EMPOWERING FARMERS IN LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

PROJECT (EFVP) – MASAKA

During a five year period running from 2012-2016, UCA is implementing a project known as ‘Empowering Farmers in the Lake Victoria Basin Project’. The implementation of the project is being supported by Vi Agro forestry through the – Uganda FOA Consortium. The project benefits 8 Area Cooperative Enterprises (ACEs) 51 primary cooperative societies (also known as RPOs) which are affiliated to the 8 ACEs and over 7000 individual farmers.

Project Objectives.

The Development objective of Project will be “Farmers with improved livelihoods”. Its Immediate Objectives will be:

To have 8 ACEs marketing their members produce on a sustainable basis.
To strengthen 8 ACEs and their 49 member affiliates to be able to provide services to their members on a sustainable basis.

Achievements for the period July-December, 2017.

The results indicate that the project is beneficial to the members and is supporting their efforts to improve their livelihoods through passing on skills required for sustainable increased agricultural production and productivity as well as good governance of their institutions for better service delivery. The achievements under various components are as indicated below:

Organizational Development.

 Under the project, through training and mentorship on leadership one member on Malongo ACE committee was elected as board member on the board of UCA.

Sustainable agriculture based on agro forestry.

During the period July –December 2016, Twenty eight (28) extension link farmers were trained in SALMs. These were equipped with skills to be able to train other farmers.
Leaders and staff of five ACEs trained on resource mobilization and supported to prepare resource mobilization plans.

UCA staff with members of Kinoni youth group after sharing with them on tomato growing.

Extension link farmers showing off their training manuals after being trained in Sustainalbe Agricultural Land Use Management ( SALM )practices.

Farm Enterprise Development.
- With support from the project farmers through their ACEs are being supported to bulk their produce, negotiate for better prices and market their members produce at a price higher than the open market and hence enabling their members to earn higher incomes.

Prices difference between bulked products and open market.

In terms of prices, bulking enabled farmers access better prices as follows:

In Kingo and Kabonera farmers who sold their coffee through the ACE during the period January-June 2017 received shs 6000 per kilogram of FAQ while the open market price in the same period was shs 5700 per kg. During the same period in Bulo, farmers who sold their coffee through the ACE received shs 5600 per kilogram of FAQ while the open market price in the same period was shs 5500 per kg

For all the ACEs, the prices offered at the ACEs are higher than open market prices which clearly indicate that produce bulked and sold through the ACEs fetches higher incomes for the farmers than when they sell at the open market.

Youth and Children.

The project continued to support pupils in seven schools to acquire knowledge and skills on SALMs. A total of 1,050 pupils in seven schools were on environmental protection, and climate change adaptation.
Six schools participating in the project were supported to establish vegetable gardens.

Children of

Birinuma Primary school in Kyazanga sub county behind a tree they planted at their school.

For the one year period 2017 UCA agreed with the other FOA partners to phase out direct interface with grass root farmers and farmer groups but rather concentrate on formation and building the capacities of ACEs to be able to add value and market farmers produce.

UCA’s Focus for 2017

During the year 2017 UCA is mainly focusing on three components .i.e. organizational Development, Farm Enterprise development as well as Lobby and advocacy

During the year 2017, the project phased out work with grass root farmers and primary cooperative societies but is focusing on building the capacities of its members and potential members who are secondary level cooperatives, in this case the ACEs. These in turn are expected to build the capacities of primary societies and the benefits will then trickle down to the individual cooperators.

Under the Project UCA is supporting formation of five ACEs located in the districts indicated below.

Kabonera – Masaka District.
Kingo – Lwengo District
Mateete – Sembabule District 4. Bulo – Butambala District
Kamengo – Mpigi District.

Achievements, for the period

a) Organizational Development.

Under this component the project is supporting strengthening of ACEs including improved democracy by supporting them to hold regular elections, put in place policies and operationalize them as well as follow their bye laws. The project is also supporting the ACEs to build the capacity of their leaders as and staffs in various fields to enable them provide better services to the members.

Sensitized 10 RPOs in Kammengo and Mateete on formation of ACEs

Supported five ACEs under formation to put in place interim committees that will steer the registration process.

Sensitized the District Farmers Associations ( DFAs) leaders and staff of Sembabule, Mpigi and Masaka on formation of Area Cooperative Enterprises.
Trained the District Farmers Association leaders and staff of Sembabule and Mpigi on Cooperative Philosophy.

Conducted meetings to support five ACEs under formation to put in place interim committees to spearhead their registration process. This was done in Kabonera, Mateete, Kingo, Bulo and Kamengo.

Trained leaders and staff of all the five ACEs under formation on Cooperative governance.

Trained leaders and staff of all the five ACEs under formation on resource mobilization.

Farm Enterprise Development.

Under this component, the project is to support ACEs to identify priority enterprises to deal in on behalf of their members. Basing on the prioritized enterprises ACEs are to be supported to formulate business plans to guide their operations. The leaders and staff of ACEs are to be trained on bulking and marketing of members produce and also supported to put in place bulking policies. During the period April- June, 2017 the following has been achieved;

Supported five ACEs under formation to select enterprises to deal in on behalf of their members.

Trained leaders and staff of five DFAs on collective marketing of Agricultural produce.

