Tilling the heights: A historical account of the evolution of steep slope agriculture in the Rwenzori mountains, Uganda

Over the past few centuries, generations of farmers have lived and cultivated the high, rugged mountains of the Rwenzori along the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite its exceptionally steep topography, which involves erosion and landslide risks, smallholder farmers continue to till the steep slopes for their survival and livelihood. This phenomenon has been presented as a recent response to land scarcity due to population pressure, exacerbated by climate change. In this paper, we question the population pressure narrative and argue that understanding the evolution of steep slope agriculture requires a historicized contextualization. We reconstruct the environmental history and the emergence of social ecological systems of steep slope agriculture in the Rwenzori region. We utilise the historical literature and the lived experiences of the smallholders in the Rwenzori mountains to highlight that steep slope agriculture is reminiscent of intersecting colonial and post-colonial processes that shaped the social-political environment in which the Bakonzo became and remain the inhabitants of the marginal lands of the Rwenzori mountains. We argue that policies often do not account for the social and cultural identities of locals, which excludes them from development interventions, exposing them to further marginalisation. A more nuanced analysis of the local environmental and social conditions may be insightful in the development of policies that centre on local realities in development programs and in designing appropriate and practical interventions.