Marine agriculture offers a new solution to the problem of water scarcity

Ricardo Radulovich, professor of water science at the University of Costa Rica, points out that in Africa irrigation is a very limited option, due to lack of water, and rain-fed agriculture is affected by prolonged dry seasons and rainfall variability during the rainy seasons. A case in point is the Sahel in west Africa, where drought has grown increasingly frequent and where emergency aid was needed last year to forestall famine.

Yet Radulovich believes that Africa's lakes can be part of the solution to the continent's agricultural limitations. Several African countries are endowed with lakes, some very large, that occupy a surface of more than 150,000 square kilometres. Why not use that water surface to grow food and aquatic plants, and for fisheries, asks Radulovich, who began his career as an agricultural water scientist 10 years ago.

"The key issue is water," Radulovich said in a telephone interview from Costa Rica. "We have land, but water is the limiting element. You can have agriculture if you have water. If we use that lake surface to produce crops, aquatic plants, we won't waste water."

Radulovich and his team, including Schery Umanzor, have already begun prototype projects on Lake Nicaragua, where they have grown lettuce, tomato, cucumber and cantaloupe melons on floating rafts, a continuation of trials that were undertaken at sea in 2001 at the Gulf of Nicoya, on the Pacific coast. The tomato roots can trail in the water or be potted with a cotton rope dangling in the water from the pot, which draws in water to the plant.

The size of the rafts can vary, going up to six square metres, and can be made simply and cheaply, from plastic bottles, for example. Where the water is polluted by horticulture, an option is to grow flowers. One advantage of growing crops on water is that they are not as vulnerable to insects as they would be on land.

The team's pioneering techniques have earned them a $100,000 (£62,000) grant from Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Canadian government. Targeting innovations for developing countries, Grand Challenges Canada will provide additional funding of $1m for those ideas that prove effective.

Radulovich and his colleagues also see potential in aquatic plants such as azolla, water hyacinth and alligator weed. Frequently dismissed as weeds that clutter waterways, such plants are seen by Radulovich as enriching biodiversity, and as a source of nutrients and habitat for small fish and snails that attract bigger fish. He believes that hyacinth, for example, can be used as feed for herbivorous fish such as Chinese carp, animals and even humans, in the form of flour.

"Currently, where their blooms are a nuisance and clutter waterways, the new trend is to harvest and use them," Radulovich says. "The next trend must be: cultivate them. All of this without even beginning selection and genetic improvement programmes, which in a few years, with a fraction of what is spent in agricultural improvement, can lead to tremendous advances."

Radulovich is particularly excited at the possibility of growing rice by attaching rice plants to ropes. "Even if the water is low in oxygen, maybe you can produce three rice crops a year, but whether we can do it economically I don't know," he says.

Several countries have expressed interest in the concept of marine agriculture, including Uganda, Ethiopia, the Philippines and Malawi. But Radulovich sees the technological problems as only the start of the challenge, with cultural change, including food habits, posing greater hurdles.

"If people need it, and they do, the water environment must be used intelligently, and even changed, to an extent, without biological or environmental chaos."

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UPDF, Bukalasa Agricultural College fight over land

By Francis Kagoro, Nicholas Kajoba and Prossy Nandu

Bukalasa Agricultural College is likely to lose almost 100 acres of the land it occupies in Luweero to the UPDF in a controversial allocation both the Uganda Land Commission as well as the Ministry of Agriculture deny sanctioning. 

Bukalasa is the only remaining public college in Uganda training sub-county and village agricultural extension workers, the others – Arapai and Busitema – having been upgraded to satellite colleges of Busitema University.

The defence ministry says they want the land to set up a military referral hospital, but the college administration insist the land should be retained for agricultural research and training of extension workers in practical skills. Currently, Uganda has a shortage of over 5,000 sub-county agricultural extension workers.

The land under contention is situated on plots 366 and 367 on block 146 in Bulemezi, Luweero district. It is part of the 397.9 acres that the college has owned since its establishment in 1922.