Trained leaders and staff of five ACEs under formation on collective marketing of Agricultural produce.

Lobby and Advocacy.

Under this component UCA will continue to participate with other FOA partners in the process of pushing for a national agro forestry strategy and also continue to participate in advocacy activities for the cooperative movement at the national level. During the period April- June, 2017, the following was achieved.

Board members and staff of UCA participated in the National Agroforestry conference and had had input into the discussion on pushing for a National Agroforestry Strategy.

Board members and staff of UCA participated in the National Cooperative Day celebrations

Achievements on Output indicators 2016/2017

Output	Output Indicators	Targets July- December, 2017.			Achievements JulyDecember,2017
		M	F	No	M	F	No
Farmer organization Capacity Developed	Number of staff and Board members taken for exposure visits	2	2		1	1		Two project staff were taken for exposure visits to appreciate FMNR,
	Number of staff trained in resource mobilization	2	2		2	2		All four project staff were trained in resource mobilization by Vi.
Ability of farmers to improve vegetation cover enhanced.	Number of long term tree seedlings planted.			35,000			21,785	62.2% of the long term trees targeted were planted due to failure to secure tree seeds; suppliers given LPOs failed to supply some tree seed species due to scarcity in the country
	Number of meters of short term trees planted.			60,000			10,000	17% of meters of short term trees targeted were planted due to failure to secure tree seeds; suppliers given LPOs supplied a small percentage of the seeds ordered due to scarcity in the country.
	Number of Fruit tree seedlings distributed			500			500	The achievement was 100%. farmers have appreciated the benefits
Soil conservation measures are integrated in land use practices	Number of groups trained in soil conservation techniques			28			28	All targeted groups were trained.
	Number of groups trained in construction of soil erosion control structures.			28			28
	Number of households with New erosion control structures on their farms			150			100	Some farmers are slow to adopt new technologies.
Farmers awareness on sustainable land management practices improved	Number of groups trained in soil fertility and nutrient management			20			20	All targeted groups were trained.
	Number of groups trained in tillage management			20			20	All targeted groups were trained.
Awareness created on climate change, adaptation and mitigation.	Number of farmers sensitized on climate change mitigation and adaptation	1,440	1,760		1,080	1,320		Some farmers missed the group trainings
	Number of groups trained on crop diversification
	Number of groups trained on construction of			28			28	All targeted groups were trained.
	various types water harvesting tanks.
Improved access and utilization of efficient energy devices	Number of groups trained on wood saving stoves			20			20	All targeted groups were trained.
	Number of wood saving stoves constructed			400			200	Some farmers are slow; others have myths about wood saving stoves.
	Number groups sensitized on the benefits of solar			20			20	All targeted groups were trained.
Enhanced capacity of farmer groups to undertake market oriented farming	Number of groups trained on enterprise selection.			20			20	All targeted groups were trained.
	Number of groups undertaking selected enterprises			20			20	All targeted groups were trained.
	Number of groups involved in collective marketing of members produce			8 ACES			5 ACEs	Some RPOs are bulking and selling on their own.
	Number of groups trained in value addition.			5			5	The groups in wine making were trained on quality improvement and marketing.
Financial services for smallholder farmers in place	Number of groups trained in saving and credit management.			40			48	New groups mobilized to form VSLAs were also trained.
	Total number of groups providing saving and credit			40			48	More groups were mobilized to form VSLAs
	Number of members in savings and credit groups	2000	2000		1800	2400		Women are more active in the VSLA groups than men.

ACE BUSINESS PERFORMANCE July 2016 -June, 2017.

	2016/2017			2015/2016
Enterprise	Name of ACE	Sales value	Commission (ugx)	Sales volume	Commission
	Bulo	201,504,800	–	64,605,200
	Kabonera	595,399,100	–	105,419,200
	Kingo	115,860,000		270,112,500
Total-coffee		912,763,900		440,136,900

Sales value realized from Coffee for the three ACEs was shs 912,763,900 during 2016/2017 compared to shs 440,136,900 during 2015/2016 which is an increment of 107.3%

Table 2: Comparison of Coffee Prices at ACE and Open Markets

January 2017-June 2017
ACE	Volume FAQ kgs	Ace price per Kg	Open market price per Kg	Total Sales Value	Commission	Buyer

Kabonera	52,220	6000	5700	321,320,000	7,833,000	NUCAFE/IBELO ltd
Kingo	19,310	6000	5700	115,860,000	—–	Kibinge/Kabonera
Bulo	35,983	5600	5500	201,504,800	—–	Kasule Abdul (private buyer at)
Mateete					……	Support to these started, this year, they are yet to bulk members’ produce
Kamengo					….	Support to these started, this year, they are yet to bulk members’ produce
July 2016-June 2017
Kabonera	53,741	5100	4600	274,079,100	13,703,955	NUCAFE/IBELO ltd

Challenges.

In the areas where we started working this year that is Mateete and Kamengo, it was assumed that RPOs are fully functional, yet they require a lot of institutional building support before Aces can be formed.

Coffee processing factories were closed at the beginning of the coffee season in May 2017, and this negatively affected bulking of coffee.

Lessons Learnt

If ACEs are to be formed, strong RPOs must be in place, and the DFAs responsible for formation of RPOs need their capacity to be built before they can take on these roles. g