Livelihood challenges: responses to environmental and political pressures. A case study of the cultivating households of Ngariam sub-county, Katakwi district

This paper explores the experiences of the local people of Ngariam sub-county and how they perceive their changing physical and socio-political environ-mental insecurities and their effects on their livelihoods and what their responses have been in trying to reduce their vulnerabilities and sustain their livelihoods. Ngariam sub-county in Katakwi district was chosen as case study because of how environmental and socio-political insecurities interact. Their ecological system has been disrupted for the last five years by a shifting weather system coupled with insecurity threats from neighbouring pastoral tribe which both pose threats to their livelihoods. This process of complex change is creating new challenges of adapting and with a rural community like this, their ability to adapt is conditioned by a number of factors which this paper tries to uncover. This is done through unveiling their perceptions about the reality sur-rounding them, its impact on their livelihoods, their means of adaptation, and what interventions/strategies have been employed to escape from this crisis or minimise its effects. This involves looking at their responses in respect to the agro-ecological system, the social system, the economic system and political system, looking at the both relatively autonomous local strategies and planned interventions from external agents. Hopefully this research will provide a methodology and some insights for researching other contexts where environmental and socio-political insecurity is threatening livelihoods.