KASURA-KYOMUKAMA: Debate on rationalization of UCDA not informed by facts

INTERVIEW | THE INDEPENDENT | Over the last few months, there has been a process to rationalize government agencies and public expenditure. This process has generated a lot of controversy. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries is Maj. Gen. David Kasura-Kyomukama insists that much of the debate especially about the rationalization of one particular agency UCDA is not informed by facts.

QUESTION: What is RAPEX?

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:   RAPEX is a Government policy which stands for the Rationalization of Government Agencies and Public Expenditure. It was adopted by Cabinet on 22nd February, 2021 after a long process of consultation and discussion that started around 2016/17.

As has been explained before, the Policy on rationalization is being implemented across the entire Government and will affect all Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). The specific objectives of rationalization include the following:

i. Streamlining and reforming the governance structure with the aim of reducing expenditure on common services and therefore saving costs and gaining efficiency
ii. Eliminating disparities in remuneration packages, terms and conditions of service among staff of ministries and agencies.
iii. Eliminating duplication of common services in ministries and agencies such as administration, audit, procurement, human resource management, accounts, planning, transport and logistics, among others, and
iv. Creating a synchronized system that facilitates easy monitoring and evaluation of Government service delivery

QUESTION: What is the Public Agriculture Sector structure like?

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA: The mandate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) is to formulate, review and implement national policies, plans, strategies, regulations, and standards; and enforce laws, regulations and standards along the value chain of crops, livestock and fisheries. The mission of the Ministry is to transform agricultural production from subsistence to commercial agriculture, thereby facilitating the strategic goal of transforming the Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern middle-class and knowledge-based society.

Leadership: The political leader of the Ministry is the Minister who is assisted by three Ministers of State each responsible for a specific sector. These sectors are crop (Minister of State for Agriculture), animal resources (Minister of State for Animal Industry) and fisheries resources (Minister of State for Fisheries). The Permanent Secretary is the head of the technical team in the Ministry. Each of the subsectors has a technical team of professionals who are scientists specialized in matters pertaining to that subsector.

The Ministry also has stand-alone departments in charge of agricultural infrastructure, mechanization and water for production; extension; agribusiness and enterprise selection as well as finance and administration.

The Ministry also provides oversight over the agencies within the sector. These are the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), National Animal Genetics Research Centre and Databank (NAGRC&DB) and the recently rationalized agencies – National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Dairy Development Authority (DDA), Coordinating Office for Control of Trypanosomiasis in Uganda (COCTU), Cotton Development Organization (CDO) and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA).

Finally, the Ministry provides technical guidance to all production departments in the District Local Governments (DLGs) which undertake the delegated functions of agricultural extension, regulation, disease control and collection of agricultural statistics, among others within their respective local governments. However, these production departments are administratively supervised by the technical and political heads of their local governments.

QUESTION: How is RAPEX being implemented in the Agriculture Sector?

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA: The Ministry is restructuring its departments and agencies in order to rationalize i.e. to reorganize its structure and allocate resources logically in order to create efficiency and save resources. The purpose is to create a structure that better answers to the strategic goals of the country.

This restructuring has been done after a thorough study of the effectiveness and cost of government service delivery within the sector. It has been done through a wide stakeholder consultation with other Ministries, Departments and Agencies. We are also in consultation with the private sector who are after all beneficiaries of our services. The creation of a post RAPEX structure is a dynamic process which is still ongoing as consultations continue. We are routinely improving the structure in consultation with the Ministry of Public Service.Having said this, the restructuring proposes 4 (Four) additional departments in the Ministry, namely: Agribusiness and Extension Services, Coffee Development, Cotton Development and Dairy Development.

QUESTION:  What role has UCDA been playing in the Coffee Sub-sector?

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA: The mandate of UCDA has hitherto been to promote and oversee development of the coffee industry through supporting research, quality assurance/regulation and improved commodity marketing. The agency was delegated these functions by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.

QUESTION: How will RAPEX impact the grassroots coffee farmers?

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA: The transition of UCDA back to the Ministry will have no direct impact on the coffee farmer at the grassroots because the roles performed by UCDA as a semi-autonomous body will still be performed by the department of Coffee Development under the Ministry. Because all the coffee extension workers (who are 70 in number) will be absorbed into the Ministry, they will add to the other 4000 extension workers in the district and lower local governments. The function of extension will therefore be reinforced, and more farmers will be reached.

The quality control and regulation function that was previously handled by UCDA will be handled by the Coffee Development Department under MAAIF while crop inspection and certification will be handled by the department that handles certification of all crop commodities and issues phyto-sanitary certificates before export. This regulation function will be handled more efficiently by the recently strengthened certification infrastructure (more laboratories have been built in Namalere and Namanve while we are building new export infrastructure to add to the existing coffee laboratory at Lugogo).

QUESTION:  It is said that UCDA has been responsible for the boom in coffee production. So explain to us who are the actors along the coffee value chain and what role do they play

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  UCDA is not solely responsible for the boom in coffee production. The National Coffee Resources Research Institute (NACORI), an agency under the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) has through research generated improved coffee varieties while NAADS and Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) were responsible for the mass distribution of coffee seedlings to farmers. The Ministries of Water and Environment; Finance, Planning and Economic Development; as well as Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries are also responsible for this boom because they are coordinating the provision of water for irrigation, much of which has been deployed to farmers for coffee production. This is in addition to collaborative efforts with development partners like the World Bank, African Development Bank, to support farmers with other productivity enhancing inputs. It is this that has led to the exponential growth of coffee farming. In fact today, coffee is grown in 115 districts across the entire country.

