Why Agriculture Production In Uganda Is Still Subsistence

80% of Uganda's population reside in rural areas and depend on agriculture for income. Because individual production is little, those involved in the activity are often referred to as peasant farmers which is derogatory for an important occupation that employs the majority of the population, contributes 28% of national GDP and feed the nation.

Hence the perception of many Ugandans is that agriculture is a punishment and meant for academic failures and women.May be that is why government neglects the sector, does not have supportive policies, allocates a mere 4%  of the national budget and fails to  adequately plan for the training and deployment extension staff to assist farmers improve production.

You may not believe it that the hand hoe is still the dominant system  of land preparation. How much land can one prepare with such obsolete implement which is back breaking? Even if ox ploughs or tractors were available, many farmers have small plots of cultivatable land which are scattered. Many farmers need government support  buying enough land to set up farmer group farms that can enable critical mass production, tractors, ox ploughs, harvesting and handling machinery and storage facilities. The farmers could then set up cooperative societies all through the value and supply chains. Technology infusion in agriculture production has a major role to play in triggering regional development.

Physical infrastructure deficiencies especially the poor road networks to link  farmers to markets and lack of electricity in the rural areas that can enable investment in processing and distribution that create employment and stimulate regional development.

Lack of adequate health care whereby the hospitals are in shambles, drugs are stolen or are nonexistent and medical facilities lacking core medical personnel. Farmers usually die of preventable diseases because of poverty, poor nutrition and lack of medical care. Imagine the doctor/patient ratio of 1:18000 when Uganda trains medical personnel who run away to other countries because of poor salaries and lack equipment and  drugs in hospitals.

A poor education system that churns out white collar job seekers competing for the few jobs whereas emphasis should be on science and technology which enable innovation necessary for private sector development and the emergence of a knowledge based economy. This would eliminate exploitation of the farmer who are offeered ridiculously low farm gate prices that cannot cover the cost of production and yet the cost of processed food that the farmer buys is very high.

Uganda's agriculture sector is rain dependent and seasonal. The rains have become increasingly unpredictable and with many incidences of droughts, floods causing famines requiring food aid from World Food Program.Uganda receives annual rain ranging from 800 mm to 1500mm, has lakes, permanent rivers, swamps and underground water sources. There is lack of awareness  and knowledge about water harvesting and use of irrigation technologies which would be of immense benefit to farmers. The government needs to popularize and sensitize farmers to adopt as a way to boost agriculture production.

Land fragmentation is a major problem in especially the densely populated districts resulting in many farmers lacking cultivatable land to feed families while at the same time other areas have land which is idle. The government could revisit land ownership policies and land tenure systems for streamlining. To promote land use, land owners with idle land should be taxed to force them to rent out land to the landless.

Many farmers experience post harvest losses of especially perishable crops that dictate production of manageable volumes that the market can absorb because of lack of storage facilities. As a result, you find stockouts of some commodities at some point in time especially fruits and horticulture crops. Construction by government of cold room facilities by government would help farmers overcome this constraint. For instance, livestock is moved to the point of slaughter by lorries because there are no abattoirs with facilities in the districts so that marketing would only be for meat. This would create skills and employment regionally.

Agriculture commodity prices are determined by market forces and are usually manipulated to cheat farmers. Government offers no protection no subsidies or intervention to fix minimum prices buyers should offer farmers. This function used to be undertaken by farmer owned cooperatives in the past which cooperatives need to be revived. The cooperative infrastructure of cotton ginneries, coffee processing, tractor hire services, and storage facilities are still there but the Uganda Cooperative Alliance needs to pressure  government to recognize the role cooperatives used to play and lobby for their revival. The cooperatives used to have an integrated agriculture production, processing and marketing system which can be revived and energized through the creation of  Agricultural and Industrial Banks to provide crop buying finance, machinery and technology acquisition loans to farmers and cooperatives.

Effects of subsistence farming on the population

The negative impacts have caused unsustainable migrations from rural to urban which have placed pressure on the already inadequate urban infrastructure, created high levels of urban unemployment and social disparities fueling crime. The youth today do not want to participate in agriculture and are instead opting for menial jobs, street vending, boda boda (motor cycle taxi) security guarding, food stalls, cleaners and such kind of jobs that do not require high skills. In the circumstances, rural areas are stagnating.This skewed development means urban centers enjoy better public services from resources they have not contributed to create. Uganda's population at 31.5 million requires requires increased agriculture production, increased budget allocation and strategic planning and modernization through mechanization as a priority.


