The influence of water, land, energy and soil-nutrient resource interactions on the food system in Uganda

Food Security continues to be elusive in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), several decades after the first World Food Summit in 1974. The causes of food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa include among others; poverty, economic constraints, agricultural and agronomical challenges, rapid population growth, and the effects of adverse climate change. These causes however, are linked to complex interactions, constraints and dependencies amongst the key physical resources in food systems, namely – Water, Land, Energy and Soil Nutrients (WLEN). There is limited insight on the combined impacts of the resource nexus, and how this may constrain the performance of food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. This understanding is essential if the food challenges in the region are to be tackled sustainably. This study provides a detailed analysis of the Uganda’s 2012 WLEN nexus resources vis-à-vis the country’s current and potential food demand using calorific-demand analysis and source-to-service resource transformation modelling. The analysis determines estimates of the current resource stresses within Uganda’s insufficient food system and the interconnected resource implications for the achievement of food security by 2050. The results are visualised using Sankey diagrams. The inferences highlight evident limits across all four resources. Overall, the analysis helps to inform food security policy and the resource context for the present and future management of Uganda’s food system.This is the accepted manuscript for a paper published in Food Policy Volume 51, February 2015, Pages 24–37 doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.12.00