Towards Improved Farmer Access to Agricultural Information in Uganda – the Question and Answer Service (QAS) Voucher System (VS)
Input for this current project was gathered by REN during the introduction of the QAS Voucher System to Uganda. This project will directly target 300 small-scale farmers in 3 districts. Results will be broadcasted by rural radio to an estimated audience of 2 million farmers in English and three local languages, namely Luganda, Luo and Runyakitara. The radio programs will be uploaded onto the Internet on a website that will be developed fot the project (http://cta.isicad.org ) and CTA’s virtual library - Anancy. Information archives will be developed and managed by farming communities at each of the project sites (annex VIII). Copies will also be kept by CTA’s QAS national coordinating partner in Uganda – NARO ARIS. In comparison to the pilot phase of the project in Uganda ( in 2005), this phase will include the dissemination of results via rural radio to further enhance the cost benefit ratio of the service. Best practices and approaches for the project will be shared and replicated at national and regional levels.
Three hundred (300) vouchers representing 300 new questions will be handed out by the Field Agents (FAs) to small-scale farmers. Gender equity will be observed when distributing vouchers. Distribution will be based upon the demographics of the project regions to ensure gender equity. REN will report on this in reports submitted to CTA. Vouchers will be distributed by farmers representing different production systems.
1. Project Background / Justification
1.1 National Context
Over 88% of Uganda’s population earn their livelihood from agriculture. The majority of the country’s people live in abject poverty. The Government has adopted policies which aim at reducing poverty levels to 10% by 2017. A key element to improving agricultural production is the timely provision of accurate information in response to questions asked by end users of agricultural information.
Access to agricultural information is still a challenge among farmers in most of the country. This lack of access to timely and relevant information has contributed to problems like low soil fertility leading to low productivity, low incomes and food insecurity.
A number of initiatives have come up to address these problems such as village telecentres, agricultural advisory services, rural radio, and village phones. These initiatives provide farmers with agricultural information. To be able to reach more farmers, it is important that complementary approaches such as the QAS VS for promoting farmer access to relevant agricultural information are exploited.
1.2 Background of the Question and Answer Service (QAS), Voucher System (VS)
This proposal aims to improve farmers’ access to information through a QAS Voucher System. A voucher is a request form that is handed out to a farmer. It entitles the farmer to submit an information request that addresses his/her problem and in return receive a response from an expert. It is a practical way of drawing out and addressing farmers’ information needs and ensures that the service is truly demand driven.
The present QAS VS and the Rural Universe Network (RUN) system which supports it were initially developed by BLE (ISICAD) in collaboration with partners in Jamaica [CABI/Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS)], South Africa [Agriculture Research Council (ARC)] and Benin [Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Benin (INRAB)] in the framework of a research project which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF; 2000 to 2003).
Together with CTA, BLE (ISICAD) extended the QAS voucher system to additional farming communities in Benin. These were five communities in Dassa, Allada, Natitingou, Porto-Novo, and Parakou. 420 individual farmers were reached during the project within a radius of about 20km.
Due to the decentralised nature of the QAS VS, CTA & BLE (ISICAD) noted that accounting and controlling would become a limiting factor when further up-scaling the service. CTA and BLE (ISICAD) thus developed an accounting and controlling module for the RUN platform during the Benin project (2004-2005)
Presently approximately 1000 farmers have benefited directly from the voucher service. Reports on vouchers sponsored with CTA support are available at the Centre. Many more farmers have benefited indirectly through local communication and via the Internet. Comments and requests for information continue to be published on the RUN platform. Reports from these projects show that there is a direct positive correlation between farmers’ productivity and their ease of access to relevant agricultural information.
1.3 The QAS Voucher System in Uganda
This QAS VS up scaling project in Uganda will capitalize on the experience gained during the CTA supported QAS voucher system projects carried out in Benin, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia between 2004 and 2006. During the introductory phase of the QAS in Uganda, CTA supported the successful implementation of the project in 2 districts i.e. Kayunga and Mukono in Central Uganda. During the introductory phase of the project, REN involved farmers from its network in the project. The pilot project was implemented in 2006 and benefited forty (40) farmers. The current proposed project is in line with the roadmap that was developed to upscale the QAS VS in East Africa at the CTA QAS Planning Workshop held in Nairobi in March 2005.
