Uganda Agricultural News and Research Digest — October 16th
Announcement
Intellectual Property (IP) Clinics at the Uganda National Council on Science & Technology (UNCST)
Intellectual Property (IP) Clinics have been established at UNCST. The clinics will be held on a monthly basis every last Thursday of the month starting on 25th October 2012. They will be administered by IP experts at no charge. Please encourage your staff members or colleagues to apply. For more information about the IP Clinic and how to apply, visit the link above and download the application form.
News items
Agriculture sector: the gains and gaps after 50 years
New Vision
Agriculture state minister Prof. Nyiira observes that there is an unmistakable relationship between proper harvesting and food security as well as nutrition. He made the remarks while addressing the media recently at the Uganda Media Centre on the post-harvest food sector in Uganda at 50 years. In a report Nyiira presented on behalf of Agriculture Minister Bucyanayandi, the post-harvest system comprises interconnected activities from the time of harvest through crop processing, marketing and food preparation to consumption. Presently, according to the report, Uganda processes a low percentage of its agricultural produce. “Perishable farm produce are wasted or sold at give-away prices due to inadequate post-harvest facilities and lack of effective processing or preservation techniques,” the report says.
Uganda to Arrest Fake Agriculture Input Dealers
East African Business Week
Government has threatened to arrest all Agriculture in put dealers who are participating in the trading of fake products. The Minister of State for Agriculture Prof Nyira said many farmers are victims of such traders and if nothing is done then the Agriculture sector may collapse. He said that there's a lot of inputs such as fertilizers, veterinary drugs, and herbicides, among other inputs on the market which are fake. Failure to control it may impact both government and farmers.
Agribusiness Initiative trust trains service providers
The Observer
Agribusiness Initiative (aBi) trust is collaborating with key line ministries to strengthen quality management systems (QMS) and sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS). During the second phase of training held at Essella Country home in Najjera, 23 service providers including inspectors and auditors learnt about international quality and safety requirements. The 23, according to Svend K Jensen, the managing director, ABI trust, will be certified and registered internationally.
Kenyan farmers protest Uganda maize import
The Standard Digital News
A consignment of dry maize has been shipped to Kitale from a neighbouring country, sparking off protest from local farmers who are yet to harvest the crop. The farmers are unhappy that Kenyan middlemen have secured the cheap cereal from Bukwo and Kapchorwa districts of Eastern Uganda. Ugandan trucks have in the past few months delivered maize to the area that is dried before storage.
We want wheat - Africa's growing cereal demand
IRINnews.org
Bread, pies, pasta and pastries - changing African diets, the result of urbanization, are driving a demand for wheat that is pushing up import bills and complicating food security. New research suggests the potential for African farmers to help meet that demand has been underestimated: local producers in east and southern Africa may be growing only 10 to 25 percent of the wheat that is both biologically possible and economically profitable, overlooking a potential money-spinner and hedge against global food price shocks. The research, by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (known as CIMMYT) and IFPRI, found that with the "proper use of fertilizer and other investments", 20 to 100 percent of farmlands in the 12 countries studied are ecologically suitable for profitable rain-fed wheat farming, at least according to advanced computer modelling. The study, released at a five-day conference on wheat in Addis Ababa, demonstrates that three countries - Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda - have the best wheat potential, based on projections that take into account soil, production conditions and links to markets.
Also see African wheat - balancing consumer and farmer demands
The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012
Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
The report presents new estimates of the number and proportion of undernourished people going back to 1990, defined in terms of the distribution of dietary energy supply. With almost 870 million people chronically undernourished in 2010–12, the number of hungry people in the world remains unacceptably high. The vast majority live in developing countries, where about 850 million people, or slightly fewer than 15 percent of the population, are estimated to be undernourished.
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.
Measuring the impact and influence of the policy brief
3ie and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), in collaboration with Norad, 2012
This study explored the effectiveness of a policy brief for influencing readers’ beliefs and prompting them to act. The study used a multi-armed randomised control design to test whether the policy brief’s design affected whether some or all of the readers’ actions led to changes in policies and/or practice within their sphere of influence. The findings of the study on how policy briefs can be made more influential included:
- Ensure policy briefs have clear key messages to minimise misinterpretation.
- Include opinion and authority features as they may help to ensure briefs are shared and passed on.
- Consider whether a policy brief’s design or format is less appealing to women and/or makes them less inclined to take action.
- Target the ‘movers and shakers’.
M Felista, MSC thesis, 2012, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Poverty has continuously created a barrier for development in the world. The rest of the world has made progress towards the alleviation of poverty but this has not been the case in Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries in the region are working towards poverty alleviation however; the progress made in these countries is not even. One example of such a country is Uganda. The Karamoja sub-region in Uganda is still lagging behind in poverty reduction. Due to its unpredictable climate, the sub-region has suffered prolonged drought and famine. The unpredictable weather and continuous insecurity and conflict, have kept the sub-region in a poverty trap. The government is faced with the task of bringing the sub-region to the same level of development as the other regions of the country. This study aims at finding out why the Karamoja sub-region has remained persistently poor.
