Food Security and Farmer Entrepreneurship in Areas That Are in Transition from Emergency

Food security and farmer entrepreneurship in areas that are in transition from emergency to development:

A case of Lango and Acholi sub-regions.

Desk Study for Agri-ProFocus Uganda Food Security Group

John Jagwe

May 2011

Agricultural Economist privately hired to do this study. Email:

Executive Summary

This study was commissioned by the Food Security group of Agri-ProFocus (APF) as part of an Action-learning process aimed at identifying the opportunities and challenges that farmers especially in Lango and Acholi sub regions are facing if they want to commercialize and how this could affect their food security situation.

The methodology utilised in this study involved a desk review of secondary data relating to food security and commercialisation of farming in Northern Uganda. This included, reviewing progress reports and several documents produced by agencies and organisations working in this region. Complementary information was obtained by holding interviews with a few selected members of the APF, other development partners working on food security and commercialisation of farming in Northern Uganda.

The study outlines the national outlook on food security and commercialisation highlighting the perceptions, policies, strategies and interventions on food security and commercialisation of farming at a national level. The challenges faced and opportunities envisaged are highlighted while identifying the common characteristics of food insecure households in Uganda. The influence of gender in Uganda’s agriculture is clearly outlined basing on previously done studies.

The study identifies the following as the main challenges to commercialisation of farming in Northern Uganda and they include: erratic climate, low productivity, poor infrastructure, inadequate business development support services, low levels of mechanisation, weak farmer institutions, inadequate post harvest and processing capacity and the dependence syndrome attitude held by the previously displaced population. The study identifies opportunities for commercialisation of farming and these included the willingness of private sector, government and development organisations to be actively involved in the process where each party would play its significant role. Furthermore, the dual rainfall pattern especially in some parts of Lango and the good soils are also mentioned as an opportunity.

A list of commodities suitable for commercialisation has been produced and these include maize, simsim, cotton, rice, sunflower, groundnuts, fruits, cassava, honey and soya. The study discusses the potential risk to food security when farming is commercialised and the characteristics of food insecure households in Northern Uganda. The involvement of stakeholders on food security issues and commercialisation of farming has been summarised in a table and conclusions together with appropriate recommendations made.

Executive Summary

Contents

List of Tables

Glossary

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

1.2 Objective of the study

2. Findings

2.1 National outlook on Food security and Commercialisation

2.1.1 Perception towards food security and commercialisation

2.1.2 National policies, strategies and interventions on food security and commercialisation of farming

2.1.3 Challenges facing Food Security and Commercialisation at a national level

2.1.4 Opportunities that can improve Food Security and Commercialisation at a national level

2.1.5 Common characteristics of food insecure households

2.1.6 Gender patterns in Uganda’s Agriculture

2.2 Food security and Commercialisation in Northern Uganda (Acholi and Lango)

2.2.1 Introduction

2.2.2 Challenges that hinder commercialisation of farming and suggestions of remedies

2.2.3 Opportunities for farmers to commercialise

2.2.4 Commodities suitable for commercialisation

2.2.5 Potential risks to Food Security when farming is commercialised

2.2.6 An analysis of potential risk to food security when farmers commercialise

2.2.7 Characteristics underlying Food Insecurity in Northern Uganda

2.2.8 Stakeholder involvement in food security and commercialisation of farming

3. Conclusions

4. Recommendations

References

Annex 1: List of persons contacted during this study

Annex 2: Map of Uganda livelihoods zones

List of Tables

Table 1: Inequality in Land owned 2005-2006

Table 2: Households (%) involved in agriculture by location and sex of household head

Table 3: Risk analysis of food insecurity versus commercialisation in Lango and Acholi subregions

Table 4: Organisations working on Food security and Commercialisation of farming in Acholi & Lango sub regions

