By Abdulkarim Ssengendo
District local governments in Southwestern Uganda, in partnership with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, have commissioned a dairy agricultural installation to improve the productivity of 15,000 smallholder farmers in the region.
The facilities, worth sh19b, were delivered by the SNV Uganda Integrated Smallholder Dairy Programme (ISDAP), a three-year project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
They included forage nurseries, rainwater harvesting systems, forage cutters and demonstration gardens.
The multi-billion projectwill be implemented across 12 districts in the region, including Kabarole, Kyenjojo, Bunyangabu and Fort Portal City in Rwenzori sub-region, Rubirizi, Bushenyi and Buhweju in Ankole and Kisoro, Kabale, Rubanda, Rukungiri, and Rukiga in Kigezi sub-region.
Last week, local government leaders from the beneficiary districts and SNV officials signed agreements to support the programme in the area.
The project targets smallholder dairy farmers to boost their skills, knowledge and incomes, generate employment and milk marketing opportunities, and also ensure household food security.
Smallholder farmers play a crucial role in Uganda’s agricultural landscape, accounting for about 90% of animal and crop production.
Typically, managing up to maximum six acres of land, owning 1-2 cows and other animals, and engaging in subsistence production.
Speaking at the ceremony, Jennifer Oyuru, the assistant commissioner of agricultural extension and skills management at the agriculture ministry, called on leaders in the region to continue mobilising farming communities and enhancing their capacity in agricultural information.
Oyuru also emphasised the ongoing efforts by the ministry to digitise agricultural extension services and other related projects.
Highlighting the achievements of the programme’s first year, Martin De Jong, the SNV project manager, said they have profiled over 22,000 farmers and reached 5,300 individuals, established 230 village learning groups, and formed over 20 village milk marketing groups to encourage collective marketing.
In Rwenzori region, where the project has reached the most farmers, 112 village learning groups with over 2,500 members have been established to improve farm productivity.
Phomolo Maphosa, the country director of SNV Uganda, emphasised the organisation’s dedication to exclusivity in dairy farming interventions, stating, “To ensure proper sub-sector transformation, we realised the need to make our interventions more inclusive, particularly for smallholder farmers. Therefore, the ISDAP was designed to enable smallholder dairy farmers to enhance their incomes, create employment opportunities and ensure household food and nutrition security.”
