The best performing district in Teso Sub-Region, in terms of food security, is Soroti, with 31.9% of its households that are food secure.

Otherwise, overall, only 27.5% of households in Teso Sub-Region are food secure and are generally evenly distributed throughout the region. The state of food security in Teso, by district, and in order of the most food secure is as follows:

• 31.9% of households in Soroti District are food secure.
• 30.8% of households in Katakwi District are food secure.
• 29.2% of households in Ngora District are food secure.
• 28.8% of households in Kaberamaido District are food secure.
• 28.4% of households in Bukedea District are food secure.
• 28.3% of households in Amuria District are food secure.
• 28.0% of households in Kapelebyong District are food secure.
• 25.5% of households in Kalaki District are food secure
• 19.6% of households in Serere are food secure.

With a population of over 2.4 million it means thousands of people have difficulties accessing sufficient food, since, the greater majority of households in Teso experience:

“Frequent and prolonged periods of insufficient food intake due to lack of money and other resources, forcing members of those households to skip meals or go an entire day without a meal.”

A story first published in October 2016 and updated in January 2021 in the Monitor, “Pain as hunger hits Teso,” gives qualitative insights into why only 27.5% of households in Teso are food secure:

Mostly the negative consequences of climate change.

The state of food security in Teso is consistent with a finding that 16.4% of persons aged 10 years and above in Teso have “probable general psychological distress”– the sub-region with the highest proportion of its people so afflicted in the whole country.

Be that as it may, it is surprising that even though a minority of households in the sub-region have food security, the people of Teso have a life expectancy of 78 years, the highest in the whole country, by region.

Information herein is extracted from the most recent Uganda National Population and Household Census Report, by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. A PDF copy of the report is available to download free here.

Uganda Bureau of Statistics measures food poverty using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale.

The state of food security in Teso, indeed, justifies the joint intervention of the Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR) and CPAR Uganda, the Dr. Paul Hargrave Memorial Center Human Development Project that is intended to benefit disadvantaged communities of Greater Northern Uganda, of which Teso is among.

To LEARN MORE about the work of CPAR Uganda and MAKE A DONATION click here.