ANALYING THE SHIFT OF AGRIBUSINESS MODEL IN UGANDA

1. ~Uganda Project on International Agribusiness Initiative Provides A Case Study on Why Integration of ICT Applications in Agribusiness is Important to Enhance Productivity and Standards of Agro-products~ ANALYING THE SHIFT OF AGRIBUSINESS MODEL IN UGANDA • Lubega Ronald • MitomoZemi • May 05, 2013

2. Approach This paper discusses why it is advantageous to integrate ICT in agriculture? To justify reasons for this shift and compare farmers who are using ICT to those whoare not. However we want to know "Who is better off?” Find out what information needs farmers have?

3. Uganda Project on International Agribusiness (With Mothers’ Agribusiness Support Initiative)

4. Project Overview What is the project about? UPIA is a an agribusiness project started by Waseda students by growing maize/corn on 4 hectares of land in 2012 as a pilot project. Early 2013 expanded to 6 hectares of land and started dairy production:40 heifers, poultry:20,000 birds, and pork pork production: 200 pigs. Today, UPIA has created community based farmers networks working with 20 farmers by using ICT tools like radio, mobile phones, computer for data keeping and buys and distributes small scale farmers’ produce. Recently as result from the impact it has had on these communities it was selected by Millennium Promise Japan a Japanese NGO which also operates in Uganda as a one of Agribusiness Model/ pilot project in Uganda with a grant of 50,000 USD. The goal of this project was act as platform and inspire and motivate the youth, women and men about the potential opportunities in agriculture and how they can also take advantage of the existing technology to create an impact in their communities. The scope of this project The Compact Concept: To Promote Forward and Backward Linkages through agribusiness diversification and sustainability.

5. Uganda Project on International Agribusiness Study Objectives 1. Identify key useful result on how to increase quality and quantity of agro-products 2. Analyzing data on impact of empowering and organizing farmers’ structures on community base: Planting, Harvesting, Collection, Value addition, Marketing to help them increase productivity and income while meeting the required standards. 3.To share the success story of Uganda Project on International Agribusiness for future research Purpose of this study: Explaining logically Why, How, Whatquestions by examining importance and effectiveness of ICT integration in agribusiness can add on Uganda socio-economically as farmers struggle to improve productivity and efficiency. Goal This project will introduce new opportunities in integrating ICTs in agribusiness and discuss what kind of challenges farmers face, and benefits from working collectively with small scale farmers through providing them with quality seeds, training them on good practices that can enable increase their productivity and income to over poverty.

6. Thesis Structure Contents Table of Contents Abbreviations Summary Chapter One, Introduction Brief background, research questions, problems, consequences related to the topic. Chapter Two, Literature Review identify relevant & significant research data related to the topic. Chapter Three, Methodology Qualitative Analysis, using primary & secondary collected in form of observations, and experiments from UPIA pilot project case study. Chapter Four, Results Presents findings from data collection process, variables, & measurements in relation to research questions. Chapter Five, Discussion Discuss results from Ch.4, to show the r/ship of the study findings, and limitations Make recommendations for future areas of research Chapter Six, Conclusion Identify critical conclusions about the results: Lessons learned and their implications Style Format Summary Resources (Bibliography) Common Obstacles and Practical Solutions Reflections/ Discussion Questions Try it Exercise Key Terms Web Links

7. A Broader ContextGeneral Problem & consequences related to the topic With a robust growing ICT Sector in Uganda especially in Telecom, and Communication and Information industry, the integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agriculture is increasingly important (FAO, WSIS 2002-2005). Agribusiness is emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agriculture through ICT processes. More specifically, Agribusiness involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to utilize ICT tools and application systems. Supply chains and value addition are the major phases of agribusiness opposed to former from farm to market cycle. The latter involves a sequence of crop cultivation, water management, fertilizer application, fustigation, pests and weds management, harvesting, post-harvesting handling, transportation of products, marketing; processing, preservation and packaging, storage and, quality management, and finally safety standards checks. However, all stake holders of agribusiness need perfect information and knowledge about these phases and means to utilize them efficiently to meet the required standards while increasing return on investment.

8. Although Uganda’s Vision 2040 seeks to transforming Uganda into middle class population through social and economic infrastructure construct, and promotion of industrialization and sustainability to boost the country’s GNP in next three decades, however, according to Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry (2012) “Agriculture is still the most single largest sector and significant component of Uganda’s economy, and it contributes 60 % to national GDP, and absorbs over 66.6% of labor force. Bodies, 80% of the total population of over 34m, of which 24.5% live under the poverty line (World Bank data, 2011). However, National Farmers Federation (NFF), the Coffee Development Authority (CDA), and progrommes like National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) were put in place to aid farmers in order to streamline and commercialize agricultural sector. Despite, the existence of these institutions policies and initiatives implementations, productivity, are still behind and most farmers are still on small scale struggling living a substandard life due to depending mainly on subsistence model of production food household food and sell the surplus.

9. Identified & Observed Issues Affecting Small-scaled Farmers From farm to market • Poor quality produce and fluctuations in total yields • High post-harvest losses • Imperfect information • Lack of entrepreneurial skills to market farm produce • Poor infrastructure • Limited number of farmers associations/ cooperative Types of Technologies that Could be Used • Wireless technologies: closed door circuit TV camera, mobile phone customized text system • Computer controlled devices such as Automatic milking system • Knowledge and Information management system • RFID (Radio Frequency Identification, Denoting technologies that use radio waves to identify people or objects carrying encoded microchips).Wagenignen, 2008

10. Purpose of the Study • To test agribusiness theory in order to determine its usefulness in solving practical problems, methods and analyze and interpret the data (results) each chapter will discuss briefly. • The paper aims at presenting a qualitative research analysis mainly using data will be used to support all arguments based on facts and figures in a very non-biased way to show why this proposal is a necessity for the agribusiness for Uganda’s development in future. • To Identify information needs and ICT tools for farmers.

11. ProposedResearch Questions • What are the major problems hindering the harshening of ICT integration in agribusiness in Uganda? • Why the integration of ICT applications in agribusiness is important? • How best these applications can be leveraged to achieve sustainable supply chains and value addition effect in agribusiness industry?

12. Hypothesizes • Integration of ICT applications causes a synergy effect on agribusiness. • ICT tools are effective in increasing efficiency. • Using ICT reduces global warming.

13. References FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization), 2002.C.7 ICT Applications on E-Agriculture Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry 2012. Wageningen, 2008. EU-Project Automation Milking. UPIA (Uganda project on International Agribusiness), 2011. Pilot project. World Bank data, 2011.The World Development Indicators. WSIS 2003,2005 (The World Summit on Information Societies), in Geneva.

14. Time for Questions & Comments!