Uganda Agricultural News and Research Digest – August 14th
New HarvestPlus publication from its Uganda work
C Hotz, C Loechl, A Lubowa, J K Tumwine, G Ndeezi, A N Masawi, R.Baingana, A Carriquiry, A de Brauw, J V Meenakshi & DO Gilligan. Journal of Nutrition, 2012
Vitamin A deficiency persists in Uganda and the consumption of β-carotene–rich orange sweet potato (OSP) may help to alleviate it. Two large-scale, 2-yr intervention programs were implemented among Ugandan farmer households to promote the production and consumption of OSP. The programs differed in their inputs during year 2, one being more intensive (IP) and one being reduced (RP). A randomized, controlled effectiveness study compared the impact of the IP and RP with a control on OSP and vitamin A intakes among children 6–35 mo and 3–5 y of age, and women, and IP compared with control on vitamin A status of 3- to 5-yr-old children and women with serum retinol <1.05 μmol/L at baseline. The net OSP intake increased in both the IP and RP groups, accounting for 44–60% of vitamin A intake at follow-up. The prevalence of inadequate vitamin A intake was reduced in the IP and RP groups compared with controls among children 6–35 mo of age and women, with no differences between IP and RP group children or women. Introduction of OSP to Ugandan farming households increased vitamin A intakes among children and women and was associated with improved vitamin A status among children.
A press release on the results of this study can be found here:Orange Sweet Potato Makes the Case that Biofortification Works
News items
New NAADS strategy to curb swindling
The Observer
With the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) budget leaping from Shs 84bn to Shs 180bn, strategies have been laid to ensure that this time round the money gets to the programme’s intended beneficiaries. The former chairman of the NAADS Board of Directors, Dr Mwalimu Musheshe, whose term expired in May, revealed at a press conference at the Uganda Journalists Association offices in Kampala last week that unlike in the past where NAADS money has been controlled by the secretariat and sub-division chief executive officers (CEOs), this time, it will be handled at village level.
IRIN Africa
Uganda's arid northeastern Karamoja region has been dependent on food aid for decades, but new programmes by the government and its partners aim to bring an end to the cycle of relief and see the traditionally nomadic Karimojong become more self-sufficient through more settled livelihoods. Increasingly, WFP and other NGOs in the region are moving away from food donations to cash-and-voucher-based food assistance programmes, in line with the government's World Bank-funded Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) 2, which aims to improve the region's infrastructure and create employment in the construction, health and agriculture sectors among others.
Farmers miss WFP cash due to poor quality grains
New Vision
Post-harvest wastage and low quality grain have conspired to deny farmers the opportunity to reap from the over $50m a year World Food Programme (WFP) cash pile for buying grain. In 2011, WFP procured $18m worth of commodities, mainly grain, instead of the targeted $50m. Were farmers to adhere to quality, they would benefit from the massive demand of commodities that has increased with the influx of refugees from the DR Congo and the grain shortfall in Kenya.
Traders bag profits at expense of farmers
New Vision
Despite growing maize and tomatoes for over 15 years and choosing monogamy, Vincent Mpoza, a resident of Malungu, Bamunanika sub county, Luweero district, remains financially incapacitated. Last year, he sold off half of his arable land to raise just sh1m for medication. "Even if you work hard, it's the traders to decide which prices to give us. During bumper harvests, we sell a kilo of maize grain at just sh150," Mpoza laments. "Apart from saving my family from starvation, I can hardly show a major achievement from farming." Dr. Paul Kibwika, the head of Extensions Education at Makerere University College of Agriculture, agrees that smallholder farmers hardly benefit from their sweat because of inefficiencies in the value-chain system. "Agricultural value-chains in Uganda are not coordinated. There are many actors whose relationship is that of exploitation. Everyone tries to exploit the other instead of having a mutual relationship where everyone can benefit," Kibwika explains.
IFPRI Insights Magazine
To better reveal the spatial distribution and patterns of farming in Sub-Saharan Africa, IFPRI’s HarvestChoice program created MAPPR, a tool for interacting with the core collection of detailed, high-resolution maps covering all aspects of agricultural production. MAPPR divides the continent into 10-kilometer by 10-kilometer squares, allowing users to home in on any one of 300,000 squares or to summarize indicator values for all squares in a specified watershed, agroecological zone, or market area. There are currently map layers for more than 100 indicators, including population density, poverty, rainfall, crop harvested areas, and travel time to market. MAPPR allows users to combine indicators from multiple layers to produce customized maps, charts, and tables. Besides maps and mapping tools, the HarvestChoice website provides datasets, working papers, presentations, and spatial and economic models—all at no cost.
Agricultural and food policy research
Note that if you experience any trouble in downloading any of these research documents, you can contact us by return e-mail for assistance. We can offer no guarantees that we will be able to provide the document, but we may have other avenues to pursue to assist you.
Addressing the poor nutrition of Ugandan children
S. Ssewanyana & I Kasirye - EPRC Policy Brief no. 19, 2012
This brief provides evidence on the drivers of poor nutritional status among infants during 1995-2006. Despite Uganda achieving some progress in improving overall welfare status, the country is still far from achieving the goal of improved child nutrition status. This brief shows how the determinants of child malnutrition have changed overtime in Uganda during the 1995-2006 period.
Making rural services work for the poor: Micro-level evidence from rural Uganda
NA Kwapong, J Ilukor, M Hanisch & E Nkonya - World Rural Observations 2012
Access to rural services is a promising strategy for increasing people’s productive capacity resulting in the promotion of human development and poverty reduction. However, the paradox is that in some communities’ service provision has worked to get the poor out of poverty whereas in other communities services have not. In this paper, we present empirical evidence to explain this paradox based on qualitative case study research of four rural communities in Uganda. Evidence shows that communities with reduced poverty levels had high level of collective action. Communities with high poverty levels preferred mostly access to extension services, microcredit services and increase security to improve livelihoods and reduce poverty. Leadership played a critical role in improving the performance of rural services. In the absence of security all other services are not likely to work for the benefit of the poor.
A 2007 Social Accounting Matrix for Uganda
J Thurlow – IFPRI, 2012
This paper documents a Ugandan Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for the year 2007. The SAM is based on newly estimated supply-use tables, national accounts, government budgets, and balance of payments. The final SAM is a detailed representation of Uganda’s economy. It separates 37 activities and commodities; 5 types of factors of production; and 5 representative household groups. Labor and household information is drawn from a nationally representative household survey. The SAM also identifies government, investment and foreign accounts. It provides an ideal tool for economy-wide impact assessments, including SAM-based multiplier analysis and computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling.