Glossary

APFAgri-ProFocus

COMESACommon Market for East & Southern Africa

EACEast African Community

FEWSNETFamine Early Warning Systems Network

FIVIMSFood Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems

GoUGovernment of Uganda

MAAIFMinistry of agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries

MoESMinistry of Education and Sports

MoFPEDMinistry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

MTTIMinistry of Tourism Trade and Industry

NAADSNational Agricultural Advisory Services

NDPNational Development Plan

NSDSNational Service Delivery Survey

NUSAFNorthern Uganda Social Action Fund

OPMOffice of the Prime Minister

PADPoverty Alleviation Department, Office of the President

PEAPPoverty Eradication Action Plan

PFAProsperity for All

PMAPlan for Modernisation of Agriculture

SACCOsSavings and Credit Cooperative Organizations

UBOSUganda Bureau of Statistics

UEPBUganda Export Promotion Board

UIRIUganda Industrial Research Institute

UNBSUganda National Bureau of standards

UPEUniversal Primary Education

USEUniversal Secondary Education

Desk study on Food Security in Lango & Acholi sub-regions of Northern Uganda

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

Food insecurity refers to a situation that exists when people cannot access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FIVIMS[1]). Food insecurity (chronic, seasonal or transitory) may be caused by:

The unavailability of food
Insufficient purchasing power
Inappropriate distribution or lack of social or economic access to adequate food
Inadequate use of food at the household level

Although many parts of Uganda enjoy adequate food security throughout the year due to favorable weather conditions, some parts of the country experience food insecurity situations. The number of food insecure people in Uganda is estimated at about 1.1 Million people with 81 percent of this population located in North Eastern Uganda while the rest are located in the Northern and Eastern parts of Uganda (FEWSNET, 2010). Many factors contribute to food insecurity in these areas, varying between regions and livelihood systems. These include unreliable climatic conditions (particularly recurring droughts and floods), low productivity, crop and animal pests and diseases, and declining soil fertility. Food insecurity is also the result of man-made factors, such as prolonged conflicts and civil insecurity, particularly in the northern region (UNHCR/WFP/GoU-OPM, 2011).

Over the last year ICCO[2], ZOA[3] and Oxfam GB[4] have indicated to be interested to link their work on Food Security in Northern Uganda with the work of AgriProFocus (APF)[5].

Agri-ProFocus (APF), founded in 2005, is a partnership of 26 Dutch donor agencies, credit institutions, training and knowledge institutions and companies. Their shared mission is to provide coherent and demand driven support to enhance the capacity of producer organizations (PO’s) in developing farmer entrepreneurship within the context of poverty reduction. One of the main goals of APF is to build solid, transparent and action-oriented support programmes to promote farmer entrepreneurship.

ICCO, ZOA and Oxfam GB have had a number of meetings, which were mainly focused on sharpening the focus of the food security group in relation with the objectives of APF in Uganda. In the annual APF meeting the group presented their initial ideas to members of other thematic groups and members expressed interest in a thematic group on Food Security linked to Farmer entrepreneurship. The interest of the current members is in sharing different organizations' workin relation to food security in Northern Uganda, learning from each others good practices and challenges especially in the uniqueness of the areas in transition and in identifying opportunities within APF to integrate food security in farmer entrepreneurship.

In order to attain ample information to start a meaningful discussion on how to influence and empower farmers in Acholi and Lango sub-regions to engage in farming as a business[6] while also taking into account their household food security needs, the group identified the need to do a (desk) study to explore the available materials on agro business development and food security in transitional situations to identify opportunities and challenges and get the needed background information.

1.2 Objective of the study

The main objective of the study is to identify the opportunities and challenges facing the farmers in Lango and Acholi sub regions as they tend to commercialize and how this could affect their food security situation.

The key questions to be answered by this study at a national level analysis to set the framework for the Lango and Acholi sub-regions include the following:

What is the national/governmental perception towards food security and commercialization?

What are the rural development policies and agricultural policies linked to food security and farmer entrepreneurship?

Identify challenges and opportunities related to food availability, nutrition and food quality, and food insecure areas in Uganda?

Identify common characteristics of food insecure households?

