge settlement is now used for agricultural production especially maize, beans and Irish potatoes; the area has become a business centre attracting traders from the whole country.
The growth of rural trading centres, which is, attributed to increased road network especially those opened under Development Response to Displacement Impact Project (DRDIP), Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), Uganda Road Fund and UNHCR. This has also created great impact on business opportunities.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the district economy. The 2002 census report indicates that about 86 percent of the population lives in the rural areas and 14 percent reside in the urban centers. Subsistence agriculture is the mainstay of the economy; it accounts for 80 percent of GDP, creates 80 percent of employment and contributes 60 percent of exports.
Read also: Information on Bugiri District
Here's a summary of the key economic activities in Kamwenge District:
| Sector | Description |
|---|---|
| Agriculture | Mainstay of the economy; bananas, maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, sorghum, millet, groundnuts, beans, tea, coffee, cotton, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, and pineapples |
| Animal Husbandry | Cattle rearing, especially long-horned cattle |
| Agro-processing and commercial farming | Major economic activities and source of livelihood in the district |
| Agro-forestry, aquaculture, apiaries | Other agricultural activities contributing to the local economy |
Tourism
The natural beauty of flora and fauna of Kibale forest has made Kamwenge a tourist destination, which hosts an estimated 12,455 tourists annually. The district is endowed with numerous wetlands, tropical forests, grasslands and woodlands in the Kibale National Park shared with Kabarole District and Katonga game reserve, which it shares with Kazo District and Kyegegwa District.
Social Challenges and Initiatives
HIV/AIDS is one of a number of killer diseases, such as, malaria, tuberculosis, cancer and heart disease. What is different about HIV/AIDS is that it impacts not only the physical health of individuals, but also their social identity and condition.
There is a growing realization in Uganda that inequality has been rising amongst the population, both during and after the periods of poverty reducing growth of the 1990s, and that a significant proportion of the national population has not benefited from opportunities to ‘escape’ from poverty during this period. Chronically poor people are sometimes dependents, but often working poor. According to the poor themselves, they include people with a disability, widows, and the elderly with no social support. Being chronically poor stems from a web of inter-related factors, amongst which lack of assets, lack of education, chronic illness, belonging to a large and expanding household and remoteness appear prominently.
Both the poor and some district officials also suggest that specially targeted poverty reduction programmes should be implemented and monitored to the benefit of the chronically poor (particularly for orphans, people with disabilities, and the elderly). District officials also propose that poverty reduction programmes adopt a holistic, rather than sectoral, approach, with specially targeted programmes for people in chronic poverty and general poverty reduction programmes monitored to ensure that chronically poor people actually benefit. This includes the provision of grants in cash or kind and credit on favorable terms.
Youth Empowerment
Several initiatives focus on youth empowerment:
- Preventing youth from participating in antisocial activities.
- Providing academic and career guidance.
- Offering vocational training.
- Counseling and motivating youth to achieve their targets.
- Upgrading skills with the latest technology.
- Creating self-employment opportunities.
- Engaging youth in welfare activities and implementing government policies.
- Preventing drug addiction.
- Forming and training child protection committees.
Household Mentoring Program
The household mentoring approach, as it was first developed under the IFAD-supported District Livelihoods Support Programme, DLSP (2007-2014) in Uganda is an innovative extension methodology used to work with poorer households. The specificity of this approach is that all adult members of a household, including both women and men farmers, are assisted by a trained mentor selected from the local community.
The Household mentoring program is not about “doing it for you today” but assisting you to develop the skills to “do it for yourself tomorrow”. It’s about sharing skills between generations and is ideal for young families without an extended family nearby. The program involves your family, the V40RC Manager and the V40RC Volunteer Mentors - all working together.
Additional Information
Kamwenge is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. The 2002 population of Kamwenge was recorded at about 13,320 by the national population census. In 2010, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) estimated the population at 16,100.
Frank Tumwebaze a Ugandan educator and politician. He is the current Cabinet Minister of Information Technology and Communications in the Cabinet of Uganda.
Kabuga Hill is about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Kamwenge town, rising about 1,581 metres (5,187 ft) above sea level.
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