Input for this current project was gathered by REN during the introduction of the QAS Voucher System to Uganda. This project will directly target 300 small-scale farmers in 3 districts. Results will be broadcasted by rural radio to an estimated audience of 2 million farmers in English and three local languages, namely Luganda, Luo and Runyakitara. The radio programs will be uploaded onto the Internet on a website that will be developed fot the project (http://cta.isicad.org ) and CTA’s virtual library - Anancy. Information archives will be developed and managed by farming communities at each of the project sites (annex VIII). Copies will also be kept by CTA’s QAS national coordinating partner in Uganda – NARO ARIS. In comparison to the pilot phase of the project in Uganda ( in 2005), this phase will include the dissemination of results via rural radio to further enhance the cost benefit ratio of the service. Best practices and approaches for the project will be shared and replicated at national and regional levels.
Three hundred (300) vouchers representing 300 new questions will be handed out by the Field Agents (FAs) to small-scale farmers. Gender equity will be observed when distributing vouchers. Distribution will be based upon the demographics of the project regions to ensure gender equity. REN will report on this in reports submitted to CTA. Vouchers will be distributed by farmers representing different production systems.
1. Project Background / Justification
1.1 National Context
Over 88% of Uganda’s population earn their livelihood from agriculture. The majority of the country’s people live in abject poverty. The Government has adopted policies which aim at reducing poverty levels to 10% by 2017. A key element to improving agricultural production is the timely provision of accurate information in response to questions asked by end users of agricultural information.
Access to agricultural information is still a challenge among farmers in most of the country. This lack of access to timely and relevant information has contributed to problems like low soil fertility leading to low productivity, low incomes and food insecurity.
A number of initiatives have come up to address these problems such as village telecentres, agricultural advisory services, rural radio, and village phones. These initiatives provide farmers with agricultural information. To be able to reach more farmers, it is important that complementary approaches such as the QAS VS for promoting farmer access to relevant agricultural information are exploited.
1.2 Background of the Question and Answer Service (QAS), Voucher System (VS)
This proposal aims to improve farmers’ access to information through a QAS Voucher System. A voucher is a request form that is handed out to a farmer. It entitles the farmer to submit an information request that addresses his/her problem and in return receive a response from an expert. It is a practical way of drawing out and addressing farmers’ information needs and ensures that the service is truly demand driven.
The present QAS VS and the Rural Universe Network (RUN) system which supports it were initially developed by BLE (ISICAD) in collaboration with partners in Jamaica [CABI/Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS)], South Africa [Agriculture Research Council (ARC)] and Benin [Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Benin (INRAB)] in the framework of a research project which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF; 2000 to 2003).
Together with CTA, BLE (ISICAD) extended the QAS voucher system to additional farming communities in Benin. These were five communities in Dassa, Allada, Natitingou, Porto-Novo, and Parakou. 420 individual farmers were reached during the project within a radius of about 20km.
Due to the decentralised nature of the QAS VS, CTA & BLE (ISICAD) noted that accounting and controlling would become a limiting factor when further up-scaling the service. CTA and BLE (ISICAD) thus developed an accounting and controlling module for the RUN platform during the Benin project (2004-2005)
Presently approximately 1000 farmers have benefited directly from the voucher service. Reports on vouchers sponsored with CTA support are available at the Centre. Many more farmers have benefited indirectly through local communication and via the Internet. Comments and requests for information continue to be published on the RUN platform. Reports from these projects show that there is a direct positive correlation between farmers’ productivity and their ease of access to relevant agricultural information.
1.3 The QAS Voucher System in Uganda
This QAS VS up scaling project in Uganda will capitalize on the experience gained during the CTA supported QAS voucher system projects carried out in Benin, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia between 2004 and 2006. During the introductory phase of the QAS in Uganda, CTA supported the successful implementation of the project in 2 districts i.e. Kayunga and Mukono in Central Uganda. During the introductory phase of the project, REN involved farmers from its network in the project. The pilot project was implemented in 2006 and benefited forty (40) farmers. The current proposed project is in line with the roadmap that was developed to upscale the QAS VS in East Africa at the CTA QAS Planning Workshop held in Nairobi in March 2005.