World Bank to help Uganda make bee, soldier fly and maggot farming popular

The project will be implemented in 69 districts and will directly benefit about 2,850,000 individuals. Given that project intervention areas will also cover refugee hosting districts, about 50,000 refugees are expected to directly benefit from project activities bringing the total number of direct beneficiaries to about 2.9 million.

Munyonyo, Uganda | LOUIS JADWONG | The World Bank has put $350million (sh1.2 trillion) into a six year Ugandan agriculture project that will make maggot farming, bee keeping, solider fly raring plus commercial pasture production not only popular in 69 districts, but key to anchoring a bustling poultry, dairy and fishing sector. The Uganda-World Bank venture has been dubbed the Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation (UCSAT) project.

“Agriculture production in Uganda has increased since 1962, but productivity has not improved,” remarked Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) official James Kakungulu at a workshop for media in Namanve on Monday.

Kakungulu said the smart agriculture project UCSATP intends to reverse this by supporting farmers pick low lying fruits, and improve market access — in many ways support world climate change efforts, and make disease control easier. In the dairy sector for example, cows will no longer have to be driven all the way from Soroti and Mbarara to Kampala for slaughtering.

The media brief Monday was followed by an ongoing 3-day Stakeholder Engagement Workshop for hundreds of political and agriculture leaders, LC5 Chairpersons, Resident District Commissioners and Chief Administration Officers at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala. Uganda’s Agriculture Minister Frank Tumwebaze will close the workshop at 1pm today.

With two of the six years of the project already spent planning, an anxious Permanent Secretary in the agriculture ministry Maj. Gen. (Rtd) David Kasura-Kyomukama on Tuesday told workshop delegates that his officials should bring an end to meetings, and instead, get their hands dirty on farms across the country.

The UCSAT  project will aim to provide implements plus technical and cash support toto farmer groups in agro-ecological zones in Uganda that have increasing and high levels of poverty, high levels of land and natural resource degradation as well as low value production. These include North-Eastern dry lands (Karamoja);  North-Eastern savannah grasslands (East Acholi and Northern Lango); Kyoga plains (SE Lango, Teso, Bukedi and northern Busoga);  Western highlands, southern Highlands, Southern drylands, lake Albert crescent; and Eastern (Elgon) Highlands (Bugisu and Sebei).

According to officials, these sub-regions and agro-ecological zones are targeted because of increasing and high levels of poverty, and land and natural resource degradation; as well as low value production, which are anchored in low productivity from engaging in low value economic activities making communities more vulnerable to climate change shocks.

The UCSAT workshop, ongoing at the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort Centre, has highlighted the targeted value chains (Crop, Livestock, Beneficial Insects, Fisheries & Aquaculture) and shared an overview on the available matching grants.

“There is an urgent need to shift the way land, water, soil, animal, fish and plant resources are managed to build resilience to climatic shocks and sustainably increase productivity and incomes in the most efficient, effective, and equitable manner,” an official said in Munyonyo.

He said, the proposed Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project interventions will target addressing the primary drivers of poverty. It will promote farmers working in groups – a kind of new Cooperatives movement – and support women play a significant role in farming.

The UCSAT theme is “To increase productivity, market access and resilience of select value chains in the project area and to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency.”

🟥 Key funders of the #Climate Smart #Agricultural Transformation Project , the @WorldBankAfrica, make a statement at a workshop ongoing at Speke Resort Munyonyo for RDCs, CAOs, Agric Officers from over 65 districts in Uganda@MAAIF_Uganda@FrankTumwebazek#UCSATP pic.twitter.com/QgxSQtVznh

— Louis Jadwong (@Jadwong) November 19, 2024

“The project will also support investments in technology and market-driven productivity increases in climate smart value chains. These investments will contribute to reversing the effects of climate change thereby sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and household incomes while enhancing resilience to climatic shocks.”

According to the new strategy, climate change mitigation and environment management are critical elements to achieving increased household incomes and improved quality of life for the population. “The NDP III champions interventions aimed at stopping and reversing the degradation of Water Resources, mobilization for mind-set change to address development impacts of shocks like climate change, COVID 19, and locust invasion among others.”

Officials say that the proposed interventions will enhance incentives that facilitate investments into technologies and improved management practices such as the use of the Payment for Ecosystem Services and the Labor-Intensive Public Works programs. They say these are consistent with the Uganda Strategic Investment Framework for Sustainable Land Management 2010 – 2020 as well as the National Environment Act (2019).

The project will be implemented in 69 districts and will directly benefit about 2,850,000 individuals. Given that project intervention areas will also cover refugee hosting districts, about 50,000 refugees are expected to directly benefit from project activities bringing the total number of direct beneficiaries to about 2.9 million.

The direct beneficiaries of the project are the users of land and its resources including farmers, fish farmers, pastoralists, forest users, refugees and their host communities defined by their agro-ecologies, farming systems, socio- economic factors, geopolitics, and land tenure.

These sub-regions and agro-ecological zones are targeted because of increasing and high levels of poverty, and land and natural resource degradation; vulnerability to vagaries of climate change as well as low value production. The project will target individuals (smallholder and largescale farmers), farmer groups, cooperatives, and self-help groups. The project will also target the poor and vulnerable.

#UCSATP
Today, @FrankTumwebazek launched the Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project implementation manual at the National Stakeholder Engagement workshop held 19-20th Nov, 2024 at Munyonyo Common Wealth Centre.
Project funded by @WorldBank and @GovUganda pic.twitter.com/xQG3tFFdzq

— MAAIF 🇺🇬 (@MAAIF_Uganda) November 19, 2024

Project Value Chains: 13 value chains have been selected and up to 4 value chains will be supported in each subregion.