The land in question is not new to controversy. Earlier, the district had unsuccessfully tried to turn the land into a satellite town. The UPDF then picked interest in the land in 2009 according to documents seen by the New Vision.

In yet another controversy, although the UPDF chief of production and welfare, Brig. Jacob Musajjawaza, said the army bought the land.

The commander of the Land Forces, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, says the army was allocated the land by the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) following a resolution by Luweero District Council.

“The land was purchased by the defence ministry and (it now) belongs to the UPDF,” Musajjawaza said in the June 25, 2012, letter to the area LC 1 chairman, Michael Wanda, giving an ultimatum of July 15 for the squatters to vacate the land and never to plant any more crops.

Wanda opposed the eviction on grounds that it had not been approved by the college, which is the rightful owner of the land.

The letter was followed by heavy deployment of the army to fence off the land and forcefully evict the college workers and squatters, sparking a standoff.

The impasse resulted into a crisis meeting two weeks ago attended by Katumba Wamala, Luweero district administration, the college staff and the residents.

Rosette Byengoma, the defence ministry permanent secretary, in one of the correspondences over the issue, claimed that UPDF secured the land title after the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) allocated it the land on January 12, 2009.

“In the process of having the plot developed, Bukalasa Agricultural College mobilised the Police to dislodge the UPDF from the site, claiming that the land belonged to them. This has caused unnecessary tension between the defence ministry and the college,” Byengoma said in a complaint to the ULC.

But the college management, the bonafide occupants, say they were never consulted by the Uganda Land Commission before the alleged re-allocation of the land to the UPDF, nor was their parent ministry of agriculture.

The agriculture ministry, in a May 2011 dossier, expressed disappointment over UPDF’s move. It said it had “conclusive plans to utilise the land for modern agricultural purposes and was, thus, not willing to let the land be re-allocated to any other user.”

Tress Bucyanayandi, the agriculture minister, told New Vision last week that the college had used the land since 1920s and the ministry should have been consulted for a no objection letter.

“The land has been owned by Bukalasa Agricultural College since the 1920s. So, for someone to come and grab it by force is not right. But we are discussing the matter so that we can sort it out amicably because all these are government institutions,” Bucyanayandi said.

The crisis meeting convened a fortnight ago by Paul Lubowa, the Luweero district resident commissioner, to resolve the issue, nearly turned rowdy when tempers flared as residents and college staff attacked the UPDF accusing them of trying to forcefully take their land.

Christine Anyait, the college principal, said the college wanted to regain the land because it was transferred fraudulently.

“The college has been all along using the land for training, experimental purposes and growing of food for the institution,” she said.

“It is surprising that the college has never been consulted on this matter, yet the current land laws protect sitting occupants and users.” Anyait explained that the school also needed the land for demonstration farming for the community and expansion to accommodate the increasing student numbers.

“The number of students has risen to over 1,000. So, we need the land to expand and to carry out research (by students),” she said.

It took the regional Police commander, Richard Mivule’s intervention to calm the two warring sides. Mivule called for calm, saying the issue was being handled by the internal affairs and lands ministries. In the meeting, irate residents complained against the heavy army deployment on the disputed land.

Move to thwart skills development

Unless it is reverted, the land takeover is likely to impact negatively on the on-going government programme of skilling Uganda. The programme aims at equipping students with practical skills to curb the rampant graduate unemployment.

Bukalasa is the only remaining public agricultural college in the country, the Government having upgraded Arapai Agricultural College and Busitema Agricultural Mechanisation College to Busitema University.

Since its inception, Bukalasa College has been a pillar in agricultural research, training and overall development of the sector. The BPA cotton variety was bred at the college.

Uganda‘s annual agricultural productivity growth is still below expected standards, yet the college would change the situation if supported to produce more certificate and diploma holder extension workers. Its agricultural productivity fell from about 5% in the early 1990s to between 2.5% and 3% currently.

“The land is required for attitude change for the youth who choose to do agriculture, to acquire hands-on skills. If they don’t practice while at the college, they will remain theoretical,” said Anyait.

