Crowdsourcing vegetables for farmers’ livelihood improvement: a novel collaborative pilot in Uganda. Resilient seed systems for climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihoods in the East Africa sub-region project progress report

The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT is implementing a Dutch-supported project entitled: Resilient seed systems for climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihoods in the East Africa sub-region. This work aims to boost timely and affordable access to good-quality seed for a portfolio of crops / varieties for millions of women and men farmers’ and their communities across East Africa. East West Seed (EWS) and the Alliance, in collaboration with the Wageningen Center for Development Innovation, the World Vegetable Centre and National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO)-Uganda, are combining the EWS farmer training approach and the Alliance’s crowdsourcing methodology in a small pilot initiative on vegetables in Uganda. The targeted portfolio of vegetables include traditional (e.g. green leafy vegetables) and modern ones (e.g. tomato, onion, sweet pepper, cabbage, pumpkin) based on farmers’ interests and marketing opportunities, sourced from EWS, the World Vegetable Centre and farmers’ own gardens. The main objective is to strengthen farmers’ capacity to make better use of crop (vegetable) diversity for multiple livelihood purposes. Based on a situational analysis in the Hoima area, 13 farmers were selected to take part in the pilot. They received training in the various aspects of vegetable management from the EWS Knowledge Transfer team in Uganda. The ultimate aim is scale the pilot to about 1,000 farmers. The main research questions for this initiative are: • What are the promising vegetable varieties that smallholder farmers could integrate in their production system? • How do social and gender variables influence crop/variety selection? • What organizational form can best support the testing and adoption of vegetable new species and varieties

