Uganda - Second Agricultural Research and Training Project

Report No. PID8041 Project Name Uganda-Second Agricultural Research and... Training Project (ARTP II) Region Africa Sector Agriculture Project ID UGPA59127 Borrower Republic of Uganda Implementing Agency National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) Dr. Joseph Mukiibi, Director General P. 0. Box 296 Entebbe, Uganda Tel. 256-41-321431 Fax. 256-41-321070 Date PID Prepared March 1998 Projected Appraisal Date November 1998 Projected Board Date May 1999 1. Country and Sector Background: Uganda, with a per capita income of about $320 per annum is among the poorest countries in the world. After the end of the civil war in 1987, the Government has been implementing both a reconstruction program and an economic reform program. Both efforts have been successful. Economic growth has averaged 5.6 percent a year. Eight percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was recorded in 1994, the highest in twenty years. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy accounting for 41 percent of the GDP and over 90 percent of the exports since 1990. Eighty nine percent of the population is rural, and 80 percent of the employed household population is engaged in agriculture. Agricultural output comes most exclusively from about 2.5 million smallholder farmers; 80 percent of them have less than 2 hectares of land each. Only tea and sugar are grown in large estates. The agriculture sector has grown rapidly in recent years. It increased from a 0.1 percent average annual growth rate between 1983/84 and 1986/87 to an average annual growth of 5.6 percent between 1987/88 and 1989/90. This significant improvement is partly due to the end of the armed conflict, the restoration of peace and order in the country, and partly due to the implementation of a sound economic reform program. The performance of the sector in subsequent years, i.e., 1990/91 to 1993/94 slowed to an average growth of 3.5 percent per annum due to drought and recovered in 1998 to 8.1 percent from 1.9 percent during the previous year. 2. Output, especially of food crops, has steadily increased but the rate of growth has been slowing as the limits set by existing income and technology levels are being approached. Several strategies, including national research and extension programs, are currently being pursued to shift the technology and income frontiers, but the pace of progress is impeded by institutional capacity constraints. The two decades of instability and mismanagement have led to human capital flight (from both the private and public sectors), and a deterioration in the public sector's performance. 3. The National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) is primarily  responsible for agricultural research and development in Uganda. It works closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) which is the primary agency with responsibilities for animal health, farmer training, regulatory and promotional services, and providing oversight for the extension services being implemented through the district. Other public and private agencies are involved in forestry, environmental issues, cooperatives, and marketing of specific crops. Coordination among the various sectoral agencies is less than optimal, mainly because of capacity constraints, poor facilities and distorted incentives at various levels. 4. Project Objectives: The Agricultural Research and Training Project - Phase II (ARTP II) would be the second phase in a long-term program of assistance to agricultural research in Uganda and would continue to support technology development and dissemination, consistent with the Government's Policy on Poverty Eradication and the Plan for the Modernization of Agriculture (PMA). The development objectives of the project would be to increase the efficiency and productivity of the dominant crop, livestock, fisheries and forestry farming systems of Uganda; increase farm household income and improve family welfare; and enhance the management of natural resources for the protection of the environment. The specific objectives of the project would be to: (a) transfer relevant technologies and indigenous knowledge, and improved cultural practices to farmers' fields, and promote their adoption, (b) ensure that technologies being developed are addressing actual problems of farmers, (c) establish and operate the zonal agricultural research and development centers, (d) reinforce NARO's technical and in-service training support for the district-level extension services; and (e) strengthen NARO's effectiveness and efficiency in technology transfer, including smallholder seed production and distribution systems, integrated pest management, and soil fertility and management. 5. Project Description: The project would provide support for technology development and adaptation programs required to increase production and incomes of smallholder farmers, expand NARO's outreach, extension and technology dissemination functions, and further institutional development and reforms of the national agricultural research system to strengthen NARO's role in technology transfer and dissemination to give greater attention to the transfer and adoption of superior technologies. During the initial years of project implementation, emphasis will be given to strengthening NARO's capacity to monitor, evaluate and determine economic impact of improved technologies, develop and refine the implementation strategy for the outreach/technology dissemination program. National and district level consultations will take stock of the priority constraints of the dominant production systems of Uganda, and identification of on-the-shelf technologies or indigenous knowledge to address these constraints. The project would finance procurement of goods, services and civil works, demand driven training, and incremental operating costs. 