In order to create agricultural based employment, sustainable wealth and ecological sustainability, the following actions are necessary:
1. Government should develop, adopt  and support a science and technology policy that links farmers to research institutions and technology suppliers and provide affordable finance to farmers
2. Farmers should be encouraged to invest in high value crops and sensitize farmers on soil fertility conservation and sustainable land use practices

Transformation of Uganda is only possible if politicians develop morals, ethics and nationalism.

THEY SHOULD STOP STEALING TAXPAYER MONEY AND CORRUPTION

Agriculture Commodity Prices and the Impact on Farmer Productivity

Prices of produce, food and cash crops alike are ruled by market forces because of over liberalization of the economy which makes them unstable and fluctuating and attracts speculators to exploit the farmers. The result is condemnation of agriculture production to subsistence.
Whereas Uganda is capable of producing enough food for the entire regional market needs, conducive government policies to promote increased agriculture production alongside an integrated marketing system that includes value addition support are necessary so that there are value chains that guarantee farmers with stable prices and boost production.
Additionally, provision of market information can substantially contribute to increased agriculture production through enabling planning and assessment of the market environment. Information gaps between farmers, buyers and processors is one of the major constraints hindering agriculture development in Uganda.
These services mentioned are supposed to be a public good that should be delivered free of charge by government.
Discussions held with selected bring out the following views:

Farmers Aspirations and Expectations in Countering Climate Change

·         Devising strategies that will enable implementation of irrigation at farmer level

·         Obtaining information and knowledge of low cost irrigation technologies for sensitizing farmers and service providers

·         Developing farmer capacity to cost effective use of water sources that can enable adoption of growing high value crops, increase of agriculture production and improving household incomes

·         To develop networks and share knowledge and experiences among districts

·         To incorporate irrigation plans in district budgets for financial support from central government

·         Develop and change farmer attitudes from reliance on rain fed agriculture production

·         Develop district linkages with researchers, technology manufacturers and institutions of higher education for information dissemination to farmers

·         Identification of potential sites for piloting small scale irrigation for practical demonstration to farmers to enable wider adoption

·         Identify sources of appropriate low cost irrigation equipments and experts to provide technical support to farmers

Challenges Faced in Agriculture Production

The challenges identified are listed below:

·         Unsustainable and poor agricultural practices resulting in soil infertility, land slides, soil erosion, land fragmentation and climate change

·         Crop diseases and pests affecting agriculture production

·         High costs of inputs and low capital levels resulting low value crop choices by farmers

·         Droughts and unreliable weather patterns

·         Subsistence production using poor and rudimentary farming technologies

·         Low prices of agriculture produce

·         Lack of storage facilities for post harvest handling

Suggested Solutions to Challenges to Agriculture Production

·         Sensitisation, training and practical demonstrations to farmers on soil and water conservation best practices

·         Developing farmer linkages and networks with national crop, pest and diseases research institutions such as NARO and its affiliated institutes

·         Deliberate government policy to support irrigation application, irrigation technologies publicity and accessibility through consolidating land by purchase and local exchange for many farmers to benefit from intensive agriculture farming practices through group farms

·         Promote integrated pest and disease management systems

·         Improving road infrastructure and market value chains development

·         Training and increasing the number of agriculture extension staff and agricultural engineers

·         Promotion of use of organic soil fertility conservation techniques

·         Financing farmers to acquire irrigation systems at affordable terms

·         Mechanisation of farm operations and cultivation of high value crops

·         Value addition initiatives supported by government policy to stimulate increased agriculture production

·         Incorporation of irrigation technologies acquisition for farmers in NAADS activities

·         Subsidies and zero rated taxation on farm inputs

·         Government support towards development and marketing of low cost irrigation technologies

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INVESTMENT IN AQUACULTURE AS A WAY TO FIGHT RURAL POVERTY AND ENSURE FOOD SECURITY AND HEALTH

More than a fourth of animal protein consumed by man is aquatic in origin. In Uganda, the source of this nutrition is mainly from fresh water lakes and rivers. Lake Victoria shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda supplies the largest bulk of fish followed by Lakes Albert, Edward, George, Kyoga and Bunyonyi. The major fish species are Nile Perch, Tilapia and African Catfish.
Fisheries resources are being depleted from natural bodies through overfishing, use of inappropriate fishing gears and methods, lack of adequate regulatory policies and poor enforcement.
• High demand for fish on the regional and international market pushing up prices thereby making it unaffordable for the ordinary person.
• Population explosion of Uganda now at 30 million growing at 3.4% annually exerting pressure on natural fisheries resources requires focus to shift to pond fish farming.
• Failure at policy levels to adequately plan for sustainable future supplies through scientific and technological manipulation of components of nature to achieve greater control over production of aquatic organisms while at the same time taking into account environmental conservation and ecology.

Current Production

The increasing consumer population on the local, regional and international markets requires bigger fish production above the combined 450,000 metric tons production per annum being produced currently to match with the growing demand which has to be met from pond fish farming.
The Uganda fish industry with an annual production figure of 450,000 tons of fish per annum is not enough to sustain an export market of 60,000 tons on top of an internal and regional market forcing many fish processing factories to close down due to declining fish harvests.
The market size for fish is very wide to include the regional market needs whose total population is above 100 million people which demands production be stepped up to match demand and to cater for an annual population growth estimated at 3.4%. In the East African region, the challenge is producing enough food to feed the population which will involve large investment in agriculture and its diversification. Uganda has fast developing trade links that require sustainable production to be given strategic planning priority.

Prospects for Investment

Opportunities for investment with high profits exist in pond fish farming for local farmers who can either harvest rainwater or utilize wetlands.

Benefits of Aquaculture

• Productive use of wetlands and poor agricultural land
• Natural resource conservation of water and soil• High economic value of aquaculture products in a subsistence level economy. Approximately 8000kgs of fish can be produced from 1 hectare poly culture pond applying on farm food supplements and animal manure in one year
• High nutritional value of aquaculture products
• Integrated aquaculture is a sustainable form of agriculture that combine garden irrigation, livestock watering and other domestic uses
• Self sufficiency for subsistence farmers by making fresh fish available in rural areas

For those with higher investment capital outlays, opportunities exist in setting up hatcheries using simple appropriate technology. National Fisheries Resources Research Institute Nafirri at Kajansi has developed the hatchery technology in especially African Catfish and Nile Tilapia and disseminated the findings with a number of farmers setting up private hatcheries in the central region of Uganda. Nafirri will provide the necessary technical support to the business.
The processes that can employed are outlined below

Tilapia
Select seed brood fish from Nafirri at Kajansi
• Introduce into breeding tanks brood fish of 200g to 300g in the ratio of 3 to 1 female to male per m2 surface area
• Fertilize pond with animal manure and or chemical manure for phytoplankton to bloom water visibility to a depth of 30 cm
• Feed brood fish with 2% body weight palletized or ground feeds containing 30% crude protein
• Start collecting fry daily from 15 to 25 days after stocking and transfer to nursery tanks using 1.5 to 2 mm seine nets at stocking ratio of 750 fry per m2
• Harvest brood fish separated by sex for two weeks reconditioning in separate tanks before restocking in breeding tanks after draining
• Nurse fry for 6 to 7 weeks until fingerlings weigh 5 to10g
• Grade fingerlings and deliver to farmers


Catfish

The hatching technology to be employed for catfish will be the artificial method improvised and modified using locally available materials and expertise whereby the eggs are stripped and out of the females and the males sacrificed for collection of milt for fertilizing eggs then the mixture placed on 1mm mesh trays in the breeding tanks as observed at Sunfish Farm to avoid costs of buying expensive modern hormones.
Milt from one male will fertilize the eggs of 10 to 15 females if diluted with an equal volume of 9g salt solution to 1 liter of boiled water and the mixture added an equal volume of clean water. This appropriate intermediate technology works well although it is laborious and time consuming as the water temperature has to be under constant observation at 28o C to 30o C for 22 hours of incubation before hatching.

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Sustainable Harvesting of Forestry Based Products As A Means of Rural Employment Creation And Environmental Conservation In Uganda

This blog discusses the struggle to survive by rural Ugandans against nature that they need to conserve for future generations to come.

This is against global concerns about climate change and emissions into the atmosphere that cannot be controlled by big industries.

Rural Ugandans realized that they need associations to build critical mass to exploit the only available natural resource for supplementing income from subsistence farming


The term ‘association’ is used quite loosely in Uganda, and does not always infer the same legal status. Associations may be formed under the Companies Act registered as Limited Liability Companies or Non Governmental Organizations but typically established as not-for-profit companies and organizations. Community-based associations may also register with the District Community Development Worker. These do not have a legal structure, nor do they have the status of a body corporate but are recognized by government. In this paper, the term is used generally to apply to all the forms of associations.

