Uganda Agricultural News and Research Digest – July 25th
Launch of ATAAS at Jinja agricultural show
Farmers are set to benefit from a new agricultural project to be implemented by the country’s top agricultural bodies. The five-year project titled, ‘Agricultural Technology and Agribusiness Advisory Services (ATAAS) will cost about $665m. “Government will contribute the biggest chunk of resources amounting to $544m while the development partners are expected to contribute $120m,” says agriculture minister, Tress Bucyanayandi. He says the project’s activities are to be implemented by the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) and National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme.
Warehouse receipt system shaky
The Observer
Licensed Uganda Commodity Exchange (UCE) warehouses are struggling to attract the projected volumes of maize from farmers. Figures from USAID-LEAD indicate very poor utilization of the warehouses in which government had high hopes of transforming the agricultural sector by shielding farmers from price fluctuations. There are six licensed UCE warehouses with a total capacity of 21,000 tons. However, the warehouses attract a paltry 5,718 tons of maize per season.
Uganda to pave 1180 miles of roads to boost agriculture and oil sectors
Fox Business
The Uganda government has issued tenders for paving at least 1,180 miles of roads in the next three years in a bid to support the "primary growth" of the country's agriculture, tourism and oil sectors, the state-run Uganda National Roads Authority said Wednesday. Most of the road projects will be implemented in the west, central and south western Uganda, which account for the bulk of the country's agriculture output.
Agricultural and food policy research
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Circular migration, small-scale logging, and household livelihoods in Uganda
P Jagger, G Shively & A Arinaitwe – Population and Environment. 2011
In this paper, we analyze logging by circular migrants in land constrained and population dense southwestern Uganda. We describe the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of migrant loggers, estimate the contribution of migrant logging to household income portfolios, test several hypotheses regarding why households decide to undertake this relatively risky activity, and explore the role of social networks as a determinant of higher incomes for migrant loggers. We find that household endowments of land, labor, and capital are different for migrant logger and comparison group households. Above all, labor endowments appear to be driving decisions to participate in logging. We find support for two migration hypotheses: higher expected incomes and wages at destination; and relative deprivation at origin.
Incidence and severity of coffee leaf rust and other coffee pests and diseases in Rwanda
J Bigirimana, K Njoroge, D Gahakwa and N A Phiri - African Journal of Agricultural Research, 2012
Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) caused by Hemileia vastatrix Berk. and Br. has a worldwide distribution and causes enormous yield losses. A survey was conducted in Rwanda to evaluate incidence and severity of CLR and other coffee pests and diseases and to determine how the crop management contributes to CLR severity. A stratified random sample of 307 coffee farms was visited and the prevalence, incidence and severity were recorded. Results showed that all provinces were affected by CLR with the highest severity in Eastern province where the incidence was up to 100%. High altitudes were associated with low disease severity with a negative correlation of - 0.71. All commercial cultivars were susceptible to CLR and most management practices such as mulching, pruning and fertilizer application were associated with lower levels of CLR severity except intercropping which resulted in higher disease intensity.
PN Kawamala – Bergen University College, Master thesis, 2012
Tanzania is one of the poorest countries which have implemented microfinance services as one of the most effective methods of alleviating poverty. As a result several microfinance institutions have been established and people are involving themselves in these schemes to make use of this enabling goal. This study had a general objective of exploring people’s actions as they make use of the available microfinance services so as to alleviate poverty. The specific objectives were to explore how people form and remain in their groups; to examine how people organize themselves to access and repay the loans, and to identify challenges encountered by loan takers in the process of accessing and repaying loans.