UCDA was acting on policy and regulatory frameworks given to it by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. The National Coffee Policy that was initiated and formulated by the Ministry in 2009 is what birthed the Coffee Act of 2021 that is currently governing the operations of UCDA. It is therefore, wrong to attribute the coffee production boom to one actor.

QUESTION:  Do you know that UCDA facilitates market access for Ugandan coffee, which may disappear if the agency is rationalized?

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  This is not true. The UCDA played a delegated role because the regulatory and quality assurance responsibility that is internationally recognized by the International Plant Protection Convention is the preserve of a Ministry responsible for agriculture (in Uganda’s case-MAAIF). It is therefore not true that the function of facilitating market access will disappear with the rationalization of UCDA. We are also certifying many other crops including; chillies, macadamia, cashewnuts and so many more.
b. In any case, market access is a role played jointly by the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives (which is mandated to secure markets for all products from Uganda) as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries which produces the agriculture products and ensures that they are of the correct quality for export.

QUESTION: There is fear of Price volatility: Without UCDA’s price stabilization mechanisms, farmers may face fluctuating prices.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  This is not true. UCDA does not have a price stabilization mechanism. Current coffee prices are determined by market forces of demand and supply. The factors at play today include the decline of coffee production due to disease and climate change in major coffee producing countries like Brazil, and increasing population of coffee consumers worldwide. UCDA plays no role in determining coffee price.

QUESTION:  The other fear is that farmers may bear additional costs for marketing, transportation, and quality control.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  This is not true. While UCDA has been facilitating quality assurance for farmers marketing their coffee through mutual arrangements with the buyers, this arrangement is not affected by rationalization and therefore no additional costs will be incurred by farmers. UCDA is not involved in coffee transportation.

In addition to this, farmers will benefit from reduced operational costs because government is revamping farmer groups and cooperatives to boost efficiency in coffee marketing. Moreover, UCDA has been charging cess which is against government policy of protecting exporters against exploitative administrative costs within the export trade. These costs render our products uncompetitive in the international markets.

QUESTION: Tell us about non-compliance with international standards. UCDA helped farmers meet international standards; its dissolution may jeopardize compliance.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  This is not true. Compliance with international standards for all tradable commodities is a preserve of governments. The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries as mandated under the International Plant Protection Convention will continue play its role of quality assurance working with the standards body under the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives.

Furthermore, the Ministry has established an integrated commodity traceability system that involves farmer profiling, mapping and registration to comply with global consumer standards. The withdrawal of UCDA from the International Coffee Organization (ICO) was based on a failure of the ICO to promote value addition and its refusal to allow Uganda’s coffee to be branded as such. Negotiations will continue through the government structures and Uganda may rejoin the ICO when the issues raised are addressed. That said, whereas Uganda withdrew from ICO under UCDA watch, coffee is still being exported and we have in fact earned more.

QUESTION:  Farmers may face conflicting regulations from multiple government agencies. In general, Increased regulatory burdens

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  The purpose of rationalization is to enable the coffee farmer to benefit from a well-coordinated and integrated regulatory system that the Ministry has already set up.

QUESTION: UCDA facilitated credit access; its dissolution may limit financing options. The result might be reduction in access to credit: 

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  Government has provided for credit facilities through UDB for large scale farmers and processors and there is also the Agriculture Credit Facility (ACF) for access by farmers in Banks. To this was recently added the Parish Development Model (PDM) funds for the small scale farmers at Parish level. UCDA has no role in this.

QUESTION:  UCDA conducted research in the past and farmers may miss out on new technologies and best practices.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:   This is not true. Research on new technologies and best practices was and is being carried out by the National Coffee Research Institute (NACORI) [under the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO)], which focuses on research in coffee. UCDA was only accessing the improved technologies and passing them on to farmers, a function that will remain through the department of Coffee Development, as well as the extension network. It should be noted that the National Agriculture Coffee Resources Research Institute (NACORI) is an agency of Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries that has not been rationalized.

QUESTION: UCDA’s dissolution may lead to job losses among coffee farmers, processors, and traders.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  All technical staff under UCDA will be absorbed by the Ministry. The farmers and processors will not be affected by rationalization, because UCDA neither trades in nor processes coffee. Additionally, the efficiency gained will result into higher income for the farmers. Moreover, because the President has been a strong advocate for increased pay for scientists (which includes agricultural scientists) there will be no pay reduction for the UCDA technical staff absorbed.

QUESTION: Coffee farming is often a community-based activity; UCDA’s dissolution may disrupt social structures.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA: This is not true. Coffee farming is a private enterprise, practiced by farmers and (in some cases) with their families. While some farmers belong to cooperatives, these structures are not affected by rationalization.

QUESTION:  Reduced incomes and opportunities may exacerbate poverty among coffee farming communities.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA:  Coffee farming, value addition and marketing as shown above are being done by many players and not just UCDA.

QUESTION:  UCDA promoted sustainable coffee production; its dissolution may lead to decreased environmental stewardship.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA: Again, this is not true. The policy of agriculture in Uganda is to use smart farming practices that are environmentally sustainable. These are being promoted and will continue to be promoted through the Ministry’s network of extension.

QUESTION:  Without UCDA’s guidance, farmers may engage in unsustainable land use practices.

PS KASURA-KYOMUKAMA: The farming practices are actually  guided by policies whose custodian is the mother Ministry and not UCDA. The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries provides and will continue providing guidance on sustainable farming practices.