Uganda

The Batwa, who were hunter-gatherers, lived in Echuya and Bwindi impenetrable forests as their traditional territories but were evicted in 1991 to gazette these areas for the conservation of the endangered mountain gorillas (Balenger, 2005; Mukasa, 2017). The Batwa were then forced to squatter on the fringes of the forest and were later resettled by various Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs). The Batwa of Kanungu currently live in 10 geographically remote settlements on land acquired by NGOs, and Church. On average, each Batwa household owns about 0.2 hectares of land, which is not adequate for agriculture to sustain an average household of 5 members.

Currently, some Batwa settlements have access to the forest because of proximity, but there are limitations from the wildlife conservation authority. Food in the Batwa settlements is mainly obtained through cultivation and working as labourers on the plantations of the non-indigenous neighbours, the Bakiga (Patterson et al., 2016). The Batwa have limited land for agriculture that is exhausted due to over cultivation with no agricultural inputs, therefore their yields are poor and can hardly last them two weeks. The Batwa have access to markets but because of poverty, they cannot afford to buy food which has contributed to chronic food insecurity of the Batwa (Ainembabazi, 2021)