Uganda has great potential to benefit from development of organic value chains as these would enable producers and SMEs to earn ample income while supplying healthy and nutritious foods to population both in the local and export markets. However, a lot of stumbling blocks are impeding effective implementation and realization of the potential benefits of OA value chains in the country.
The agricultural sector is a dominant source of livelihood for most Ugandans . It employs 68% of the working population of men, contributed 24% of GDP and 42% of export earnings during the FY2022/23 . Majority (84%) of Uganda’s population is rural where most of them (80%) are smallholder farmers, farming on units of about one hectare and 69% of the households relying on subsistence agriculture for a living . The sector is recognized as being critical for catalyzing agro-industrialization, and realization of the country’s strategic objective of increasing household incomes and improving the quality of life of Ugandans.
Uganda’s agriculture sector is centered on Vision 2040 which envisages a transformed Ugandan society from a predominantly peasant and low-income country to a modern, competitive and prosperous upper middle-income country. The transformation is expected to ensure food and nutrition security, create employment opportunities and increase household income along the entire commodity value chains of production, processing and marketing. Attainment of this transformation, among others hinges on a modern and indigenous knowledge-based agriculture as articulated in the National Agricultural Policy that envisages “a competitive, profitable and sustainable agricultural sector”.
Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) has the potential to contribute to food security and nutrition, restore land degradation, alleviate poverty, mitigate climate change, and enhance resilience, among other socioeconomic and environmental benefits. With 404,264 certified farmers, Uganda has the highest number of certified organic producers on the African continent and only second to India, globally in 2022 and also stood out as the country with the largest area under organic agriculture management standing at 505´308 hectares in 202 . However, production of organic products remains marginal with the area under organic agriculture accounting for only 3.5% of the agricultural land in Uganda, and ranks number 5 on the African continent after Sao Toame (21.1%), Sierra Leone (4.9%), Reunion (4.6%) and Togo 4.2%).
In 2019, the Government of Uganda approved the National Organic Agriculture Policy (NOAP) and its corresponding Implementation Plan to address the challenges affecting the Organic Agriculture subsector. The overall goal of the National Organic Agriculture Policy 2019 is to harness Uganda’s Organic agricultural potential by ensuring a well-regulated and coordinated sub-sector that contributes to National Development. Two of the targets in the NOAP are i) to increase the contribution of organic agriculture sub-sector to GDP to reach over 50% of agriculture GDP and ii) to increase productivity of organic agriculture by more than 50% in the period 2020-2025 . These ambitions are in line with aspirations of Vision 2040, and the National Development Plan (NDP) III which identify agriculture as one of the key sectors for spurring increased incomes and livelihoods of the people. NOAP is also well aligned to International Development frameworks and protocols such as the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among others.
Launch of the NOAP by government, was expected to be accompanied with a number of follow up activities as part of the operationalization of the policy. These included; documentation and publicizing the stumbling blocks and enablers in the implementation of the Organic Agriculture (OA) value chains. It is against this background that Advocacy Coalition for Sustainable Agriculture (ACSA) has commissioned this study to document the stumbling blocks and enablers in the implementation of OA value chains in Uganda.
This Report relates to a consultancy study titled: “Documentation and Publicizing of Stumbling Blocks and Enablers in the Implementation of Organic Agriculture value chains in Uganda”. The study was commissioned by Advocacy Coalition for Sustainable Agriculture (ACSA). The report presents the study context, methodology, findings, conclusions and recommendations.
Download this Resource to learn more about the Report findings and recommendations.