Climate change effects in different parts of the country have a huge say in agricultural activities. Usually for the worst. For a region like Atari basin, which lies in the flatlands of Bulambuli in Bugisu and Kween district on the Sebei side, the contrasting weather patterns are a menace.
During the heavy rains, the rice gardens experience flooding that mercilessly hits growth and productivity. And in the dry season, the region faces adverse drought conditions hence a poor harvest.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), has been faced with such problems in a long time.
When the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) fronted a grant proposal to the government to set up an all year irrigation scheme in the area that was the shot in arm that the locals had been waiting for.
Birth of Atari Irrigation scheme
Commissioned in April 2025 by Minister Frank Tumwebaze and Jica Chief Representative to Uganda Yoichi Inoue, the project has taken off to greater heights in the eight months of construction.
The headworks and canals and dykes are already in advanced stages.
According to Zenitaka Construction Company, the contractors, everything is on course to meet the December 2026 handover.
In 2018 when the financing agreement was signed, the government of Japan through Jica extended a grant of $25m (later came down to $21.5m because of inflation) to build the scheme’s intake facility, main, secondary and tertiary drainage canals, flood protection dykes, construction and maintenance of roads and model sites with land reorganization covering 12 hectares. The Uganda government committed Shs.30bn, mainly for land compensation.
The scheme, which is designed to draw water from River Atari, will be used for water storage and distribution to the farmers all year long.
‘We look forward to improve the livelihoods of farmers in the region through this project and more to come. Japan and Uganda are good partners and we are looking forward to many projects,’ said Yoichi Inoue.
Atari Irrigation scheme will cover a total landmass of 680 hectares, and joins the others at Ngenge (780 hectares) and Acomai (2200 hectares).
Rithwan Kalinaki, programmes manager for water and agriculture projects at Jica, says such projects are meant to lessen the burden of farmers relying on nature for everything.
‘These days, as a result of climate change, weather patterns are unpredictable and each season comes with its own challenges. But with a well-planned irrigation scheme in place, all those worries shall be a thing of the past.’
The projected benefits
Jica isn’t just building the project but also empowering local farmers through its Irrigation Water Users’ Association (IWUA) programme for the rice growing communities across the region. The association membership currently stands at 204. Each member pays an annual Shs50,000 per acre, while non members pay an additional shs.20,000.
This money is for management, operational and maintenance costs.
The training of local farmers and government agricultural staff in modern rice cultivation techniques has greatly boosted production and household incomes.
Sande David, one of the trained farmers, attests to this. We found him harvesting rice on his 1½ acre farm. Sande was full of praises for the Japanese agricultural trainers who took him and others through training and also offered him improved rice seedlings for a bumper harvest.
Where he used to plant 25kg per acre and harvest a measly five bags, he currently gets 30 bags. Sande and the other 50 trained farmers were given weeding machines to help cut on the time spent weeding the rice.
‘Everything is getting better and simplified now. We used to suffer a lot for meagre returns. We are now happy with the project and when the scheme gets launched, we shall wave goodbye to poverty,’ he said with a smile, before boasting that he has managed to buy a boda boda and build an iron-sheet roofed house, a feat shared by another farmer, Jane Nandutu.
In 2014, only 264 hectares were the cultivated area for rice. By 2029, three years after the completion of the scheme, the projected area will be 570 hectares, producing five tonnes of rice per hectare, up from the current two tonnes.
Abraham Wandega grows eggplants and sunflower not far from Sande’s rice plantation. He irrigates the manual way, by a plastic watering jar. He grows these on one acre but says if he had a better and easier way of irrigating he would have expanded his plantation by the more acres.
‘Manual irrigation is labour, capital and time consuming. By the time of harvest one will have spent a lot on labourers. So I am deeply praying for the irrigation scheme to get finished and we go big on business. The future is really bright,’ he says.
The project will also see other crops like sunflower, eggplants, lettuce, maize, soybean, tomatoes and cabbages all covered. 479 land owners have signed and committed to the scheme with their 688 plots of land (680 hectares). The general population of 6500 people in the two sub counties of Sikwo in Kween and Bumufuni in Bulambuli are the primary beneficiaries.
The challenges
In a brief chat with Inoue, farmers thanked him for the gesture of the weeding machines but also bemoaned the lack of other machines like the rice harvester, hurler and miller.
At Sande’s farmyard, we found a number of labourers cutting the rice and hurling it. From there it is transported to Mbale for milling.
From paying them, to transporting the produce and selling, Sande incurs more costs which will have a bearing on his end profits.
Inoue listened carefully. Perhaps a note taken that will be considered in future. But one thing is for sure. The fortunes of farmers in the Atari basin are getting better with the irrigation scheme.