The importance of forest based associations is principally identified as ensuring environmental sustainability (MDG7) and meeting the government of Uganda’s key objectives as enshrined in the National Forest Plan. The associations increase real income in the informal forest sector activities by promoting economic activities of informal harvesters and users of forest products through outreach from government agencies, civil society organizations, certification organizations and regulatory frameworks. They create incentives for conservation and sustainable management of forest resources in Uganda. According to the Government of Uganda, the key to poverty alleviation and sustainable forest management lies with those stakeholder groups that are involved in production, utilization and processing of forest produce which prompted policy actions of setting up the National Tree Fund, Uganda Forestry Policy and National Forestry and Tree Planting Act 2003 and reviews of taxes and other incentives so that forest based stakeholders can be organized and guided to become viable institutions that will engage in pro poor development initiatives. Stakeholders identified in this paper will fall in the following general categories:
• Nursery Operators
• Woodlot planters
• Agro Forestry
• Harvesters of craft materials
• Harvesters and processors of charcoal and fuel wood
• Timber Harvesters
• Ecotourism
• Bee Keeping

In Uganda, forest based associations spread across five broad categories of activities ranked in order of numerical importance as below:
• Forest production
• Primary processing
• Forest based services
• Secondary processing
• Ecotourism
Many of these loose groupings are small rural community based associations providing their membership with social security or self help, act as a platform for negotiation and recognition, information provision, policy advocacy and regulatory reforms. The concept of forest associations becomes potentially valuable in providing a focal point for policy discussions, communication between stakeholders, environmental conservation and activities that increase forestry resources and develop sustainable forestry and contribution to economic development. There is no doubt that forest associations can be used as engines for social economic development if the interventions below could be implemented:
• providing training and capacity building to existing associations
• linking existing forestry associations to programs and service providers for capacity building
• using tools to form and build capacity of more commercially oriented forestry
• linking associations to commercial partners and supporting organizations that can help them build new products and link them to new markets
• organizing and assisting producer associations to give them stronger bargaining power and to gather and share market information
• advising forestry associations to understand the importance of grouping to access external finance
• lobbying banks and MFIs to understand and support forestry investments
• exploring the potential of associations and setting standards to ensure that associations and their members look after the welfare of their employees
• bringing forestry associations together to explore the potential for
establishing one or more umbrella associations in key sub-sectors such as tree planting, charcoal production, timber harvesting, forest product development and so on







History of the Trees and Tree Products Associations

These associations have a long history in rural Uganda, performing a number of important roles in rural communities, such as shared-labor pools, savings and loans groups, and ‘trouble funds’ that provide for those members when in urgent need. All these build social capital to overcome a number of the typical stresses of poverty and are specifically acknowledged as a key to rural mobilization.In some cases, such as the community tourism associations, it is the association that is the enterprise, with members being the ‘shareholders’, providing the labor and the management.
In terms of their geographical scope, their level of formalization and their objectives – from those focusing primarily on social welfare of its members to those entrepreneurs who collaborate to achieve some commercial advantage in a competitive market.
Broadly, associations are found to be engaged in five main categories of activities. The majority are in production-related activities. Production involves tree planting, nursery establishment and agro-forestry activities. Under primary processing, there are pit sawyers and saw millers, harvesters of non-wood forest products (NWFP), firewood collectors, charcoal burners, producers of craft materials such as rattan, and collectors of medicinal herbs and honey. The forest-based service providers were engaged in forest management and utilization training, participatory forest management support, craftwork training, credit, marketing and advocacy. Under secondary processing, there were traders of timber, charcoal, poles, rattan and carpentry workshops and builders. Forest-based services involve eco-tourism and carbon sequestration. According to Auren & Krassowska (2004), there are about 5,000 forest-based associations in Uganda.
The reason why tree planting dominates is because conservation agencies and agricultural development programs have supported farm forestry through associations as an alternative for products that were being harvested in protected areas and to reduce the time spent collecting firewood. This is true around Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga National Parks where CARE has been working since late 1980s. It is also true around Kibale, Semliki and Mt. Elgon National Parks where IUCN has built the capacities of CBOs for conservation. The demand for fuel energy and poles for building also made many associations go into tree planting particularly after 1990.
Presently, as much as 94% of energy demand nationwide is met from biomass. Some international and local NGOs such as Living Incorporated,6 VI Agro forestry Project, Uganda Women Tree Planting Movement, Environmental Alert and ECOTRUST boast of poverty alleviation among rural communities through support to tree planting. However, these organizations have not used that evidence to lobby for more support to forest-based associations. Before 1990, people would gather poles and to some extent firewood from forest reserves. In 1991 and 1992, the reserves were elevated and declared National Parks whereby utilization was either stopped or greatly curtailed. This compelled the users to plant their own trees in associations. Forest reserves that fall into this category were: Mount Rwenzori, Mgahinga, Bwindi Impenetrable, Kibale, Elgon and Semliki. Traditional herbalists also joined forces to plant species of medicinal values to control for harvests. Agro-forestry was attractive in areas such as Kabale and Rukungiri where international NGOs such as ICRAF, AFRENA and CARE are supporting associations to replenish loss of soil nutrients due to over cultivation. In some places, tree planting is linked to area-based commercial activities. Arua, for example, is a tobacco-growing district where fuel-wood is needed to cure tobacco, thus creating a big market for fuel-wood.
Forest-based service providing associations have increased in the last five years under the auspices of National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) of the Plan for the Modernization of Agriculture. NAADS offers contracts for extension services to associations, private consultancy firms and individuals. NAADS is a long term, multi donor funded program in support of PEAP, grounded in the Uganda government’s overarching policies of decentralization, liberalization and increased participation of the people in governance. The legitimacy of NAADS is given by the National Agricultural Advisory Services Act, 2004.


