Marketing Sesame Oil in West Nile

Nearly 60% of people in Uganda's West Nile region live below the poverty line compared to the national average of 31%, according to an estimate from the 2008 West Nile Profiling Report. The population is predominantly rural, so agriculture is the backbone of the regional economy; cassava, sesame, beans, cotton, tobacco and groundnuts are the major commercial crops. Unfortunately, rural farmers lack access to sustainable and profitable markets for their products. Eradicating poverty in the region therefore requires improving smallholders' access to markets and increasing their productivity. This case study highlights SNV Uganda's efforts to rebuild trust between the different actors by finding areas where they could complement each other and create synergies.