- In Brief
- In Depth
Agricultural efficiency in Uganda
Agriculture underpins the economies in many of the countries where the IRC works. Raising agricultural productivity is seen by developing countries and the international community as a priority for reducing poverty and its impact, which can be a key component in conflict, while increasing the resilience of food production systems to climate change is another priority.
Farmers in developing countries face many constraints including market issues such as skewed trade rules, limited access to international (and indeed local) markets, lack of investment capital, production issues such as lack of seeds and fertilisers, and deficiency in skills required in changing production environments.
Post-harvest inefficiency has been highlighted by the IRC as an area that requires further work on our part. Post harvest inefficiencies can result in serious (and silent) losses to harvested produce – by as much as 50% in extreme circumstances – that reduce the availability of food in the market, driving prices up even at very local levels. In the current food price crisis, it is obvious that there is a serious inefficiency in the system and a serious necessity to address the issues more widely and systematically while also recognising that there is a serious opportunity to realise a substantial dividend in addressing the issue.
What can the IRC do?
Much, of course, is dependent on scale and budget but the following are all possibilities:
- Work with national IRC field staff and local partners to disseminate learning about issues such as appropriate harvesting, storage, sorting and packaging
- Raise awareness within communities to the problems through assistance with ‘post harvest audits’ to determine shortcomings and ways that the IRC’s projects could assist
- Address shortcomings by, for example, the introduction of improved methods of drying, storage and processing, the provision of equipment in suitable situations, the provision of training in improved post harvest technologies
- Identify ways to capitalise on income opportunities associated with improved product quality.
How you can help
Uganda has been identified as a country which could benefit from work such as that described above. Below are some top-line figures which describe how farmers there could benefit from your support:
£22,000 would provide
- Supply and installation of two rice mills in separate locations managed by local partners with a capacity of 200kg/per hour
- Organisation, training and full commissioning support for mill committee and raising awareness within the community as to the value of the equipment
- help approximately 100 farmers per annum
£44,000 would provide the above rolled out at four locations serving 200 farmers
£75,000 would provide
- supply and installation of a mill with a 1-2 tonne per hour capacity
- Organisation, training and support for the local country partner and raising the awareness of the community as to the value of the equipment
- Help approximately 1000 farmers
The figures above all include up to 10% support costs including HR, finance and IT.
Please contact Stefanie Pfeil, Director of Development, on 020 7692 2735 or stefanie.pfeil(at)ircuk.org for more information.
