Agriculture - Increasing employment, income and food security

The government of Uganda recognises agriculture as a critical sector of the economy. However, while agriculture employs over 80% of the labour force  in Uganda, the full productive capacity of many small-scale farmers, or ‘smallholders’, remains untapped, with many failing to access market opportunities.

SNV Uganda contributes towards increasing household food security, income and employment through the provision of smart, market-based solutions that promote value chain development, innovative business initiatives and impact investment. We identify and target excluded groups and women, ensuring that they have equal access to services and economic opportunities within the agricultural sector. SNV works primarily in four agricultural value chains: dairy, apiculture, horticulture and oilseed.  With eight district local governments and local capacity builders, we also implement the school garden component of the community empowerment programme in partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) and UNICEF.

In Uganda SNV, works with a growing number of partners engaged in the Apiculture, Dairy, Horticulture and Oilseed value chains. Our focus in agriculture is to increase income at household level. We implement this through the following activities: 

• Strengthening producer groups by encouraging partnerships between farmers and local businesses to work together so as to increase their influence and bargaining power for better prices and policies.
  
  
• Conducting multi-stakeholder platforms that bring together producers, processors and traders to identify constraints and opportunities in value chains and on common policy issues.
  
  
• Increasing market intelligence through better access to market information for farmers who are then able to price their products based on the prevailing market prices. 
  
  
• Strengthening value chain service providers (local business, training centres, market brokering units and NGOs) to support producers’ leading to more efficient services.
  
  
• Encouraging effective public policy management by addressing institutional and governance issues on trade, price setting, finance, innovation services, food and land security policies which ultimately creates a favourable environment for small producers and local businesses.
  
  
• Improving value chain financing through access to tailored financial products opens up new opportunities for producers and local enterprises to increase the quality and volume of their products.
  
  
• Maximising on the use of the Agri-ProFocus online platform as a hub for information and knowledge exchange between individuals and organisations.