Role of 5α-reduced androgens in the ovary

Ovarian androgens are products of steroidogenic processes that are integral to follicular development, which culminates in ovulation. Follicle development involves growth and differentiation of the different follicular cell types. These developments enable maturing follicles to become steroidogenically competent and eventually release mature oocytes capable of fertilisation. The follicular cells involved in steroidogenesis are granulosa (GC) and theca cells (TC). Androgens are synthesised in TC. The main ovarian androgens are androstenedione and testosterone, which are predominandy substrates for aromatisation by GC into oestrogens, the most physiologically important steroids in the female. Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH) regulation of steroid synthesis is well documented. It is now also known that locally produced regulators within the ovary modulate this endocrine control. Autocrine/paracrine control modulates gonadotrophin-induced ovarian proliferation, differentiation and steroidogenesis.This thesis researches steroid 5α-androstanedione (5α-A), a product of dareductive metabolism of androstenedione. 5α-A is an aromatase inhibitor which inhibits oestradiol production, and therefore has a potential intraovarian paracrine role in modulating oestrogen biosynthesis. I investigated whether 5a-A was a product of androstenedione metabolism in the rat ovary, as an animal model. Since 5α-A is a metabolic product of 5α-reductase type 1 (5α-Rl), a steroidogenic enzyme present in human GC and TC, the thesis also describes studies of the localisation and gonadotrophic regulation of 5α-Rl in the rat ovary. Ovarian aromatase expression was also investigated because 5α-Rl activity is associated with inhibition of oestrogen production, which depends on aromatase activity.The metabolism of androstenedione was investigated in in vitro cultures of isolated ovarian GC and TCs. The steroid metabolites were investigated using radiochromatography. In GC cultures, oestradiol was detected among the steroid metabolites, but 5α-A was not. Additional investigations using oestradiol radioimmunoassay (RIA) supported the findings. The lack of a method for measurement of 5α-A led to the development and validation of a new RIA for this purpose. However, the assay crossreacted significantly with androsterone and androstenedione as well as 5α-A. Although thin layer chromatography (TLC) could resolve the steroids, incorporation of the separation technique in the assay of biological samples was problematic due to inconsistent steroid recoveries. Therefore, the assay could only be used to measure total 17keto-androgens (17KAs) in unpurified biological samples.The location of 5α-R1 in the rat ovary was determined to identify the ovarian cell types responsible for 5α-A production. 5α-R1 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein were detected in the theca/interstitial cells (TIC) of the rat ovary, and strongly expressed in immature ovaries. Although 5α-R1 tissue expression pattern was similar, levels were markedly reduced in adult ovaries. Northern analysis and in situ hybridisation (ISH) clearly showed that 5α-R1 mRNA was abundantly expressed in the TIC. Additional evidence by immunocytochemistry (ICC) depicted the same location of 5a-Rl protein. 5a-Rl was not localised in rat GC. The expression of 50C-R1 in the immature rat ovary was developmentally regulated by gonadotrophins because eCG decreased its expression while it was transiently up-regulated by hCG. Because each hormone acts on either granulosa or theca cells in immature ovaries, hCG stimulation of 5CC-R1 expression suggested that LH acts on theca cells to stimulate 5α-R1 expression. ECG down-regulated 5α-R1 expression, suggesting that FSH induced this action by local agents produced in the granulosa cells. These factors are yet to be identified, but this action of FSH indicates a paracrine product of GC that inhibits 5α-R1 expression. ECG and hCG induced developmental changes reflecting the follicular changes that occur before ovulation. The findings, therefore, suggest that FSH, (the secretion of which is known to increase early in follicle development) decreases ovarian 5α-R1 expression. However, expression is stimulated by LH, which rises around the time of ovulation. Hence, 5α-R1 action and 5α-reduced androgen production are reduced when follicle development begins, probably to prevent an inhibitory action on oestrogen synthesis. The transient increase in 5α-R1 around ovulation suggests a regulatory role of 5α-reduced steroids at this stage of follicle development.The location of 5α-R1 in rat TIC indicated that they were the cells of choice for cell culture investigations of 5α-Rl activity. However, repeated attempts to demonstrate 5α-R1 activity in TC in isolated cell cultures were unsuccessful, even though the cited literature reported 5α-Rl activity in rat GC and TC. The results of aromatase investigations were similar to reported findings. Aromatase mRNA was expressed abundantly in the GC of eCG-treated ovaries, but absent in GC of immature or hCG-treated ovaries as well as the TIC. The findings also matched the well-known stimulatory role of FSH on aromatase action.Finally, other investigators had implicated 5CC-A in dysfunctional follicle growth in women presenting with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Therefore, the concluding clinical section of the thesis is devoted to the measurement of 50C-A levels in follicular fluids (FF) obtained from the ovaries of women with normal ovarian function and those with PCOS. Measurements of androstenedione and 50C-A in normal and PCOS FF showed that both androgens were elevated in PCOS subjects, whether ovulatory or anovulatory, compared to normal FF. The findings illustrated abnormal steroid production in PCOS ovaries and are reflective of the characteristic hyperandrogenaemia of the condition.In summary, this is the first definitive description of the spatiotemporal expression of 5α-R1 in the mammalian ovary. 5α-R1 gene expression was located to rat TIC and shown to be regulated developmentally by gonadotrophins. A new RIA was developed and used to measure the 5α-reduced androgens and androstenedione in normal and PCOS FF. These androgens were shown to be elevated in PCOS, where they probably contribute to the local intraovarian paracrine control that impairs oestradiol production in anovulatory PCOS

Dairy farming in Uganda. Production Efficiency and Soil Nutrients under Different Farming Systems

Prior to the 1980s, milk production in Uganda occurred largely in two contrasting production systems. In the wetter parts of the country, especially in the southwest, there were a few large, mostly government-owned commercial dairy farms on which exotic and cross-bred dairy cattle were kept in paddocks and grazed on improved or natural pastures. In the drier eastern and northeastern parts of the country, pastoralists kept large numbers of local cattle breeds, notably the Small East African Zebu (SEAZ), under traditional extensive management systems. Although the pastoralists marketed some milk, most was consumed by the household. Cattle were also valued as an expression of cultural prestige and a means of accumulating capital and meeting planned and emergency expenses. Smallholders, who tended to keep a few low yielding indigenous cattle as well as growing crops, made little contribution to the nation’s marketed milk and were primarily subsistence-oriented

Influence of pregnancy perceptions on patterns of seeking antenatal care among women in reproductive age of Masaka District, Uganda

