Demand-driven and Cost Effective Production: What the Farmers Ought to know. A case of Local Chicken Enterprise in Masindi District-Uganda

Most African communities depend on agriculture for both income generation and food security and yet farming has faced and is still confronted with a lot of production and market related hardships. Despite all these constraints, farmers are stuck on agriculture as it’s the only definite way of earning a living. The mistake farmers and other agricultural practitioners continuously make is to produce first and look for the market later. This is where buyers and the middle men in particular exploit and a conclusion is eventually made by the producer that,” there is no money in agriculture.” Farmers including those who want to reap from agriculture need to first change their attitudes towards it and secondly produce what the markets are demanding at particular point in time. This therefore calls for institutionally guided farmer market research, enterprise selection, experimentation and enterprise development. Farmers can only benefit from agricultural production after carefully understanding what the buyer wants as in the type of the commodity, size, quantity, quality, frequency of supply, conditions of supply and the price the buyer is willing to offer among others. Where the selected enterprise has very high costs of production, the farmer should minimize costs buy substituting some inputs with local materials and also negotiate for a premium price and sign contracts with the buyers. Two farmer research groups in Masindi district in Uganda went through the above processes and have got success stories to tell.Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Relationship between Social Capital and Livelihood Enhancing Capitals among Smallholder Farmers in Uganda

Social capital is an important characteristic of a community and is one of the components of the asset pentagon of the sustainable livelihood framework. The study aimed at assessing the levels and dimensions of social capital and how social capital influences other livelihood capitals. A Cross-sectional survey of a random sample of 208 households was conducted in Masindi and Hoima Districts in Uganda to assess the current livelihood conditions and strategies for improving rural livelihoods. An Index of social capital was generated using density of group membership and three levels of social capital where generated i.e. high, medium and low. Two dimensions of social capital (bonding and bridging) were considered. Results showed that households with high and medium social capital had enhanced skills to solve problems, do research and bargain with middle men. Social capital empowered more women to participate in decision making, fostered asset base creation and use of natural resource management technologies. There was a significant difference between level of social capital and participation in collective farming. Households with high social capital rated highly the community level of trust, reciprocity, and women’s confidence. However, there was no significant effect of social capital on household income. In conclusion, there was a positive relationship between level and dimension of social capital and access to livelihood assets implying that strengthening social capital is a powerful way to improve communities and requires consistent and effective approaches to build and reinforce the social and human capital.Relationship, Social Capital, Livelihood Capitals, Smallholder Farmers, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital, Marketing, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Gender and livestock : issues, challenges and opportunities

This brief is an excerpt from the book ‘Bridging the Gender Gap: Women, Livestock Ownership and Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa’, produced by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) with funding from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (www.idrc.ca). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ILRI or IDRC. This is one of a series of six briefs on livestock and gender, designed and produced by WRENmedia (www.wrenmedia.co.uk) for IDRC

Engage, enhance and empower : research that makes a difference for African women

The Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF) specifically targets women smallholder farmers as agents of change. Over the last three years, research has directly benefited and engaged over 28,000 farmers: 15,000 female and 13,000 male farmers. This series of “Stories of Change” demonstrates that research is making a difference. CIFSRF research engages with both men and women, enhances their access to assets, resources and innovations, increases their income, and improves the quality of their diets and investments. By focusing on both women and men farmers, there is a faster uptake and a better return on research-for-development dollars