team uganda
TRANSCRIPT
FIELD STUDY: SMALLHOLDER CHALLENGES
Lack of Resources: seed, fertilizer, tools, processing equipment, etc.
Lack of Markets or Market Access
Lots of Agricultural Extension, but limited success: Access to reliable Agricultural Information
Limited Access to Communications Technology
Cultural Perceptions of Farming
CHALLENGE: LACK OF INPUT RESOURCES
What are reliable sources of agricultural inputs? Which to use?
How to finance farm improvements?
Are government agricultural agencies reliable? Who is?
CHALLENGE: AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
CHALLENGE: MARKET ACCESS
Markets may not exist
Smallholders produce too little or too low quality to meet processor needs
High cost of transport - dependence on middlemen
CHALLENGE: PERCEPTION OF FARMING
Respondents mentioned that farming was “digging” and farms were “gardens”
Turning farming from “desperation” to “profitable business”
CHALLENGE: COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
Access to Radio? (ownership, time, etc…)
Access to Cell Phones? (airtime, electricity, etc..)
CASE STUDIES: CURRENT WORK IN UGANDA
Africa Rice Center Videos
Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) Program
Google SMS
Services
Eagle Lager
CASE STUDY #1: AFRICA RICE CENTER - VIDEOS
Agricultural extension through locally produced video – piloting in Hoima, Uganda
Method for addressing the transaction costs of large scale, participatory, face-to-face Agricultural Extension
CASE STUDY #2: COMMUNITY KNOWLEDGE WORKER (CKW) PROGRAM
Attempt to reach smallholders whose information access is limited
Bottleneck: How much information to how many people can a CKW transfer?
CASE STUDY #3: GOOGLE SMS SERVICES
Cell phone based information searches for Health, Agriculture, and Weather
Google Trader: Buy and Sell products using SMS
CASE STUDY #4: EAGLE LAGER
Eagle beer: brewed using local ingredients and grains
Brewery is experimenting with other crops to make even cheaper beer
Michael’s review? Eagle beer is… awful.
SEED IDEAS FOR POSSIBLE PROJECTS
Improved Supply Chain Management
Market Capacity Building
Smarter Agricultural Extension
Better Weather Information
Finance Tracking
Anti-corruption Reporting Tools
Radio Drama
Reality TV Shows (“Pimp My Farm,” “Farm Makeover”)