Maternal mortality remains a challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa including Uganda. Antenatal Care (ANC) is one of the recommended measures to improve maternal and child health. However, the influence of pregnancy definition and perception on patterns of seeking regular and timely antenatal care among women in the reproductive age group (15-49 years) is not known. The objectives of this study were to: (i) understand the women’s social definitions and perceptions on their pregnancy; (ii) understand the socio-cultural beliefs related to pregnancy among women of the reproductive age group; and, (iii) examine the influence of social definitions, perceptions and beliefs about pregnancy on women’s antenatal care seeking behaviour patterns to inform the decentralised health care delivery system in Uganda. A total of 45 women, mothers and expectant women who were purposively selected from Kimanya sub county of Masaka district in Uganda participated in the study. Ten key informant interviews and four Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were also conducted. Key findings indicate that the women’s socio-definitions and perceptions of pregnancy influence their seeking behaviour on antenatal health care.  To the women with a positive orientation towards antenatal care, pregnancy provides joy, happiness, pride, promotes their social status and safe-guards their marriage. Pregnancy is rewarding with care, love, support and gifts. Women who shun antenatal care perceive pregnancy to be a source of misery, sadness, pain and suffering. It is an uncomfortable and regrettable experience. Women also hold socio-cultural beliefs on pregnancy, which are culturally constructed and rooted in taboos, rituals and practices of their communities. It is therefore important to sensitise women and those who attend to them when they are pregnant to understand these perceptions and definitions to motivate them to seek antenatal and postnatal care for better maternal and child health

Development and social policy reform in Uganda: the slow emergence of a social protection agenda (1986-2014)

This paper provides a broad overview of the evolution of development and welfare policy-and the politics surrounding-it in Uganda, but focuses primarily on the increasing prominence of social protection, especially cash transfers, on the domestic political agenda. It analyses both how and why the development and social policy agendas almost fully excluded social protection prior to 2002, but then increasingly embraced it, especially since 2006. Non-contributory social assistance in the form of cash transfers have not traditionally played a significant role in Ugandan development and poverty reduction policy, with policymakers tending to focus on economic growth as a source of prosperity (expected to extend to all sections of society), with opponents seeing cash transfers (and social assistance more broadly) as unaffordable and counter-productive 'hand-outs' that create dependence on the state and disincentivise productive work. From the early 2000s donors, sections of the bureaucracy and civil society promoted cash transfers with limited success. But after 2006, systematic promotion of cash transfers started to bear fruit, and from 2010 a largely donor-funded cash transfer pilot scheme known as the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) programme has been implemented in fourteen districts (with a fifteenth added in 2013). The paper describes the evolution of Ugandan development policy and highlight the political factors that have in the past been obstacles to social protection programmes featuring prominently on the development agenda (including the predominant socio-economic development paradigm, negative elite attitudes, resistance from conservative technocrats and lack of familiarity among key decision-makers) and examine how these have increasingly been overcome by the proponents of social protection. While donors have played a critical role in the promotion of social protection and cash transfers, other actors-including civil society and social development bureaucrats-and macropolitical factors (including electoral competition, changing international development discourse, emerging evidence from other countries, etc.), have also contributed to increased domestic political support. We conclude that the very existence of SAGE and the politics surrounding the pilot indicate a significant change in attitudes among a large proportion of policy-makers, including some historically sceptical technocrats, and political leaders, but that resistance is likely to continue from certain quarters and that the future of cash transfers remains uncertain

Legume Cover Crops are More Beneficial than Natural Fallows in Minimally Tilled Ugandan Soils

It is important to establish the various effects of legume cover crops on soil physicochemical properties because they have been considered for use as improved fallows (with shorter rest periods) to enhance development and maintenance of soil productivity. Our objectives were to assess: (i) aboveground dry matter yields of legume cover crops; and (ii) cover crop effects on weed infestation and soil physicochemical properties in a minimum tillage management system. Trials were conducted for 2 yr at Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute and on farmers’ fields in Mbale and Pallisa districts, eastern Uganda. Th e experiment layout was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in a split-plot arrangement with four replications. Natural and improved fallows were established in the second cropping season of 2004. Cover crops used in the improved fallows included mucuna [Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.var. utiliz], Dolichos lablab (Lablab vulgaris Savi cv. Rongai), canavalia [Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC.], and crotalaria (Crotalaria paulina Schrank). The fallows were reestablished in the same plots in the second cropping season of 2005 aft er maize (Zea mays L.). Canavalia yielded significantly more dry matter than the other fallows regardless of year or site. With an average yield of 169 kg N ha–1 canavalia accumulated significantly more N than the other fallows; all improved fallows produced significantly more N than the natural fallow. Canavalia also accumulated significantly more P than the other fallows; all improved fallows, with the exception of crotalaria, accumulated more P than the natural fallow. There was no significant change in soil physicochemical properties by the improved fallows. All effects considered, improved fallows were more beneficial than natural fallow. A significant improvement in soil physicochemical properties using legume cover crops might be possible, though it may require more than the two cropping cycles used in this study of degraded soils

