In Masaka District, June is supposed to be the start of the second planting season. Esther Namukasa has farmed this land for 30 years. She planted maize in late June, as she always has. The rains came two weeks late. Then they came all at once — three days of flooding that flattened half her crop before it could root.
This is not an isolated event. Uganda's Uganda National Meteorological Authority has documented a measurable shift in the onset and duration of the two annual rainy seasons — March to May (first season) and September to November (second season). Both are becoming less predictable, more intense when they arrive, and increasingly punctuated by dry spells that stress crops at critical growth stages.
For subsistence farmers who plant by calendar and oral knowledge passed down through generations, this is a fundamental disruption. The traditional agricultural calendar — encoded in proverbs, planting festivals, and the knowledge of elders — is becoming unreliable.
CGIAR's Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) programme has been working with communities across Uganda's central and eastern regions to develop climate-informed agricultural advisories. The challenge is reaching the 69% of Ugandans who farm subsistence plots without smartphone access or reliable radio reception.