Park Jong-Dae
Tomorrow, the conference for Korea-Uganda
agriculture rural development partnership will be launched in Kampala and its
implications for Uganda are profound and manifold in view of Korea’s experience
and the significance of agriculture for Uganda.
The fundamental of Uganda’s economy lies in
agriculture and rural development.
All indicators suggest that the real economic
growth, income generation, wealth of the nation would depend, to a large
degree, on enhanced productivity, value-addition, improved distribution and
marketing of agricultural goods in Uganda.
The transformation of Uganda’s economy would
not be effectively attainable without the transformation in agriculture and
rural sector especially given the vast majority of Ugandans living in rural
areas and farming is their occupation.
Infrastructure, as much as it is essential
for the economy, should be regarded as a means to facilitating the economic
activity rather than an end in itself.
Building manufacturing industry is also
crucial but considering Uganda’s economic structure and comparative advantage
areas, manufacture industry in Uganda has to be closely, if not directly, linked
to agricultural sector in many instances. In case of oil, expectation
management is called for, as oil is finite.
There is no way the Government or donors, can
possibly have the capacity to sufficiently fund or bring about all the changes
necessary for agricultural transformation. It could not be attained, let alone
sustainable, without sense of goal, commitment and dedication of the local
populace that can only be brought about by a considerable degree of mind-set
change. Serious efforts to fight corruption and erect good governance must be
made at the same time.
South Korea is the first and only country in
the world to have successfully transformed itself from aid-recipient to donor
status in such a short span of time. Per capita income of Korea was less than
that of many African nations, including Uganda, in early 60s. Now, it is a
member of the G-20, at one point becoming the 11th largest economy in the
recent years, and having reached a total trade volume of one trillion dollars,
ranking seventh in the world.
Like many countries in Africa, Korea had
undergone foreign occupation and colonialism, mass poverty, civil war, heavy
dependence on foreign aid. But it made the transformation and that
transformation started in the agriculture and rural sector, with Saemaul Undong
or the ‘new village movement’ as the driving force on a national scale. Its
motto is ‘diligence, self-help and cooperation’.
Villagers, local and regional leaders and
government all collaborated but in essence, it was a grass-roots, bottom-up
community movement.
With all the natural endowment and
agricultural potential of Uganda, the true comparative advantage of Uganda
should come from this area.
I disagree with the general characterisation
that tends to view the reality of Uganda negatively. For instance, a very high
population growth of about 3.5% and growing percentage of the youth in the
population need not be seen as liabilities but rather as assets.
The population surge may pose immediate
challenges now but at least in the longer run, it means abundance of labour
force and the size of population is an important factor that can have direct
and positive impact on the economic size (GDP) of a nation. Rather, low
birth-rate and aging population with dwindling labour force that can be
witnessed in many countries, including Korea, are causes of much concern for
the nation’s future.
It is out of such context that we are keenly
interested in the possibility of community based cooperative, self-help style
approach taking root and expanding in Uganda. Agriculture and rural
transformation surely is a daunting task, and it should involve the efforts of
all the stake holders, including development partners.
But it is with positive expectations that we
are inaugurating the conference on agriculture and rural development
partnership. Our goals are:
Mind-set change and capacity building
Improvement of production through technical
know-how
Value addition and enhanced marketing. We
hope that our efforts will also draw substantial private investments for the
benefit of Ugandan locals and farmers.
Like Korea, Uganda can do it, all the more
with all its vast potential. It is time to take concrete actions, so let’s move
on and do our best to achieve these goals.
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