Achievements

General achievements

The associations’ ability to meet members’ expectations has acted as catalyst in motivating more new entrants than those exiting. Those exiting had expectations for short-run tangible benefits, which are not typical in forestry activities such as tree planting, agro-forestry etc. To the policy makers, the message is very simple, namely that in the absence of institutionalized incentives, social capital within associations is a big asset in enabling the poor to manage change.

Associations have created enabling environment for broadening members’ benefits, and strengthening their collective voice. For example, it has already been demonstrated that some of the associations with high annual turnover had received external support.
Financial incentives for promoting good policies in environmental and natural resource management were legitimized under several laws such as the National Environment Act 1995 and National Forestry and Tree Planting Act 2003. Under the European Union funded Forest Resource Management and Conservation Program (FRMCP) 2002-2006, a grant of € 1.92 Million was provided to support long term tree planting, that is, for species such as pine and cypress which mature at 20 years by the private sector. The design of the so called Saw Log Production Grant Scheme (SPGS), includes a number of strict standards, among others, setting the minimum area of 25 hectares for any person to qualify for a 50% cost recovery of the establishment cost (about Ug Sh 600,000 per hectare – equivalent to US$ 350). This was a barrier to the marginalized associations whose capital available was too low to reach this standard.

Impacts

Uganda Honey Association (UHA) is a national apex body in the apiculture sector in Uganda, which was formed in 1995. The main aim of the association is to promote the development of beekeeping in Uganda. The association is composed of over 80 primary societies and community groups with a membership of over 5,015 beekeepers. A 13-member executive board, four of whom work fulltime for the association, leads the association.
UHA offices are located at Nalukolongo, Industrial Area, Kampala. The UHA honey facility is also located there. The main activity of the association is to train beekeepers throughout Uganda to produce top quality honey for the local and export markets. Honey and wax are processed in the Nalukolongo honey refinery, which is set up with the latest equipment. UHA received assistance from Uganda’s USAID Agri-Business Development Centre (ADC) through the Investment in Developing Export Agriculture Project (IDEA project). Uganda Honey Beekeepers Association is currently running Nakasongola Apiculture Centre (NAC) funded by the German government at € 111,000. It began operation in June 2003. NAC was founded in November 1997. It is intended for the management and utilization of honeybees (Apis mellifera) for enhanced food security, incomes, and improved standards of
living, especially of vulnerable groups (women, youths, disabled, the landless, the poor, etc.), the majority of whom live in rural areas. The centre stresses the conservation and protection of natural resources for enhanced productivity, and economic returns to small-scale bee farmers at household levels. It is however hoped that when the centre is fully developed, it will be in position to house the regional secretariat for the proposed beekeeping association for the East African region, among other activities.

Budongo Forest Conservation and Development Organization (BUCODO) is an association of 41 community-based associations and business associations located around the southern part of Budongo Forest Reserve, Masindi. The interests of member organizations are diverse, ranging from clearly commercial interests (for example the Budongo Pit sawyers’ association) to the more socially oriented community-based associations working on community health and education.
BUCODO is owned by its member organizations. The board and the executive are elected from the member community associations. The organization has grown so large that it has now subdivided into seven sectors, based on different specific interests (such as beekeeping, pit sawing, medicinal plant production and essential oil extraction, craftwork, and community workers providing advisory services to farmers, communities and private forest owners).
BUCODO has clearly achieved results for its members, for example
• mobilizing resources for members (donor and government funds)
• raising key issues relating to forest administration that are then presented to government through advocacy by BUCODO executive
• capacity building of members in a wide range of skills
• networking between sectors of the organization
• creating a strong sense of ownership by community members
• introducing new income generating activities (such as medicinal plant cultivation and extraction of essential oils), and supported members of the Budongo Pit sawyers Association to access licenses. Increasingly, the role of the former “Pit sawyers’ Associations” is being integrated into such CFM associations – with the objective of assisting local community members to access licenses to harvest timber and other forest products as part of a broader negotiated agreement on community-supported forest management. NFA has shown some willingness to take affirmative action to give local community members preferential treatment in accessing such licenses, over and above the competitive bidding process they have put in place for other more commercial timber harvesters.