“There is also expanding demand for new skills and, therefore, a need to expand training programmes at the college. The need for more room to train future practitioners and extension workers in agriculture and natural resources-related professions can then not be over emphasised.”

She also explained that the college had invested heavily in the infrastructure on the land, putting up a water facility for the college and staff houses.

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Uganda Gets $120 Million From IDA For Five-Year Agriculture Plan

By Fred Ojambo

The International Development Association will loan Uganda $120 million to finance plans to increase agricultural production over the next five years, the Agriculture Ministry said.

The loan will support the $666 million the East Africa nation plans to spend by 2017 to boost farmers’ incomes, the ministry said in a supplement published today in Kampala, the capital. Uganda will pay $497 million of that amount and donors including the European Union and Denmark will supply the rest, it said.

Agriculture accounts for almost a quarter of Uganda’s gross domestic product, and the government wants to increase crop, livestock and fish output to serve domestic markets and boost regional and international export revenue, the ministry said.

Uganda exports mainly food to neighboring countries including Kenya and South Sudan, and cash crops such as coffee, cotton, tobacco, tea and cocoa to global markets, according to the ministry.

Uganda is Africa’s second-biggest coffee producer, after Ethiopia, and the continent’s largest robusta grower. The nation was Africa’s biggest coffee exporter and the world’s ninth- largest in the 12 months through last September, according to the London-based International Coffee Organization.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala at fojambo@bloomberg.net

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Ugandans fall for Korea agricultural models

A happy farmer shows off his oranges

Dressed in a striped blue shirt and grey slacks, James Ssebabi watches the crowd file into the conference room at the embassy of the Republic of Korea.

A soft-spoken maize farmer from Mpigi district, Ssebabi is here because a trip to South Korea changed his life. More than 100 people attended the first summit of the Korea-Uganda Agriculture Rural Development Partnership last Tuesday. The mostly Ugandan crowd listened to a panel of agriculture experts.

The panel discussed how that sector’s development fostered Korea’s transformation into a major economic power. This was achieved through technological innovation, economic and political reforms. The panel agreed there is much Uganda can learn from how Korea modernized its agricultural society.

Ssebabi visited Korea in 2010 with the Twekembe Association Centre for Rural System and Development, a Ugandan NGO committed to strengthening rural communities. In Korea, he learnt about that country’s cutting-edge fertilizing techniques. He decided to bring them home. Before the trip, Ssebabi’s maize crop yielded 2,000 kilos per month. It now yields as much as 10,000 kilos over the same period.

“Their mindset in Korea is different because they look at farming as a source of revenue,” Ssebabi said. “Here, people see it as being the work for people who have failed in life.”
Bernard Bashaasha, associate professor of agriculture at Makerere University, agreed that Uganda’s cultural views on farming must evolve.

“Something must be done to get us into action and get our farming community mobilized and motivated,” Bashaasha said. “To many young people, the thinking is ‘I wanted to practise medicine but I failed; so, I ended up farming,’ and I want that to change.”

More than cultural forces hold Uganda’s agricultural sector back. Agriculture employs 77 per cent of Uganda’s labour force and makes up more than 85 per cent of its exports, but constitutes only a third of the country’s GDP.  Shoddy infrastructure, weakening soil fertility and high transactional costs prevent this sector from realizing its potential. Inadequate storage facilities also undermine farm operations, spoiling almost a third of all crops after they are harvested.

“So much emphasis is placed on productivity,” Bashaasha said. “But to me, the easiest thing would be to protect the 30 per cent of crops we already make and then lose.”
In the early 1960s, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. A USAID report published in 1961 called the Asian country “a nightmare, an albatross, a rat hole and a bottomless pit.” Per capita income was a meagre $89.

The following decades ushered in a series of agricultural and political reforms. The country went from zero to 100 per cent mechanized rice cultivation, developed more versatile seed strains of staple crops, improved infrastructure and trained farmers in market specialization and value addition. Korea is now the world’s fifteenth largest economy and considered a model for economic development and democratic governance. Its leaders are eager to showcase their nation’s example.

