Today, as the world marks International Labour Day under the theme “Secure Labour, Secure Livelihoods,” we at Food Rights Alliance (FRA) turn our gaze to the often-invisible arms that lift our nation’s bowls.
We celebrate the smallholder farmer for tilling the soil before sunrise, battling climate uncertainty, and still filling our markets with cassava, beans, matooke, and millet. Did you know that over 70% of Uganda’s food comes from smallholder farmers, yet many go hungry themselves? Their labour is a quiet miracle.
We celebrate the woman food vendor in Owino, Nakasero, or your local trading centre. She wakes at 3 a.m., negotiates prices, keeps her stall clean, and feeds thousands daily. She is not just a seller, she is a guardian of safe, healthy, nutritious food.
And we celebrate the food consumer, yes, you. Your choices, your voice, and your demand for accountability shape the food system. When you ask “where did this come from?” or “is it free from aflatoxin?”, you are labouring for justice. Too often, we forget that role.
At FRA, through our work on food governance, gender transformative models, and campaigns against aflatoxin, we have seen that resilient food systems are built by resilient people. Our capability statement shows we have championed policy reforms, local ordinances in Amuria and Nyoya, and the Farm Planning Model, but none of that works without the daily sweat of food actors.
To Government: Your vigilance matters. Systems that enable every Ugandan to feed themselves adequately require functioning extension services, safe market infrastructure, and enforcement of food quality standards. Labour Day is a reminder that policy must serve those who labour.
Let us remember: labour in the food system is not measured only by economic returns. It is measured by resilience, the ability to wake up again after a bad harvest. By responsibility, choosing to keep food safe even when no one is watching. By equity, ensuring the woman vendor gets a fair price.
Until no child is malnourished, until no one goes to bed hungry, until our systems enable every person to feed themselves with dignity, we shall labour.
Today, we truly celebrate you, the cornerstone of a world free from hunger and malnutrition.
Happy Labour Day, Uganda.
LabourDay2026, SecureLabourSecureLivelihoods, FoodRightsAlliance, UgandaFoodHeroes, ZeroHunger,