The success of BUCODO has been the role model for the formation of a flurry of new CFM Umbrella Organizations in other areas:
• North Budongo Forest Community Association (NOBUFOCA)
• Budongo Forest Conservation and Development Organization (BUCODO)
• Friends of Mpigi Area Forest (FOMAF)
• Mabira Forest Integrated Conservation Organization (MAFICO)
• Sango Bay CFM Association (emerging but not yet formalized).
Typically, the Forest Department (and now the NFA) have catalyzed the formation of these groups, and helped them link with sources of external assistance from NGOs, donors and government programs. The new EMPAFORM (Empowerment for Participatory Forest Management) Project of CARE is focusing on working with such umbrella organizations, both to strengthen them and their members in collaborative management. The Forest Act also provides for Community Forestry, which gives the opportunity for Communal Land Associations, as provided under the Land Act, to enter legal contracts with resource users and other stakeholders which empower them to register ownership of forests on communally owned land. Again, BUCODO and a few other NGOs (Environmental Alert) have piloted Community Forestry and the associated service provision needed to support its evolution in Masindi and Luweero Districts. The Private Forest Owners involved have recognized the importance of association to access
support, and this has been one of the key stimuli in the formation of Kitara Green Associates – one of the only known associations of Private Forest Owners, in Masindi District. Similar groupings have formed, for example in the Fisheries Sector, where government has established Beach Management Units (BMUs) to institutionalize co-management with the fisher folk under the Fish (Beach Management) Rules, 2003 No. 35, and is also supporting Lake-wide Assemblies (associations of BMUs and other commercial interests) to bring together all stakeholders for fisheries resource management planning and implementation. The Lake-wide Assemblies have yet to take off, due largely to lack of resources to meet and operate on a regular basis.
The evolution of these hierarchies of community-based, but clearly commercially oriented institutions in the fisheries sector would not have been possible without the external support from DFID in the case of Lake George9 and World Bank/GEF and African Development Bank in the case of Lake Victoria.

Within the provision of Uganda Wildlife Statute 1996, the communities around BINP negotiated an MoU in 2002 with UWA under which the association set itself to:
• protect and conserve BINP resources through sharing of responsibilities with other interested partners in the management of utilized resources obtained from the park
• negotiate access for resources from the BINP and participate in developing a system to ensure that resource utilization is sustainable
• improve on the communication between the national park staff and the community and act as an information link with other interested partners in the park resources
• collaborate with the UWA-BINP staff and Community Protected Area Committee (CPAC) in finding ways of reducing illegal activities done in the park. Under the MoU, the responsibilities of the members of the Executive Committee made of Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice Chairperson are defined. The MoU also incorporates aspects of governance including the holding of meetings by the association, the frequency of meetings, voting rights, and handling of conflicts. In addition the MoU defines the bye-laws governing various categories of resource users, that is, herbalists and basket makers.

National Forestry and Tree Planting Act, 2003, provides that “a responsible body may enter into a collaborative forest management arrangement with a forest user group for the purpose of managing a central or local forest reserve or part of it in accordance with regulations. On the basis of such legitimacy, formally recognized community associations and farmer groups (registered with the local government under the provisions of the NAADS Act) have entered into collaborative forest management agreements with the National Forestry Authority (NFA). Several other agreements are about to be signed for the management of Budongo Forest Reserve, and for Reserves in Sango Bay, Rakai District among others.

The Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA) was established in July 1998, to empower local communities in sustainable development through small-scale tourism and handcraft enterprises, also known as Community Tourism. Community Tourism aims at involving the local people in the planning, decision-making and implementation of tourism development activities. This form of tourism assures that the benefits stay as much as possible in the local community. To date UCOTA has grown into 50 member-groups countrywide, representing about 1200 individuals of whom 63% are women and 37% men. The groups operate small enterprises ranging from accommodation, guiding services, and restaurants to craft shops and music, dance and drama performances. Most of the groups fund a community project, such as clinics, schools, water sources and literacy program. It also reins them in several aspects such as tourism marketing, craft-making and organizational strengthening.






Challenges

Government Policy Challenges

Associations need support for policy awareness programs and development of capacity to influence policy formulation and implementation.

Inclusion of forestry as fundable activities by micro-finance institutions who do not have policies that finance the sector.