Young-Kong Koh, senior advisor in agriculture to the Korea International Cooperation Agency, spoke for the panel about his country’s development and the potential for stronger bilateral relations between Korea and Uganda.

“I agree that Uganda has the potential to achieve even more than South Korea,” Koh said. “I believe this can be realized in the future.”

Koh argued that the Ugandan government must do more to strengthen its agricultural sector. He said this should be achieved through greater financial support towards farmers.
“In the US, even today in the 21st century, the government provides direct loans and credit to farmers,” Koh said. “This should also happen here.”

To reach the Korean level of development, Uganda must undergo a series of profound reforms to its educational system, transport routes, agricultural financing and trade policies. But for farmers like James Ssebabi, positive changes have already begun.

“I get some money now, and the people are learning from me,” Ssebabi said.
“Especially the youth of my community.”

aj.tucciarone@gmail.com

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Uganda should treasure her youthful, growing population

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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Uganda: UPC Wants Fifty Percent of Budget for Health, Education, Agriculture

BY HENRY SEKANJAKO, 

As the country prepares for the reading of the national budget today, the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) party has urged government to consider allocating a half of the overall budget to education, health, and agricultural sectors for improved service delivery.

UPC wants government to allocate 20% to the education sector, 15 % health and the other 15% to the agricultural sector.

"The focus should be on these three major sectors because everybody in this country falls sick, needs education and food to survive," said Ambassador Harold Acemah.

Acemah, a senior member of UPC noted that government has always allocated below 10% of the budget to each of the three sectors which he said are very important in the development of the country's economy.

"I am surprised government has been neglecting these very important sectors, the inadequate budget for the sectors affects all of us," he stated.

Acemah made the remarks Wednesday during the party's weekly press briefing at Uganda House building in Kampala.

Statistics indicate that the agricultural sector employs over 80% of the national population.

The UPC senior said government needs to invest more resources in areas such agriculture, health and education that benefit all Ugandans.

"There is no justification for government to invest in fighter jets; we don't need them anymore because we are not at war. How can you spend lots of money on such equipment when Ugandans are dying, Kony is no longer in Uganda and we are at peace? Who are we fighting? ," Acemah insisted.

He also called upon government to ensure that the budget addresses the high taxes charged on different essential commodities consumed by Ugandans.

Today finance minister Maria Kiwanuka is expected to present to Parliament the 2012/2013 national budget with an estimated sh10.25 trillion.

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Uganda must improve agriculture to fuel growth: World Bank

REUTERS 

Uganda must move up the value chain in agricultural production, create more jobs outside farming and tame double-digit inflation to get its economy back on a vigorous growth path, a World Bank official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Official statistics show growth in east Africa's third-largest economy is expected to tumble in the fiscal year ending this month to 3.2 percent from 6.7 percent in the previous year.

Analysts tie the sharp contraction to last year's aggressive run of monetary policy tightening by the central bank to contain rampant inflation, which peaked at above 30 percent in October.

Ahmadou Moustapha Ndiaye, World Bank country manager in Uganda, said in an interview that the slide in growth was undermining the country's recovery from the 2008-09 global economic turmoil.

"Uganda must transform from low to higher productivity activities," he said. "On the production side, agriculture, which is the bedrock for Uganda's industrialisation ... must transform and become more productive."

Africa's largest coffee exporter relies on agriculture for over 75 percent of its working population although mechanisation is limited and much of the output is sold in semi-processed form, severely limiting earnings from the sector.

President Yoweri Museveni's government has long been criticised for underfunding the sector and the country's banking industry has been wary of boosting credit to agriculture, citing its risk profile.

Ndiaye said average farm yields in Uganda were below 40 percent of those achieved at Uganda's research stations and the country needed to step up industrialisation in agro-processing to "achieve convergence" with middle income countries.

Although the government says it's keen on expanding Uganda's manufacturing industry to add value to most commodity exports, those efforts remain largely stymied by insufficient power and poor infrastructure.
"Uganda also needs to create jobs outside of agriculture ...

job creation is particularly urgent because Uganda has the fastest growing workforce on the planet," he said.

