Government has pumped trillions of shillings into rural households through the Parish Development Model (PDM), with the hope that agriculture would uplift communities from poverty. Yet in many villages, across Uganda, this hope is wilting. The rains are above normal, the yields are low, and the people that farmers expected to rely on--extension officers--are nowhere to be seen.
At LERWA-Land and Environmental Rights Watch Africa, we've spent the past four years supporting smallholder farmers in establishing forest gardens--ecological systems designed to boost food security, improve soil health, and build resilience to climate change. But no amount of mulch or water conservation training prepares farmers for the heartbreak they face during prolonged heavy rains.
"During dry spells, you advise us to mulch and water," one farmer asked us recently. "But what do we do when the rains won't stop? When the pods are filled with water instead of seed? When our crops grow like weeds but yield nothing?" These are not isolated questions--they echo across our work.
The reality is bleak. Fields are waterlogged, crops discoloured, and harvests destroyed. And while farmers scramble for answers, many extension workers are focused more on selling fertilizers and chemical inputs than supporting adaptation.
In some areas, they are more visible as agrochemical sales reps than as government officers. Meanwhile, farmers depend on input dealers--whose primary goal is profit, not guidance--for their farming knowledge.
Yet this crisis is not without a blueprint for change.
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Uganda's own Third National Development Plan (NDPIII) 2020/21-2024/25 explicitly calls for strengthening agricultural extension systems. It recognizes the need to increase the number of extension workers, enhance their skills, and ensure timely delivery of services to rural communities. More importantly, it highlights the role of extension services in promoting climate-resilient farming.
The National Adaptation Plan for the Agricultural Sector also emphasizes climate-smart extension. It prioritizes scaling up agricultural practices that help farmers cope with erratic weather--such as improving drainage, adjusting planting cycles, managing water-related crop diseases, and interpreting weather data.
The problem, then, is not lack of strategy--but lack of implementation.
We need a radical shift in how we view and fund extension services. Every parish that received PDM funds should have a visible, well-equipped extension officer actively supporting farmers through each season. Their job must go beyond input promotion. They must become true partners in climate adaptation--helping farmers think ahead, act early, and save their crops.
If we fail to act, the promise of the PDM and Uganda's agricultural transformation will drown--quite literally--with every heavy rainfall. Farmers are asking important questions. It's time those tasked with answering them showed up.
