Abstract:

Agriculture is the key sector in the economy of Uganda. It provides income to about 78.8% of the rural households and provides approximately 77% of formal sector employment and over 85% of total export earnings. Agriculture contributes about 32% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 88% of the Uganda's population, estimated to be 31 million' (MoFPED, June 2008), living in the rural areas and depending directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods (MAAIF 2006) " . Uganda's major transformation toward economic growth and poverty reduction began in the late 1980s with the adoption of the Vision 2025 Strategy that set the broad national ambitions. The Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) drawn from Vision 2025 outlines the necessary policy actions for social transformation. Pillar 2, of the PEAP recognises that in order to restore growth in the rural incomes, agriculture is the critical sector and government aims at increasing ability of farmers to innovate and adopt new technologies.