New agricultural marketing strategy under talks at MAFAP-Uganda workshop

A new agricultural marketing strategy for Uganda is underway as government ministries, private stakeholders and FAO gathered in Mukono to discuss the policy interventions and investments that will boost local economies through better farm-to-market linkages.

The policy-dialogue workshop, organized by FAO's Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme, FAO Uganda, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) brought together government officials and private stakeholders to discuss the challenges farmers and producers face when taking their produce  to market.

Participants took stock of the draft Parish Development Model (PDM) Marketing Strategy, prepared by FAO and partners, to facilitate and strengthen agricultural marketing with interventions and investments targeted at the parish level. The strategy, if approved, would contribute to operationalizing the PDM and to deliver on the government's objective to increase household incomes and improve the quality of life of Ugandans through their participation into the monetary economy.

The talks today took into consideration various challenges in agricultural marketing, such as low levels of production and supply or agricultural products, inadequate post-harvest handling capacities, the high cost of credit for farmers, underdeveloped infrastructure and logistics, low capacity to meet sanitary, phytosanitary and market standards, among other issues. It did, however, find potential in organic agriculture and climate-smart agricultural markets, and opportunities in terms of domestic markets, the regional market such through the East Africa Community, and international markets.

The proposal also sets out a goal, vision, as well as budget and implementation considerations, and lays out a set of strategic policy interventions which cut across 4 of the PMD pillars: Production, storage, processing and marketing (Pillar 1); Infrastructure and economic services (Pillar 2); Financial inclusion (Pillar 3); and Mindset change (Pillar 5).

The policy-dialogue workshop, which was attended by 37 officials, was opened by Commissioner for Processing and Marketing at MTIC, Dr. Joshua Mutambi, a lead author of the strategy for FAO, and by Dr. Marco V. Sánchez, Deputy Director for Agrifood Economics and Policy at FAO and Officer-in-Charge of the MAFAP programme. Also in attendance were representatives from MAAIF, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Uganda Bureau of Standards, National Planning Authority, Parish Development Model Secretariat, International Trade Centre, local government, and private-sector stakeholders such as the National Cassava Platform, and the Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union.

The next steps

FAO and partners will compile the valuable feedback collected through the workshop group discussions in order to refine and finalize the draft marketing strategy and support MTIC in getting the strategy approved and disseminated at parish levels in the country.

The analysis of the policy environment and draft agricultural marketing strategy were carried out by the MAFAP team alongside MTIC and MAAIF, following a request for policy support from the Government of Uganda.

Uganda is one of 8 partner countries in the FAO's MAFAP programme, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.