6. Project Financing: Project costs are tentatively estimated at about US$40 million. IDA would finance 90 percent of the estimated project costs, and the Government would finance the balance of 10 percent. The possibility of parallel financing by other donors for some of the components will be explored. -2-  7. Participatory Approaches: Project preparation will follow a participatory process to ensure full Government ownership. The proposed project will be designed by a Ugandan project preparation team comprising senior officials from NARO, Ministry of Finance, Makerere University and the MAAIF. The national project preparation team was involved in the preparation of the project concept document and the project appraisal document. A consultation with stakeholders will be carried out to validate project activities and identify priority areas that require attention. During project implementation, stakeholders will be involved in determining the work program and budget of research institutes and centers, and in identifying assistance that would be required by the district extension services. 8. Project Implementation: The arrangements in place under ARTP will be appropriately modified to accommodate the emerging zonal institutional structure, national coordination of extension, decentralized research management, and coordination of donors. The Director General (DG) of NARO, reporting to the NARO Board, would be the manager and coordinator of the national research program financed by the Government and various donors. The DG will be assisted by a project management team (PMT), comprising representatives from NARO operating units, in planning project activities, implementation, monitoring and reporting of progress, of all agricultural research programs/projects of the Uganda National Agricultural Research System (NARS). The PMT would provide general oversight over the national research programs, deal with routine matters, and advise the DG of implementation issues that require immediate attention. Representatives from MAAIF, donors and other stakeholders will be invited to PMT meetings as necessary. 9. Project Sustainability: In broad terms, sustainability of agricultural research in Uganda depends on a continuation of the country's transformation to a market-oriented economy, and the concomitant realignment of the roles of the public and private sectors in research. An essential aspect of sustainability will be the growing role of commodity groups in providing research funds on a contract basis, and expanding base of extra-budgetary incomes raised from cess/levies, enhanced incomes generated by sale of station farm produce and services and incomes raised through the NARO's consultancy services group. NARO also proposes to pilot formulation of appropriate cost-sharing arrangements with clients who will be involved in identification of problems and research priorities in dominant production systems of essential food crops and other strategic commodities. Under the proposed project, NARO will undertake a feasibility study for the establishment of an endowment fund for research using IDA funds, government and bilateral donor contributions, levies/cesses on export crops, and income generated by NARO. The Fund's income would provide incremental funding for recurrent operations and the ARDF. 10. Lessons Learned from Past Operations: There are several important lessons learned from implementing ARTP and a number of agricultural research and extension projects in Uganda and in neighboring countries. Some of these are: (a) an enabling environment and a transparent incentive/reward system are required to make researchers productive; (b) the concentration of research institutes and centers in a particular part of the country, quite distant from most of the farmers spread over all the agroecological zones, has resulted in a lack of focus on the issues and problems of farmers which are generally location (agro-ecological zone)-specific; (c) implementation of - 3 -  research programs works better if management is decentralized; (d) greater involvement of stakeholders in research planning and budgeting, including research priority setting, budgeting and assessment of results obtained, ensures the relevance of the research programs; (e) lack of access by farmers to improved seeds lead to delayed adoption of improved varieties, (f) monitoring and impact evaluation of research programs have been generally neglected and need to be significantly improved; and (g) measures to ensure sustainability of the national research program need to be given more attention. These lessons have been taken into consideration in designing the ARTP II. 11. Poverty Category: The improved technologies developed and disseminated will have direct impact on alleviating the poverty of the main beneficiaries of the project comprising the majority of poor, smallholder farmers in Uganda, whose production and incomes are expected to increase by about 15 percent. 12. Environmental Aspects: The proposed operation is classified in environmental category C. There are no major environmental issues anticipated. The proposed operation would support research aimed specifically at natural resource management by generating technologies that will facilitate resource conservation and improve soil productivity. The use of leguminous trees to promote soil and water conservation would be introduced to farmers. Research programs financed under the project would also focus on improving integrated pest management (IPM) techniques utilizing biological agents. Research on pesticides is aimed at efficient use of these inputs, particularly by minimizing pesticide use through integrated pest management. The environmental impact of the project is therefore expected to be strongly positive. 13. Program Objective Categories: The project would foster public sector efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of services to the private sector by improving the technology development and dissemination process, and strengthening the linkages with the extension services, smallholder clients and other stakeholders. The project will also support human resources development in the agriculture sector. Contact Points: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street N.W. Washington D.C. 20433 Telephone No.: (202)458-5454 Fax No.: (202)522-1500 Edgardo Quisumbing Task Manager (202) 473-4183 Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain activities and/or components may not be included in the final project. Processed by the InfoShop week ending August 13, 1999. - 4 -