From literature, identify whether there are gender patterns in agriculture in Uganda?

The key questions to be answered specifically for Acholi and Lango sub-regions aim to:

Identify challenges that prevent farmers to commercialize from an informal/formal institutional, policy and legal framework, processes and systems perspective.

Identify existing opportunities for farmers to commercialize from an informal/formal institutional, policy and legal framework, processes and systems perspective.

Analyze the potential risks to food security when farmers get involved in commercialization

Identify common characteristics underlying food insecurity in the sub regions

Map stakeholder that are active in food security and commercialization in the sub regions

Provide and overview of the intervention strategies used by government, NGOs and farmer associations/groups in these regions and the pros and cons of these strategies on balancing commercialization and food security.

2. Findings

2.1 National outlook on Food security and Commercialisation

2.1.1 Perception towards food security and commercialisation

Agriculture is considered a core sector for economic growth, food security, income enhancement and employment (NDP, 2009). Although the sector’s share in total gross domestic product (GDP) has declined from over 50 percent in the early 1990s to 21.4 percent in 2007/08 (UBOS, 2008), on account of faster growth in the services and industrial sectors, agriculture remains the most important sector because the majority of Ugandans derive their livelihoods from agriculture. The sector employs 77 percent of the population aged 10 years and older (UBOS, 2008). Approximately 75 percent of the households in Uganda are engaged in agriculture, and 68 percent of all households derive their livelihoods from subsistence agriculture (UBOS, 2007).

The Presidential Manifesto of 2006 that had its slogan as “Bonna Bagaggawale” or ‘Prosperity for All’ (PFA) and focused on promoting agricultural modernization, export growth and industrialization. Its mission was to spur commercial agriculture, improve services; promote industrial production with a focus on value addition for rapid economic and social development. The main goal of PFA was to see that each Ugandan household has income generating activities that give it an income stream in the short and long term. It entailed organizing farmers into dynamic business producer groups that can add value to their products and market them.

2.1.2 National policies, strategies and interventions on food security and commercialisation of farming

Zoning strategy: Over the next five years (2010–2015), the government of Uganda intends to focus its interventions on a few strategic enterprises or commodities in the ten agricultural production zones. Agricultural zoning and enterprise selection will guide public investments in agriculture. Government has selected specific enterprises for the ten agricultural production zones which government delineated in 2004 based on several factors including agro-ecological factors. With this approach, the government intends to focus on two to three strategic enterprises every financial year(starting with FY 2009/10), in the different agricultural production zones across the country (see Annex 2). Depending on the nature of the commodity and its requirements for sustainability, government may have to provide support for more than one financial year. The major enterprises will include coffee, tea, fish, dairy, meat, poultry, maize, rice, apiculture and fruits (citrus and pineapples). The criteria for selecting the enterprises include: contribution to GDP, distribution of growth benefits, food security and market availability (GoU 2004; NDP 2009).

Strategic Interventions: The country is already feeling the effects of the global financial crisis and the shilling is depreciating against major currencies. One way to prevent further depreciation of the shilling is to increase the inflow of foreign exchange through increasing agricultural exports in regional and international markets. The current structure of agricultural production is not suited for this, hence the need to select and support some strategic commodities, especially those with a ready market in regional markets. Such commodities include grains (maize, rice), pulses (beans, groundnuts), fruits (citrus, pineapples), livestock (poultry, dairy and beef cattle, goats), and fish. While promoting and supporting these commodities in various production zones, MAAIF will continue to support other enterprises, especially those that ensure household food security such as root crops (cassava, Irish potatoes), bananas and vegetables. Government will also continue supporting the traditional cash crops: coffee, cotton and tea.

The strategies to be used in order to achieve the agriculture sector objectives will include:

Raising factor (land, labour, capital) productivity in crops, livestock, and fisheries by promoting adoption of appropriate technologies for farmers and reducing losses through control of pests and diseases.
Promoting production and storage of staple foods at household level to ensure food security in the short-run, but as incomes rise households will rely more on the market for food security.
Promoting agro-processing industries to add value and create jobs in rural and urban areas through public-private partnerships.
Promoting the development of commodity value chains for strategic agricultural commodities.
Exploring and developing market opportunities (market access) for agricultural products within Uganda, EAC, COMESA and other international markets.

The Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA): The Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture was a holistic policy framework for agriculture and rural development aimed at boosting agriculture in Uganda. It was coordinated by MAAIF but hosted by MoFPED and the implementation was by local governments at district and sub-county levels. However, implementation of PMA was hurt by lack of effective coordination among the different government agencies.

The PMA was concerned with taking care of research, advisory services, pest and disease control, water for production, primary processing, Agricultural Information Services. Through the PMA, government launched the National Agricultural Advisory Service (NAADS) meant to provide extension services to the farmers.

Prosperity For All (PFA): Prosperity for all commonly known as Bonabagagawale is a Government program which has been developed to transform the rural economy through boosting productivity, processing and marketing of the small holder farmers using the notion of trickle down approach targeting the active poor people with in society. It is built on different components ranging from Universal Primary Education (UPE), Universal Secondary Education (USE), Health programs, Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs), NAADS, Community Information Systems, Poverty Alleviation Department (PAD) of the Presidents Office, and the security systems for a secure operating environment.

All these components are run by different departments with one goal to lead towards society transformation and prosperity for all. It is also very clear that each of the different components target the same people and, therefore, experience different realities and challenges during implementation. “Prosperity For All” (PFA) portrays the Government’s vision to transform the poor (mainly in rural areas) into productive and prosperous communities. The programme, as indicated above, is expected to be a multiplicity of integrated and interrelated social and economic actions aimed at getting communities out of poverty.

PFA aims at deepening Government interventions at the community and household level to address structural bottlenecks to production and marketing. It focuses on wealth creation through market-led production. The general policy objective of PFA is to empower households with at least 1 hectare of land to meet basic needs and have a target gross income of at least Ugsh 20 Million per year within 3-5years. More specifically, PFA aims at improving agricultural productivity, increasing access to financial services and enhancing market access and value addition.

The PFA program is yet to be evaluated but its performance is linked to several other factors such as;

the land policy which determines households’ access to reasonable land,
extension service delivery which improves farming skills and hence productivity
access to capital
supportive rural infrastructure (roads, markets, processing units, electricity)

2.1.3 Challenges facing Food Security and Commercialisation at a national level

As per the several pieces of literature reviewed, the following is a summary of the major challenges facing food security and commercialisation of farming at a national level.

Lack of proper analysis and understanding commodity chains has led to several of these misguided investments in agriculture, often to the detriment of thousands of smallholder farmers.
Defining and protecting land rights is critical for the transformation of the sector. Failure to strengthen property rights for land owners and land users under the different land tenure systems (mailo, freehold, leasehold and customary) discourages long-term investments in medium and large scale in farming. Government aims to separate land ownership and land use by law. The land use policy will aim to discourage owners of large tracts of land from keeping them idle, but in so doing government will guide utilization of land without compromising ownership of that land.
Inadequate investment in infrastructure especially in the rural areas where the majority of the population resides hampers the commercialisation process. The limited capacity to store, process and add value to agricultural produce is largely due to the weak infrastructure and this affects both food security and commercialisation of farming.
Changing weather patterns such as prolonged dry seasons, floods and erratic rainfall patterns greatly affect the crop production system which is largely dependent on rainfall.
Improper implementation of government programs aimed at improving food security and commercialisation is a serious challenge faced. Implementation is greatly affected by corruption and inefficiency notwithstanding the complexity in nature of some programs
Inadequate extension and business development services (e.g. credit, market information) availed to farmers.
Inadequate business skills amongst the faming population exacerbated by low levels of education.
Poor observance of quality standards along the entire supply chain
Uncoordinated interventions by stakeholders (NGOs, private sector, government)

The following are some of the interventions that may be considered to improve Food security and commercialisation of farming in Uganda. They include: