Eastern Uganda Poorest Region in the Country

 Increased poverty levels are attributed to the
after effects of inflation which increased food prices. source: SOFA 2013.

The slow recovery of the economy from the effects of economic challenges suffered about two years ago forced 19 per cent of households in Uganda to slip into poverty, according to research.

This shows that eastern and northern regions of Uganda remain home to poverty. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) 2011/12 Uganda National Panel Survey report, 19 per cent of households that were in the non-poor bracket in the 2010/11 survey became poor.

The annual study uses the 2005/06 Uganda National Household Survey as the baseline and the findings are based on the household expenditure on food and non-food items. Although the rate represents a 1.2 percentage point drop from 20.2 per cent of the households that become poor in the previous survey, the general picture, however, points to an increase in poverty levels in the country. According to the report, the total number of non-poor households has reduced from 70.7 per cent in the 2010/11 to 67.8 per cent.

Although Mr James Muwonge, the director of socio-economic surveys in Ubos, said the body is yet to compile the general poverty figures, the trends in the economy point to an increase in general poverty levels  in the country

Needy Joyce, a pupil in primary sells sweet bananas
(Bogoya)  around Jinja Town to get School Fees.

This is attributed to the slow recovery of the economy from the after effects of the double-digit inflation that led to increases in commodity prices and commercial bank lending rates, constraining both production and consumption.

While presenting the survey findings yesterday, Mr Stephen Baryahirwa, a principal statistician in Ubos, Told SOFA food accounts for the highest share of household expenditure and thus the high food prices witnessed in the past two years resulted into an increase in household expenditure.

The report indicates that the proportion of incomes people spend on food increased to 52 per cent in 2011/12 from 51 per cent in 2010/11. The survey, which sampled 3,200 households, indicates the central region has the lowest number of chronically poor people at 3.7 per cent, while the western region has 15.8 per cent. While 19 per cent of the households slid into poverty, 35 per cent graduated from the poor to the non-poor bracket.

The rate of graduation was, however, lower than the 44.8 per cent witnessed in the previous year. Sixty-five per cent of households that were poor in 2010/11 remained poor throughout the year. Mr Kahirita Christopher, the chairperson of General Central Organisation of Free Trade Unions in Uganda, said drought could have forced families into poverty since most farmers are not insured as well as high unemployment levels among the youth.

In responce to this report SOFA has come up with project on how people them selves can curb this problem through enterprenuer skill.