Commercial cattle-raiding is impoverishing Uganda’s herders

, when the rains fail and the sorghum wilts, Maria Lodia would usually sell an animal to survive. But in January gun-wielding thieves stole her three cows, leaving her destitute. Since 2019 cattle-raiding has returned to the dry plains of Karamoja, home to 1.2m people in north-east Uganda. Robbed of their livestock and frightened away from their fields, the had no safety net during dry spells this year. Local officials say that more than 2,400 people have died of hunger.Like many of , Karamoja is going through an uneven transition. Elders recall a time when cows were plundered for prestige or bride wealth. But in recent decades cattle-raiding has become big business. Stolen animals are trucked to distant markets, since urban demand for beef has grown. On the grasslands the ownership of livestock is becoming more unequal, as the big owners get bigger and poorer ones struggle—and go hungry. “In Karamoja your bank is a cow, it’s a goat, it’s a sheep,” says Paul Komol Lotee, chairman of Kotido, one of the districts worst hit by violence. “If you don’t have the three you will not survive.”