Legume Cover Crops are More Beneficial than Natural Fallows in Minimally Tilled Ugandan Soils

It is important to establish the various effects of legume cover crops on soil physicochemical properties because they have been considered for use as improved fallows (with shorter rest periods) to enhance development and maintenance of soil productivity. Our objectives were to assess: (i) aboveground dry matter yields of legume cover crops; and (ii) cover crop effects on weed infestation and soil physicochemical properties in a minimum tillage management system. Trials were conducted for 2 yr at Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute and on farmers’ fields in Mbale and Pallisa districts, eastern Uganda. Th e experiment layout was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in a split-plot arrangement with four replications. Natural and improved fallows were established in the second cropping season of 2004. Cover crops used in the improved fallows included mucuna [Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.var. utiliz], Dolichos lablab (Lablab vulgaris Savi cv. Rongai), canavalia [Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC.], and crotalaria (Crotalaria paulina Schrank). The fallows were reestablished in the same plots in the second cropping season of 2005 aft er maize (Zea mays L.). Canavalia yielded significantly more dry matter than the other fallows regardless of year or site. With an average yield of 169 kg N ha–1 canavalia accumulated significantly more N than the other fallows; all improved fallows produced significantly more N than the natural fallow. Canavalia also accumulated significantly more P than the other fallows; all improved fallows, with the exception of crotalaria, accumulated more P than the natural fallow. There was no significant change in soil physicochemical properties by the improved fallows. All effects considered, improved fallows were more beneficial than natural fallow. A significant improvement in soil physicochemical properties using legume cover crops might be possible, though it may require more than the two cropping cycles used in this study of degraded soils

Categorisation of dairy production systems: A strategy for targeting meaningful development of the systems in Uganda

Dairy production is a major contributor towards national economies and household food security and incomes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Milk production in the region is estimated at 1.27 million metric tonnes year-1. However, this level of milk production is inadequate for the existing human population who would require 103 million metric tonnes year-1. In Uganda, milk production only meets approximately 20% of the population's nutritional requirements. As such, methods need to be sought to increase milk production in the region. Research efforts have made strides in identifying the causes of the production-demand gap in the SSA region and a spectrum of interventions to bolster the productivity. Unfortunately, these efforts have by far yielded insignificant results. First and foremost, for exploiting the full potential of the dairy cattle population in the region, among the critical elements often overlooked in research and development processes is the recognition of systematic parametric variations within the sector, which if considered could provide entry-points for targeting intervention efforts. One such high potential entry-point is the recognition of the existence of a dairy intensification "vector" across a country or region, along which exist sections with sequentially marked nuclei of fairly uniform socio-economic and biophysical dairy sub-systems features. To enhance the process of targeting research and development in the Ugandan dairy sector, dairy production systems in the country were categorised on basis of level of intensification of production. Data were collected from 300 households in Mbarara, Masaka and Jinja districts in Uganda. The major variables derived from the data for the categorisation process were those related with milk production, expenditure, income, land area and cattle herds. The data was subjected to a cluster analysis which although produced 16 groups only five had prominent membership (above 5% of the farms). The five major clusters were selected as representative of the dairy production systems. A ranking system was used to develop an intensification continuum for the 5 systems. Herding-on own and communal land (cluster 9) was the least intensive, this was followed by Herding-mainly on own land (cluster 12) and Fenced (cluster 8) respectively. Semi-Zero Grazing (cluster 15) and Zero Grazing (cluster 13) were the most intensive dairy production systems with the latter being at the highest end of the continuum