Simplification of taxation especially for associations involved in forest produce extraction and processing.

Designing pro-poor policies given that the sector is the principal source of rural employment and income generation.


Simplification of registration to enable the establishment of as many groupings as possible

Standardization of prices based on market research especially for honey and timber even if the economy is based on market forces

Institutional challenges

Capacity building

To ensure long term sustainability of associations, priority needs to be put on the following;
• comprehensive institutional and capacity building program support
• training in entrepreneurial development,
• strengthening partnerships with research institutions, and
• improving access to low-cost technologies

Financing

Most members of the associations are unable to access funding for expansion

Accreditation

Most associations require accreditation to enable influencing of policy on a common platform

Quality control

The quality of products produced is of substandard quality which affects sales





Lessons Learnt

National Umbrella organizations


Associations are affiliated to different organizations depending on their type of activity and/or location. The leading institutions mentioned were local governments, NFA, UWA, CARE and NAADS and other international NGOs such as African Wildlife Foundation, International Gorilla Conservation Program, Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation, were found to have long history of support to associations around the ecosystems of Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga National Parks in South Western Uganda. In part, they provided support to make their own work easier and sustainable.

Uganda Bee-keepers Association, a national umbrella association, supports several associations countrywide. The National Council of Traditional Healers and Herbalists Association is also an umbrella association. It supports associations/groups in traditional medicine. Likewise, Uganda Community Tourism Association is supporting local associations participating in tourism activities in forests and parks. It relies largely on external support to be able to operate, rather than on membership fees and as yet has not had significant impact on craft export sales, although this is one of the key areas of intervention by UCOTA. To some extent, this is due to the NGO nature of the Association – it does not have substantial entrepreneurial or business management expertise within its ranks. These umbrella associations take on a theme around which their membership is identified, e.g. tourism, herbal medicine, beekeeping, shea-butter, etc. Thus, by working with and through such umbrella associations, government would cost effectively reach out to the poor. Field lessons could sharpen the policy environment for sustainable development. For example in the water sector, the UWASNET, an umbrella association of water and sanitation NGOs, has influenced government to include and promote water harvesting. Accordingly, the donors into the Water Sector Fund have started to support water-harvesting initiatives. Hitherto, rainwater was not looked at as a resource, perhaps not until it reached a river, a lake or reservoir. In forestry, the pilot projects on collaborative forest management (CFM) influenced the acceptance of CFM in the Uganda Forestry Policy and National Forestry & Tree Planting Act, 2003.
Affiliated associations were able to access support ranging from technical assistance, financing, material, political will, land and licensing.




Observations

The lack of dynamic development of the forestry sector in Uganda is seen both as the cause and the consequence of the disorganized nature of its key players. This can be addressed by supporting better organization of the sector as the priority area as fragmentation underlies most other factors affecting forestry associations.

A wealth of organizational structures and forms that are based on family ties, clan, lineage, proximity or ethnic groupings exists. These groups can be
viable forums through which government can begin to engage with rural communities.

At the national level, the failure of forest associations to cluster, organize or link up effectively is resulting in lost opportunities in policy advocacy, product development, sharing market information, expanding to new markets, developing market standards and taking advantage of training and support offered by government or donor funded initiatives.