OIL REVENUE TRANSPARENCY

The Bank of Uganda says the country's economy is likely to rebound in 2012/2013 and expand at between 5 to 6 percent as high inflation continues to ebb, which would allow a loosening of its tight policy stance and private sector credit growth.

Ndiaye, though, said this year's slump in growth, compounded by price pressures and exchange rate instability, was taking a toll on investor confidence.

"Investors like stable and predictable environments that allow for effective planning. To regain investor confidence, therefore, there should be stability, inflation at single digit level," he said.

Authorities attributed last year's spike in inflation to slowing food production combined with high regional demand, as well as global fuel price rises.

Somes analysts also blame increased public spending ahead of February 2011's presidential elections for the price surge.

Ndiaye said the government's "supplementary spending" was sidetracking budget planning from original priorities and that the bank was worried such spending was not producing better service delivery.
To guarantee transparency in the use of earnings from the country's oil reserves, he said Uganda should join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a coalition of governments, companies and civil society groups that aims to improve transparency and accountability.

"EITI membership helps bring about an improved investment climate by providing a clear signal to investors and international financial institutions that the government is committed to greater transparency," he said.

Uganda struck commercial hydrocarbon deposits in its Albertine rift basin along the border with Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006 and the government estimates reserves at 2.5 billion barrels.

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Cultivating a Passion for Agriculture

(photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

One thing you immediately notice upon meeting Edward Mukiibi and Roger Sserunjogi is their passion for kids and agriculture. Their eyes both lit up whenever they talked about the students who are part of DISC, Developing Innovations in School Cultivation, a project they founded after graduating from Makere University in Kampala. When we met Edward, he had just gotten back from the World Food Summit in Rome, where he was representing Slow Food International’s Youth Delegation. He works during the week at the Ugandan Organic Certification Company. Roger is a school teacher and administrator at Sunrise School, where DISC launched its pilot project in 2006.

Edward says that after fulfilling their goals of being able to go to university, he and Roger wanted to “help other people realize their dreams.” And they wanted to spread their “passion for producing local foods to the next generation.” By focusing on school gardens, Edward and Roger are helping not only feed children, but are also revitalizing an interest in—and cultivation of—African indigenous vegetables. The schools don’t use any hybrid seeds, but rely on what is locally available. Students and teachers at DISC project schools are taught how to save seed from local varieties of amaranth, sumiwiki, maize, African eggplant, and other local crops to grow in school gardens. They learn how to both dry the seeds and how to store them for the next season. With support from Slow Food International, DISC is establishing a seed bank to, according to Edward, “preserve the world’s best vegetables.”

Improving nutrition is especially important for boarding school students, who eat all of their meals at school. These children come from all over Uganda and DISC tries to make them feel at home by growing varieties of crops that are familiar to them from both the lowlands and highlands. According to Edward, “a child needs to see what she’s used to” in order to appreciate its importance.

At both day and boarding schools, students work with school chefs to learn how to cook foods—giving them the opportunity to understand food production literally from farm to table. And unlike most other schools in Uganda, DISC project schools get local fruits with their breakfast and can harvest their own desert at lunchtime. DISC is planning the “Year of Fruits” for the next school year, which begins in January or February depending on the school—each school will be planting its own fruit trees on campus.

Roger explained that in addition to the monkeys who live around Sunrise School and who like to eat some of the crops from their garden, the biggest challenges for DISC involve transportation and equipment for the schools. Because DISC doesn’t have its own vehicle, the coordinators, who need to evaluate gardens and make sure that the children are actually getting the food they help grow, often have to scramble to find transportation. And they lack good ways for the schools to communicate with one another about disease outbreaks and other problems.

But as the project receives more interest—from teachers, students, parents, and policy-makers (the local extension officer for the National Agricultural Advisory Services is a member of the local Slow Food convivium)—and more funding, they’re likely to overcome these challenges and make farming a more viable option for youth in Mikuni and other parts of Uganda.

