Declaration of partnership between the United States Agency for International Development and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries signed in Kampala

28/05/2019

Kampala, 28th May 2019 A Declaration of partnership between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has been signed in Kampala today.

The Declaration was signed by the Rt. Hon. Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda and H.E Deborah Ruth Malac the Ambassador of the United States to Uganda.

The partnership with USAID that is aimed at boosting agricultural development is channeled through the USAID Feed the Future Initiative which sincebeing established in the country, has supported the Ministry on the following among other areas of collaboration.

These are some of the interventions that have been delivered through partnership with USAID which has membership to the Agricultural Sector Working Group that was also formulated on the guidance of the National Development Plan and the Agriculture Sector Strategic Plan (ASSP).

These initiatives have since contributed to the progress delivered within the guidance of the Ministry’s Vision of “A Competitive, Profitable and Sustainable Agricultural Sector.”

Having increased the recruitment of agricultural extension workers to reach the ratio of one extension worker to 1800 farmers as opposed to the ratio of 1:5000 five years ago, the Government of Uganda received support from USAID through Feed the Future to develop updated and adaptive versions of the following:

  1. Extension guidelines for Maize and Beans that were officially launched on the 25th of September 2018 and rolled out to extension workers across the country
  2. the national Action Plan for the Control of Mycotoxins with special focus on aflatoxins that was launched by His Excellency Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi the Vice President on behalf of His Excellency the President on the 31st of October, 2018
  3. the National Agricultural Extension Policy that was launched in December 2016

While the above were delivered through partnership with our scientists in the Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services and Directorate of Crop Resources respectively, USAID has also worked with the Ministry on livestock sector development in the Karamoja sub-region through investments in 

  1. Animal Health on a joint intervention with Makerere University aimed at developing livestock training curriculum for Community Animal Health Workers
  2. Enabling Private Veterinary Service Providers to support the Community Animal Health Workers
  3. Set up of livestock Markets and
  4. Innovative means of preserving fodder

Currently, USAID is supporting the Ministry to develop the National Livestock Policy as well as extension materials on Poultry and Aquaculture and yesterday, the 21st of May 2019, the newly-constructed Regional Biosecurity Diagnostic Laboratory was handed over to the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) by the US Mission.

Notes for editors

About the USAID Feed the Future Initiative

Feed the Future is America’s initiative to combat global hunger. Led by USAID, the initiative brings partners together to address the root causes of hunger and poverty by boosting agriculture-led growth, resilience and nutrition in countries with great need and opportunity for improvement.

Created in the wake of the devastating 2007 and 2008 food price spikes, Feed the Future has since helped millions of people in vulnerable communities around the world reduce hunger and malnutrition, increase their incomes through agriculture, and create economic opportunities both on and off the farm.

Feed the Future helps partner countries accomplish the following:

  • Improve agricultural production and markets and create new opportunities.
  • Strengthen the resilience of communities to shocks.
  • Reduce hunger and improve nutrition, especially among mothers and children.
  • Increase the exchange of ideas, technologies and products that benefit citizens at home and communities abroad.

Learn more about Feed the Future at feedthefuture.gov.

About the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries is a Ministry in the Government of Uganda charged with creating an enabling environment in the Agricultural Sector.

The Ministry formulates, reviews and implement national policies, plans, strategies, regulations and standards and enforce laws, regulations and standards along the value chain of crops, livestock and fisheries.

Vision: A competitive, profitable and sustainable agricultural sector.

Mission: To transform subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.

Strategic Objectives

  • To initiate the formulation and review of the policy and legal framework for the sector
  • To establish and implement systems for service provision in the sector
  • To strengthen and implement strategies, regulatory framework, standards, institutional structures and infrastructure for quality assurance and increased quantities of agricultural products to access and sustain local, regional and export markets
  • To design and implement sustainable capacity building programmes for stakeholders in the agricultural sector through training, re-tooling, infrastructure, provision of logistics and ICT
  • To develop strategies for sustainable food security
  • To develop appropriate agricultural technologies for improved agricultural production, productivity and value addition through research
  • To develop effective collaborative mechanisms with affiliated institutions and
  • To take lead and establish a system and institutional framework for agricultural data collection, analyses, storage and dissemination to stakeholders including Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) is made up of four Directorates including the Directorate of Crop Resources, Directorate of Animal Resources, Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services and the Directorate of Fisheries Resources each with Departments, Divisions and Partnership Projects.

The Departments of the Ministry which do not fall directly in the above include the Department of Agricultural Planning and Development, the Human Resource Department, the Department of Finance and Administration and the Department of Agricultural Infrastructure, Mechanisation and Water for Agricultural Production.

The Ministry is also made up of seven Agencies including the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Cotton Development Organisation (CDO), Dairy Development Authority (DDA), Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and Coordinating Office for the Control of Trypanosomiasis in Uganda (COCTU) and the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank (NAGRC&DB).