Wednesday May 4, 2016 marked a major milestone for the Economic Policy Research Centre as Cabinet approved the National Fertilizer Policy, its strategy and investment plan for Uganda.
This is the first policy that the Centre has initiated using its evidence. The Centre was also highly involved in supporting and influencing the entire five year policy process that commenced with policy formulation through to approval by Cabinet.
The process to develop the fertilizer policy was initiated way back in 2010 when EPRC through its research highlighted that Uganda’s soils were no longer fertile and required use of fertilizers to bolster soil nutrients for better agricultural yields.
The strong case for fertilizer use made by EPRC attracted the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to finance a project that supported the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) in the process of formulation and approval of the national fertilizer regulations, strategy and policy.
Through several public and nationwide consultative events, and use of strong policy linkages, MAAIF and EPRC were able to constructively engage various policy actors in the development and eventual endorsement of the National Fertilizer Policy, its regulations and strategy that are intended to guide and promote the use of fertilizers by Uganda’s farmers.
Key highlights leading to endorsement of the Fertilizer Policy
The fertilizer policy development begun in 2010 after EPRC recognized declining soil fertility as one of the major challenges to increasing agriculture productivity in Uganda as stipulated in the then Agricultural Development Strategy and Investment Plan for 2010/11-2014/15. Based on this recognition EPRC developed a project proposal titled “Towards Uganda’s Fertilizer Policy, Regulations and Strategy” and was able to secure a three year grant from Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to implement the project, effective September 2010.
The project aimed at establishing an institutional framework that promotes increased fertilizer use for higher agricultural productivity in Uganda. The project aimed at supporting the process of formulation, approval and popularization of the Uganda national fertilizer strategy, policies and regulations. It also focused on creating awareness among stakeholders of the need to use fertilizers for increased agricultural productivity. It is through this project that EPRC was able to work closely and support the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) in the process of formulation and approval of the national fertilizer policy, regulations and strategy.
Evidence was critical in informing the enitre policy process
With support from this project, EPRC researchers were able to analyze the status of use of inorganic fertilizers in Uganda in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the issues within the fertilizer industry. Several legal, regulatory and policy documents were reviewed during the preliminary stages to identify the gaps that should be addressed by the policy. This process also involved conducting a SWOT analysis of the fertilizer sub-sector in terms of availability of policies, institutions, capacities and experiences. It was established that although efforts had been made over the years to regulate and control the use of agricultural chemicals in the country (Agricultural Chemicals Control ACT, 2006), there was no clearly articulated and documented policy framework to guide manufacture, distribution, sale and use of fertilizers. The findings generated, where then used to develop and package messages and materials that were used to raise awareness and influence various policy actors on the need for a fertilizer policy for Uganda.
Stakeholder consultations and engagements enriched policy formulation
Having generated sufficient evidence to justify the importance of a fertilizer policy for Uganda, EPRC and the MAAIF embarked on conducting national wide consultations where district stakeholders were consulted. Separate consultative workshops were held in eastern, mid-western, north-western and central Uganda. The objective of these workshops was to create awareness about the draft policy and gather expert views on how to make the policy realistic and implementable.
In June 2011, with the Think Tank Initiative funding, EPRC was able to bring together an impressive gathering of specialists at a national conference exploring the potential of fertilizers to transform agriculture in Uganda. The Centre continued to maintain momentum among the relevant stakeholders while discussing how to promote fertilizer use and create a well-functioning fertilizer market. Because of this, in July 2011 EPRC was invited to make a presentation to the Sessional Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture on the state of fertilizer use in the country. This was followed by a Cabinet request for EPRC’s publications on the topic.
In July 2012, a national validation workshop was held to verify and provide final input to the draft fertilizer policy which was ultimately presented to the policy making technical committees at MAAIF. The policy was presented to the Agricultural Chemicals Control Technical Committee (ACCTC) and the Agricultural Chemical Board (ACB) in September 2012. The policy was further revised and then submitted to the Top Policy Management (TPM) of MAAIF for review. The TPM reviewed and adopted the policy in December 2012.
Development of the National Fertilizer Sub-Sector Development Strategy and Investment Plan: 2015/16-2019/20
Following the adoption of the draft policy by the Top Policy Management of MAAIF, the two parties-EPRC and MAAIF then embarked on development of a National Fertilizer Strategy and Investment Plan (NFS) to guide the execution of the fertilizer policy and regulations. The NFS is a tool for guiding the fertilizer sub-sector to achieve sustained availability of fertilizers in sufficient quantities, right quality, at affordable prices and in a timely fashion; while upholding environmental health.
The National Fertilizer Strategy was developed through a highly consultative and participatory process. A series of meetings and workshops were held with various stakeholders including Members of Parliament between July and October 2013.The draft Strategy was validated at a national stakeholder workshop in November 2013 and later on presented to the two technical committees; and the Top Policy Management of MAAIF for consideration. However, due to unforeseen circumstances in the policy environment, the process stalled.
Final interventions towards approval of the Fertilizer Policy and Strategy
In January 2016, the process was rekindled and the draft policy and draft national strategy were submitted to the Cabinet Secretariat for review and Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development for issuance of a certificate of financial implication. Unfortunately, the certificate of financial implication was not issued due to lack of clarity on how the implementation of the policy was going to be financed within the Medium Term Expenditure Framework of the sector. Likewise, the Cabinet Secretariat could not consider the documents due to lack of a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of the Fertilizer policy as prescribed in the Uganda Policy Guidelines.
Through the breadth of its expertise and policy networks EPRC, with support of a consultant was able to conduct a Regulatory Impact Assessment in fulfillment of the Cabinet requirement. A workshop to validate and refine the RIA of the fertilizer policy was held on April 13, 2016 prior to submission of the policy to Cabinet for approval. The RIA aims at assessing the likely social, economic and political implications as well as the persons, groups and communities likely to be affected once the policy is adopted. It also stipulates the sanctions and enforcement mechanisms, among others.
As the RIA was being finalized, MAAIF was able to obtain a Certificate of Financial Implications from the Ministry of Finance on April 26, 2016. With all the policy requirements fulfilled, the National Fertilizer Policy, and its strategy and investment plan was tabled before cabinet on May 4, 2016 for approval. On that same day, the policy was finally endorsed by the Cabinet chaired by the Head of State President Yoweri Museveni. It was thus a momentous day for both EPRC and MAAIF, as their five years efforts to formulate a fertilizer policy paid off, at the last day of the outgoing cabinet (2011-2016).