Abstract:
This study analyses the way in which stakeholders perceive constraints to agriculture
and soil fertility management, and considers the potential role of key policies on improving agricultural productivity.
Agriculture is of paramount strategic importance to the Ugandan economy,
contributing 60% of GDP and providing employment for 90% of the population
(MAAIF/MFED, 1998). During the 1990s, the agricultural sector grew at an annual rate
of 7% in real terms (MAAIF/MFED, 2000), mainly through the expansion of cultivable
acreage rather than the intensification of agriculture. However, crop yields are falling or
at best stagnating, partly due to declining soil fertility, and levels of poverty in the countryside are high (FAO/World Bank, 1999; Zake, 1992, 1993; UNDP, 1998).