Museveni to wetland farmers: Leave peacefully, earn more

In Kaliro district, President Yoweri Museveni addressed a growing challenge facing Uganda’s wetlands: how to balance conservation with the economic survival of smallholder farmers.

His message was clear — protecting wetlands must be done through dialogue, not force, and those who vacate them should find better livelihoods, not destitution. Speaking to residents on June 6, Museveni reminded the crowd that wetlands once covered 20% of Uganda’s land, while the remaining 80% was dry land well suited for farming.

Yet over the decades, encroachment has flipped that balance, with wetlands being increasingly cleared for agriculture, especially rice and sugarcane farming. That trend, he warned, is both unsustainable and counterproductive.

“We must use our dry land for farming and preserve wetlands as vital water reservoirs,” Museveni said.

“You can earn ten times more by irrigating dry land with wetland water than by farming directly in wetlands.”

To make his point, Museveni invoked his own experience. At his Kawumu farm, one acre of fish ponds yields Shs 80 million annually — twenty times more than the Shs 4 million earned by rice farmers working in wetlands.

He also cited the Tooke initiative in Bushenyi, where, thanks to irrigation, banana yields reach 53 tonnes per hectare, compared to just 5.3 tonnes from rain-fed farms. Determined to shift public perception, Museveni announced that his government would organize exposure visits to Limoto in Pallisa district, where wetland areas have been successfully transformed into profitable ventures without damaging the ecosystem.

“For the wetlands, let us take them to Limoto,” he said. “When they come back, we discuss.”

Local leaders welcomed the president’s hands-on approach. Bulamogi MP Sanon Bwiire emphasized the importance of dialogue and the government’s efforts to provide alternative livelihoods, such as livestock and fish farming, to those who voluntarily vacate wetlands. But he also warned that success hinges on comprehensive support.

“It’s not enough to hand someone two cows and walk away,” Bwiire said. “We need proper training and en- terprise selection.”

That concern was echoed by some residents who have already tried — and struggled — with alternative livelihoods. Teopista Naisanga, who received two crossbred cows in exchange for giving up her two-acre wetland plot, watched both animals die within two months.

“I’ve had to return to rice farming in the wetland just to make ends meet for my family of eight,” she said. Arpohia Mbeiza shared a similar story.

“We’ve only had two meetings with LC1 chairpersons before they gave out animals,” she said.

“Without any veterinary support, the animals are dying one after another.” For Monica Musekwa, the government’s attempt to promote beekeeping ended in failure. “We were given beehives, but no one trained us. The project has gone to waste,” she lamented.

She emphasized that many local farmers are left behind by programs that rely on complicated documents or training held far from their villages.

“We need simple economic calculations and hands-on training,” she said. “Not PowerPoint slides.”

Kaliro LCV chairperson Elijah Kagoda believes Museveni’s direct involvement could make all the difference.

“This initiative could be the turning point we’ve been waiting for,” he said. “There’s been a lack of political will for too long. But when the president himself leads, people listen.”

Kagoda added that fragmented interventions by government agencies and politicians have long failed to reverse wetland degradation. But Museveni’s commitment — rooted in economic reasoning, practical demonstrations, and personal example — could help spark a broader mindset shift, one that sees wetlands not as farmland to be claimed, but as life- giving assets to be protected and leveraged responsibly.

As Uganda faces the twin pressures of population growth and climate change, the challenge of balancing livelihoods with environmental sustainability grows ever more urgent. Museveni’s message to Kaliro may signal a new chapter in that delicate balancing act — one where conservation is no longer the enemy of development, but its foundation.