THE STORY OF THE DOMESTICATION OF THE COCKEREL

This story was told to us 50 years ago!!
I can vividly remember i was about 5 years old.
I was in the village in Hoima, Bunyoro in Uganda
This story is part of many we were told at the fire place after evening meals when the weather permitted and it had not rained when we would sing folklore songs.
It was our time of socialising and how we enjoyed it!!
Before the story, i need to give you our background.Not very rosy but very happy.
We were a family of over 30 people, grandpa and grandma were well in their 80s and loved us children.My late father had two brothers still alive but very old now and two sisters. He had three wives, one of them my mother. No kidding!! Polygamy in Africa was there since time immemorial and it is part of our culture. It may be dying off because of economic hardships. We also had extended family of relatives,and a number of other people staying with us who had no home and would help on the farm to earn their keep.Every one as must had to go cultivate everyday at 5 am to 3pm except Sundays. My father had acres and acres of farmland under cassava, maize, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, millet, sesame, beans, bananas and name it. There were granaries and cribs of stored food to last a number of years in the homestead and people were industrious and enjoyed farming. For cash crops, he grew tobacco, cotton and coffee, the seasons were regular, the rainfall reliable and the harvests were bumper year in year out.He had cows and goats from which we got milk and a chicken run for eggs. Women were not allowed by culture to eat fish, chicken and eggs then. Unfair, is not it? Try stopping them today!!
There were fruits such as mangoes, pineapples,guava and bananas, so we were never short. There was banana juice every week which we would enjoy before they added sorghum to make TONTO brew.
The weekly hunt for wild game would bring in antelope, bush buck, pig, rabbit, wildebeest and kob meat. There was fresh or smoked meat in the home.
My father also had a shotgun which he used to hunt guinea fowl, partridge and so on.We were a family with plenty of food!!
I one day overheard him tell a colleague that wealth starts with having enough to feed your home.
Let me tell you about the eating habits.
Lunch was always eaten while cultivating but it was the evening meal that was important. Every one had to be there at that time and if you dared miss it, you have spent yourself a hungry night. Besides it was sign of bad behavior and would earn you some caning!!
The evening meal was always served at 6.30 pm in the courtyard. The food was served on banana leaves and we would sit in circle with the young ones in the inner circle and the adults behind watching us.We were not allowed to talk while eating, not to eat with greed and to pick food nearest to you. Even when you were done, you had to sit and wait until everybody had finished.
This informally inculcated in us discipline, respect for others, politeness, humbleness, honesty and generosity which in later years have helped us become what we are.
Today, i am 56 years and have a family of six. I work and i also find time for cultivation for the food crops we consume at home. Talk of old habits dying hard!!
But many other people are food insecure. Many people shun agriculture that it is an occupation for poor peasants.
Digressed?
So after the evening meal and before bedtime at 9 pm was story time and singing and the story i am about to tell was narrated as follows

Once upon a time, the Cockerel used to stay in the wild with other animals.
To protect itself and its family, it had to adopt fierceness and used to threaten other animals that he had fire on his head and would not hesitate to burn anybody that crossed his path or disturbed his family.
All the animals took the threat seriously and left the Cockerel in peace but the Hare knew better but kept the secret of his friend. The Hare and Cockerel would privately joke about it that if one day the animals found out the truth, the C
Cockerel would become somebody's breakfast and they would hunt all his family to extinction.
One day, the Leopard wanted to make a fire to burn the bush so that he could trap the warthog whom he wanted for dinner.
So he sent one of cubs to go and request Cockerel for fire. The cub found Cockerel deep asleep and could not wake him up. The cub went back to report to the Leopard. The Leopard was hungry and desperate and told the cub- here take this dry straw and put it on the head of the Cockerel. It will catch fire which you will bring here as soon as you can.The cub went back to the Cockerel and put the dry straw on his head. Alas! there was no fire catching the straw. Tried again and again without success. The cub went back to report failure.
This time the Leopard was livid with anger. He shouted you stupid cub you will never be anything. Let me go get it myself.
As he reached Cockerels home, he called out.
Hey my friend! Why are you sleeping at this hour of the day? Please wake up and give me fire.
The Cockerel continued snoring and could not wake up.
The Leopard decided to put the straw on Cockerels head to get fire but the straw would not ignite. Puzzled, he decided to stealthily touch the head.
To his amazement,the head was very cold. He shouted on top of his voice.
Cockerel you have been fibbing us. You have no fire. I will have you for dinner instead of Warthog!!
Cockerel woke up suddenly and was very afraid that the Leopard had found out his secret.
He gathered his courage and started crowing very hard to warn his family it was time to flee.
His bluff had been called.
When he was sure his family was out of immediate danger and some distance to safety, he jumped into the air and started flying to catch up with his family whom he told that the safest place to go was to Man who would provide protection.
Cockerel arrived with his family to Man and asked him for protection from the wrath of Leopard.
Man looked at Cockerel and his family and had mercy and accepted to give protection on two conditions
One that he would have the right to the eggs for his consumption
Two he would allow the Cockerel family to reproduce so that once in while, he could eat some chicken.
The Cockerel accepted saying after all his family would not become extinct.
That is how Cockerel was domesticated.
He swore never ever to fall asleep
Guess what this story taught us as children

Farmers Dilemma in Uganda

Most farming activities in Uganda are subsistance therefore farmers need immediate markets at harvest.Because individual farmers produce little and have no capacity for bulking, they get paid peanuts and are unable to realise the cost of production. This comdemns them to always living hand to mouth and of course poverty. A kilo of maize grain is currently at 10 cents down from 35 cents three months ago. The question arising is how can a rural farmer be helped to get fair prices commensurate with inputs that can eventually lift him out of poverty? What policies and actions are needed to develop this farmer to increase output? How can those affected farmers reach good markets? How can rural development be achieved? Is it possible that somebody out there can suggest solutions that can be adopted?
I am inviting useful suggestions that i can pass down to contain the situation