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How we can attract the Ugandan Youth to Agriculture

By Enoth Mbeine

RECENTLY, Kabaka of Buganda, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II called on the youth to remain in the rural areas instead of migrating to cities in such of elusive opportunities.

This call by His Majesty could not have come at a better time like now as youth unemployment reaches alarming levels. The migration of the youth to towns has left behind ageing farmers and declining traditional agricultural systems.  Currently, the youth and young people constitute about 78% of Uganda’s population.

According to a World Bank report of 2008, youth unemployment in Uganda is at 83%, ranking only second after Niger in the world.

One way of addressing this big problem is coming up with strategic interventions to attract the youth to the agriculture sector. The call for the youth to return to villages will make meaning if the youth are encouraged to be more involved in farming.

And to do this, agriculture must be transformed from purely subsistence to commercial farming, where farmers undertake agriculture as a business that can help them earn enough income to prosper.

There is an urgent task at hand and this requires a multidisciplinary approach. Agriculture development practitioners, policy makers, the private sector, agricultural government agencies and other professional must articulate a new vision of agriculture that can be attractive to the young people and align with their aspirations and interests.

The first step is to change the image and perceptions about agriculture in the face of the youth. Agriculture, in particular farming possesses a negative image among the public (including mainly the youth). Portrayed as a low-income, high-risk career, public perception of the industry and farming must be improved to entice more youth to choose agriculture as a career.

The youth need to be educated and made aware of how farmers operate today. Agriculture has significantly changed. Farmers are now educated, business-savvy entrepreneurs who possess some extensive training and knowledge. There are currently many formally employed people who are abandoning their lucrative jobs to venture into farming.

The positive aspects of choosing farming should be emphasised to the youth i.e. owning your own business, choosing your own hours and having a variety of daily responsibilities.

One reason the young are aloof to agriculture is for a fact that they are seen as a neglected lot by government line institutions that promote the sector. The youth are normally excluded in policy discussions relating to access to agriculture and rural market development.  

The policies at national level also rarely feature the concern or issues of the young on the future of food, farming and development. The line Ministry of agriculture can, for example, set up a Youth Advisory Committee to look into various ways of attracting and retaining the youth in this sector.

The committee can be composed of mainly youth who are engaged in agriculture to act as role models. The main mandate of the committee would be to meet regularly to develop and provide recommendations regarding youth attraction and retention in agriculture.

As an effort to make agriculture attractive, the Government should strengthen and maintain agricultural institutions for extension, research and innovation, credit, agro-processing and marketing in order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of farming enterprises.

Access to affordable credit is another key factor in attracting the youth to farming. The young people tend to have fewer chances of obtaining capital or credit. Access is often tied to availability of collateral, which is usually land that the young people do not have.

It is, therefore, important that appropriate affordable financial packages are put in place by financial institutions involved in agricultural lending.

To further attract the youth into agriculture, deliberate efforts by agri-support agencies to make inputs such as good seed, fertilisers, basic mechanisation and agricultural market information available and affordable should be undertaken.

There is also a need to change the agriculture curriculum in the universities to ensure that it attracts interest of the youth and to also translate the research activities into direct action on the field for the benefit of farmers. More emphasis should also be put on creating more vocational training centres for the youth to revive agriculture.

Agribusiness support agencies should also play a key role in attracting the youth in agriculture. They can do this by highlighting in their mandates for interventions, a criterion for youth involvement for programmes they intend to support. The agricultural subsectors that have potential to increase employment of mainly the youth should be strategically supported.

When agriculture becomes a truly viable venture, we are more than certain that the youth of Uganda will be enthusiastic in taking it up. In a country where university graduates are prepared to work as night guards, street vendors etc, profitable farming can be attractive.

The challenge that we must take up, as leaders, facilitators, policy makers and private sector in Uganda’s agricultural development is to build the capacities of the youth and equip them to address the emerging requirements of an attractive agriculture and non-farm rural economy that offers prospects for viable incomes and good quality of life.

Writer is a Senior Consultant, Business Development Services

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