| dc.description.abstract | Progress towards improved food security continues to be uneven across regions in the world.
Some regions have made remarkably rapid progress in reducing hunger, notably the Caucasus
and Central Asia, Eastern Asia, Latin America and Northern Africa. Others, including the
Caribbean, Oceania and Western Asia, have also reduced their PoU, but at a slower pace.
Progress has also been uneven within these regions, leaving significant pockets of food insecurity
in a number of countries. In two regions, Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, progress has
been slow overall. While some countries report successes in reducing hunger, undernourishment
and other forms of malnutrition remain at overall high levels in these regions.
In sub-Saharan Africa, land is predominantly owned under customary land tenure and being used
mostly for agricultural purposes. According to World Bank Fact Sheet, agriculture employs 65%
of Africa‘s labor force and accounts for 32% of GDP. Despite the fact that Africa has large arable
land resources, the continent imports roughly $30 billion in agricultural products yearly (World
Bank, 2015). Sub-Saharan region is also ranked as the most food and nutrition insecure continent
with about a quarter of its population undernourished. Paradoxically, the majority of these are the
smallholder farmers.
Uganda continues to experience undesirable levels of food security especially in the North and
North Eastern parts of the country. In these regions, land is predominantly under customary land
tenure and the locals engaging in subsistence agriculture. High levels of food insecurity in
Uganda are attributed mainly to the insecure land tenure that discourages engagement in
agriculture for food production. These insecurities are mainly derived from encroachment by
other members of the community or expropriation by the state for community activities and
services. The ineffective dispute resolution mechanisms that take too long to resolve these
disputes also tends to add to the negative effects of customary land tenure and food insecurity.
These factors combined have led to high levels of food insecurity and undernourishment creating
a need for redress. This research therefore seeks to assess the degree to which these food
insecurities can be attributed to the customary land tenure system of land ownership which is
continuously deemed insecure and not supportive of the agriculturalist nature of these
communities. | en_US |
