100,000 farmers benefit from US project

By Tadeo Bwambale
 
More than 100,000 small holder coffee and maize farmers have increased their farm yields by 50-70% after adopting technology funded under by a US-funded project.
 
The five-year Livelihoods and Enterprises for Agricultural Development (LEAD) Project has come to completion, the US Mission Uganda announced on Friday.
 
The announcement was made in a close-out event held at the Protea Hotel, attended by representatives from the Government of Uganda, development partners and the private sector.
 
Through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the LEAD project has contributed to increasing crop production and competitiveness in targeted value chains.
 
LEAD has sustainably improved linkages between 160,000 farming households and over 110 private sector firms in coffee, maize, and agricultural inputs by assisting with public-private partnerships.
 
Sales of maize and coffee among participating farmers have increased by 30-50% and there has been a general increase in sales of Ugandan coffee in international specialty markets, the US mission said in a statement.
 
As a result, incomes of participating households have increased from about $610 to $1,100 over the life of project.
 
The $35 million project started in August 2008 and is the first activity implemented in Uganda under President Obama’s Feed the Future Initiative, aimed at reducing poverty, hunger, and under-nutrition.   
 
Okaasai-Opolot, the director for crop resources in the ministry of agriculture, hailed the U.S. Government for their contribution to Uganda’s economic development and collaboration.
 
Donald Clark, the USAID acting Mission Director said a collaborative approach that has been a key to the successful implementation of the project.
 
He pledged that the U.S. Government would remain committed to constructive public-private partnerships to help unlock Uganda’s agricultural potential.