Abstract:

The World Bank — IDA support to NARO Phase II ended in June 2007. The extension
phase of the support ended in June 2009. During the entire period NARO implemented more
than 171 projects addressing constraints and opportunities in the crops, fisheries, forestry and
livestock subsectors. The projects were designed to increase the contribution of the agricultural
sector to the Poverty Eradication Action (PEAP) of the Government of Uganda through its
contribution to the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA). The achievements, including
the outputs, outcomes, impacts, and challenges/lessons are summarized below.
Assessment of implementation against target indicated that by end of June 2009 NARO
had completed 47.3 % of the projects; resulting into more than 200 technologies, management
practices and documented pieces of knowledge. An additional output was an institutionally and
organizationally reformed structure of NARO for effective and efficient research service delivery
by the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS). The technology outputs include 85
crops varieties, one adaptable free poultry breed (the SAARI chicken); and one tree provenance
(Clonal Eucalyptus). Management practices were pest and disease controls methods and
sustainable management practices in crops, livestock and fisheries. Notable cases were: (1)
agronomic practices for each crop variety released; (2) cultural control methods for banana
bacterial wilt and banana weevil; (3) agronomic practices for: a) seed-potato and ware-potato
production, (b) cereal-legume intercrops (push and pool) for Striga control in maize; c)
biological control methods for water hyacinth, Cypress aphids, Pine Wooly aphids, maize stem
borers, citrus wooly whitefly, and cotton pests.
Livestock technologies included: (1) fodder bank technologies and feeding management
packages e.g.: (a) grass/legume- mix, crop residues, and hedge-rows, (b) strategic feed
supplements .e.g. (i) molasses urea blocks(ii) calliandra leaf hays (iii) vine supplements for
weaning rations; and (c) decision support tools for optimal feed resource utilization (NUTBAL)
and livestock early warning systems (LEWS) for monitoring impending nutritional stress. (2)
Livestock disease control packages including: e.g. (a) a suite of putative indigenous technical
knowledge for the control of ticks and tick-borne diseases, (b) thermostable vaccines for New
Castle disease control in free range production systems, (c) community based packages for tsetse
control; (d) Muguga cocktail for the control of ticks and tick-borne diseases.
Outputs from the fisheries sector include: (1) aquaculture technologies including: (a) fish
species for :aquaculture systems; (b) fish feeds and feeding calendar for optimum pond yields (c)
pond construction and management advisories (d) cage culture management of aquaculture
development in open water bodies; (e) policy advisories for capture fisheries management at
community/watershed, national and regional levels (f) cataraman fishing gears for deep waterharvesting of mukene. During ARTP II NARO also contributed to the global knowledge pool. Available records
indicate NARO scientists generated 116 publications, 52% of which were international refereed
journals.
A number of studies including the end of project evaluation depicted various levels of
outcomes and impacts of investments in research. In the cereals, the supply of improve maize
varieties to the seed supply chain increased exponentially by an average of 29% per annum from
the 1995 baseline of 320 to 5,700 tons in 2008 (NACRRI, 200925). Hectarage under upland rice
cultivation increased by six-folds in six years (2002:2008), triggering a ten-fold increase in
investments in the agro-processing sector within three years (2004-2007); resulting into an
estimated US$ 30 million in rice import substitution(URA 2007 cited in NACRRI, 2009).
Sorghum breeding programs generated malt quality sorghum varieties thus linking sorghum
farming systems to the brewery industry.
Among the non-starchy staples, mosaic resistant cassava varieties averted famine in
northern and eastern Uganda; saving the national economy an estimated US$ 60 million per
annum (Bua et al, 1995). Yield losses associated with Banana Bacterial Wilt and resultant food
crisis valued at US$ 360 million (Nansubuga, 200926) have also been temporarily averted using
cultural methods, pending the development of resistant varieties as a sustainable solution to the
problem. Agronomic practices for seed-potato and ware-potato provides the technology
backbone of value chain that links 60 farmers to a multi-national food chain (NANDOS). A
number of bean varieties were generated to address different agro-ecologies and market
preferences. The range in adoption rates was 20-80% depending on the agro-ecologies and
market preferences. However the yield and production increase (37%) associated with the
adoption was considered suboptimal due partial adoption of management packages required for
optimum performances of the crop varieties (Bashasha, 2009)27
In the livestock sector, community based tsetse control was reporting to increase milk
yield and calf growth while reducing herd mortality in 67, 30, and 54 % of households
respectively. Fodder bank technologies increased milk yield by 30% in 92 % of the households
in the project area; 7% of the benefits was attributed to multipurpose tree component of the
fodder hank. The SAARI chicken was adopted by 79.3% of the households in northern and
eastern Uganda; resulting into increased consumption of eggs (by 150%) and chicken meat (by
167%). Income from the sales of live birds and eggs increased by approximately US$ 200 and
US$ 11 respectively, demonstrating the potential of free range poultry enterprise in rural poverty reduction programs. Under the forestry sector, the most conspicuous achievement has been the development and transfer of clonal eucalyptus to relevant agro-ecologies; and recovery of plantation forest cover arising from successful biological control of Cypress and Pine Woolly aphids.
Consequently hectarage under the clonal eucalyptus provenance has been increasing
exponentially up to over 2000 hectares over the last seven years. However this achievement is
shrouded with controversies over the role of eucalyptus in the depletion of renewable water
reservoirs in fragile ecosystems. On the other hand the successful introduction, evaluation and
deployment of biological control agents against Cypress and Pine Wooly aphids, have stimulated
private sector interest in plantation forest production. Consequently more than 10,000 ha of
commercial forest plantations were established over the last four years. Over 5000 ha of small
scale plantation forests have been established over the same period. Under the Central Forest
Reserve Program of the National Forest Authority (NFA) a number of Companies has planted
approximately 12,000 ha under the land lease system (NAFORRI, 200929).
Much of the outputs from the fisheries sector were knowledge to inform policies and
10.
institutional support to the beach management units. These policy advisories have been used in
promoting compliance to capture fisheries management at national and regional levels through
the beach management units. Knowledge of the threat to capture fisheries has been used to
inform the policy emphasis on aquaculture development.
II.
ARTP II was characterized by reforms in the agricultural sector in Uganda. The first
major reform arising from the review of ARTP I was the establishment of the Directorate of
Outreach with six Agricultural Research and Development Centers as a mechanism of
decentralizing research service delivery. This was followed by the NARS reform that broadened
the organizational scope of NARO beyond the traditional public sector; separated funding from
service delivery; established PARIs as semi-autonomous entities in the NARS; and established
the Council as the Apex Body in the NARS executing its functions through NARO Secretariat.
As an intermediate outcome of the reform, NARO Secretariat became a non-partisan institution
whose role was limited to guidance, coordination, procurement of service providers and quality
assurance, as the Executive arm of the Council; and on behalf of the National Council of Science
and Technology. As a pluralistic institution in the NARS, NARO Council has approved 17
PARIs, six universities, nine Private Sector and Civil Society Organizations including Farmers'
Groups for registration with the organization pending ratification of the statutory instrument. The
ARDCs were elevated to equal status with the National Agricultural Research Institutes as Zonal
Agricultural Research Institutes (ZARDIs). Basket funding modality was adopted, though the
project funding modality under IDA continues, pending completion of the Development Sector
Investment Plan (DSIP) of MAAIF. A total of 44 Competitive Grant projects were implemented
and completed at an investment cost of US$ 2.5 million. Management and Organization
structures of PARIs including NAROSEC have been completed.
One of the conspicuous outcomes of institutional reform was shift in budgetary allocation
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from research and outreach to institutional reform processes. Consequently approximately 50%
of the projects were not completed by the end of the project period. Variance analysis of
expenditure indicated under-expenditure of 7.5 and 19.9 % in Technology Development and
Outreach respectively. Within technology development component there were budgetary shifts
One of the outcomes of establishing ZARDIs was partnership arrangements through
which the ZARDIs implemented at least 48 collaborative projects with Community based
organizations, Farmers' Groups; National and International NG0s; Local Governments; National
and Regional NARIs, the Private Sector; and Religion Organizations. ZARDIs conducted at
least 139 adaptive research trials in which 473 technologies combinations were tested; and from
which 178 technologies were found to be ecologically suitable to the respective zones. Fifty one
percent of these were adopted across the seven zones.
Empirical data on returns to investment in the development in various value chains are
scanty. Ex-post impact assessment results using sample commodities indicated positive internal
rates of return to investments in research of: 175, 102, 18, 112, 142 and 38% for cassava, maize,
sweet potato, solanum potato, groundnuts and beans respectively (Bashasha, 2009).
ARTPP II experience indicated a number of challenges and lessons for the next phase.
The major technological challenges are the emerging pest and disease phenomena. The spread of
Cassava Brown Streak Virus (CBSV) is threatening to negate the outcomes and impact of
ACMV resistant varieties. Napier Stunt Disease (NSD) has expanded beyond the Lake Crescent
with no potential solution in site. This situation has provoked the demand for alternative fodder
base for smallholder dairy system, in lieu of a sustainable solution to the problem. The
complexity associated with multiple traits calls for novel breeding approaches to deal with
disease, fertility and market attributes in bean variety development. Aflatoxin contamination in
maize and groundnuts are public health concerns that hamper commercialization of the value
chain.
Availability of feed resources in adequate quantities and quality, especially during dry
periods, is the single most important constraint to production across all livestock production
systems. The intensity of the problem is accentuated by the variety and complexity of challenges
in various production systems. NARO needs to address the capacity gap in econometric
modeling as an integral component of the tool kits used in conventional advisory service delivery.
Major diseases affecting livestock production and marketing include parasitic, respiratory,
and tick-borne diseases, particularly theileriosis, CBPP, Rift Valley fever (RVF), Swine flu, Bird
flu virus and trypanosomosis which are attaining emerging epizootic proportions and require
considerable effort to keep them away from the farming communities. Farmers still consider that
the cost of a number of management packages for endemic vector borne diseases to be beyond
economic limits of poor households. The challenge could be associated with mindset changes;
or need to exploit the opportunities that etlmo-veterinary medicine offers to farmers as recourse
to conventional veterinary practice. The limiting factor is inadequate infrastructure for bio
prospecting in the NARS.
The analysis of outcomes from institutional reforms depicted the following challenges: