NAADS has little impact on farming productivity - EPRC

National Agricultural Advisory Services has little impact on increasing agricultural productivity in the country because of poor implementation and monitoring.
This has been revealed by a study carried out by Economic Policy Research Centre to find out the impact of the programme on agricultural productivity.

The research, which was carried out in Iganga District by EPRC research fellows, Mr Godfrey Okoboi, Mr Madgidu Nyende, has also found out that the Ministry of Agriculture has a minimal role in the implementation of Naads.

Naads is a government programme put in place to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural extension services. It is a semi-autonomous body formed under the Naads Act of June 2001 with a mandate to develop a demand driven, farmer-led agricultural service delivery system targeting the poor subsistence farmers, with emphasis on women, youth and people with disabilities.

Its development goal is to enhance rural livelihoods by increasing agricultural productivity and profitability in a sustainable manner. The EPRC study findings, which were released on September 2, indicate that there is no significant difference in areas cultivated, output and yield between Naads and non-Naads farmers, with non-Naads farmers getting better profit.

“Overall, the study shows that Naads subsidy has not been effective in increasing income of beneficiaries,” the study reads in part. The research also shows misuse of government funds in Naads. In FY 2007/08, the government provided an additional Shs12 billion for the roll out of Naads to all the districts that have not been covered by the programme. The move saw government total expenditure in Naads reaching Shs60 billion in the FY 2007/08.

In Uganda, the biggest constraints to agricultural production include: crop pests and live stock disease, lack of suitable inputs, appropriate technologies to increase productivity, the vagaries of weather and limited accesses to financial and extension services.

To overcome some of these constraints, the government in the 2009/10 budget of said it will step up measures to improve agricultural production and productivity focus on addressing crop pests and livestock diseases, provision of high yielding seeds and drought resistant planting materials and improve breeding stock support to agricultural mechanisation.

Others include irrigation and agro processing, enforcement of quarantine and other regulatory measures to curb the spread of disease. This move saw the government dishing out another Shs36 to Naads to support the initiatives.

Despite all these efforts, Mr Okoboi said the EPRC study shows that delays in disbursement of funds compromise the arithmetic approach of implementation. “With huge funds to absorb, Naads officials over look the implementation procedures,” he said.

Mr Okoboi stressed that other emerging issues as per the case study are quantity, quality of the goods and services provided by service provider, inputs especially seeds usually given to farmers, way-past optimal planting, while at the same time farmers either keep inputs or sell them.

The poor performance of Naads since its inception has seen President Yoweri Museveni suspending it twice. He first suspended it in 2007 but resumed in 2008 after the Cabinet review.

However, this year in early July president Museveni once again suspended Naads citing mismanagement of the funds. The study recommends restructuring the Ministry of Agriculture, and policy changes in terms of implementation monitoring and evaluation if Naads is to meet its intended goals.