The Economic Policy Research Centre has entered into partnership with Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to document the transformation journey in the Uganda’s agriculture sector.
The partnership will see the Centre “identify critical commodity or sector-specific investment gaps across investment priority areas.”
The study will look into such areas as “seed, fertilizer, mechanization, irrigation, extension, R&D, roads and electrification focusing on at least one commodity in at least five districts identified by a policy prioritization analysis.”
The Centre will take note of main policy goals and where the largest gaps lie in terms of agricultural transformation, in general for Uganda.
It will then identify priority investments for at least one commodity in at least five districts identified by prioritization analysis.
GM banana trials in the National Agriculture Research Laboratories. R&D will be a key component of documentation. Photo/Alon Mwesigwa
Dr Isaac Shinyekwa, the EPRC senior research fellow and the principal investigator, said: “The study will help Uganda plan for the sector better.” Researchers will review phases of the sector’s transformation and highlight drivers, impediments, and the significance of the sector to the economy.
At least 7.4 million households in Uganda operate an agricultural land and/or rear livestock, according to the national statistics body, UBOS. Three quarters of those engaged in agriculture are doing it at a subsistence level.
Featured picture credit: FAO; cover picture: Intelligentliving.co