Posted on June, 21, 2018 at 09:53 am
By Franklin Draku
Kampala — Government must improve public spending on agriculture, implement policies and regulations, build and strengthen the current institutions if the country is to realise its agricultural output potential, a new World Bank report has recommended.
The report titled "Closing the potential performance divide in Ugandan agriculture" says weak public institutions for promoting agricultural productivity at the level of small farms, inefficiencies in public expenditures and implementation of regulation and policies remain some of the biggest issues affecting the agricultural sector.
Launching the report in Kampala yesterday, the World Bank country manager, Ms Christina Malmberg Calvo, said government must get its priorities right if the sector is to achieve the desired targets.
Ms Calvo said the issues of fake inputs, low investments in the agricultural sector and other challenges must be addressed. She called for a deliberate move for commercialisation through value-addition and trade; strengthened public institutions and policy implementation, and enhanced resilience of agriculture production and rural livelihoods.
"Economic growth and poverty move with the fortunes of Uganda's agriculture sector, which in turn, depends on the whims of the weather. Farmers will not invest in commercial agriculture while counterfeit and poor-quality inputs dominate the market. They need to be able trust the distribution system, and have tenure security and access to finance," she said.
Mr Holger Kray, the head of the World Bank's Africa Agriculture Policy Unit and the study leader, said the government must adopt climate smart agriculture to fight the adverse effects of climate change in the country. "A productive and climate-smart agriculture sector requires an effective enabling environment. Providing that environment is the role of the government. Uganda's agriculture sector may not be transformed overnight. But making the right adjustments now will be critical to realise the Vision 2040," he said.
He stressed that strengthening the institutional base of agriculture can help to close the divide between the potential and actual performance of Uganda's agriculture.
According to the report, national agricultural output has grown at only 2 per cent per annum over the last five years, compared to output growth of 5 per cent in other EAC members and yet Uganda's population continued to grow at 3.3 per cent per annum over the same period.
Source: Daily Monitor