CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background
Uganda’s Plan for Modernization of Agricul
stakeholders in decision making as one of the major strategies for achieving
the government
policy of eradicating poverty (MAAIF, 1998). With
the aim of eradicating poverty among rural farmers, a five-year USAID-funded
project, The Uganda Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program (APEP) was
established in 2003. The program mainly targeted catalyzing the transformation
of agriculture from low input/low output subsistence farming to commercially
competitive agriculture. Within the targeted commodities, APEP addressed
production-to-market transactions, improvements in input distribution, and the development
of competitive agricultural and rural enterprises (Michigan State University,
2007). Among the targeted commercial crops included grains namely maize,
cotton, coffee, bananas (Matoke), spices and floriculture. In addition to the
efforts of its predecessor (IDEA project) efforts in Masindi District, APEP
continued to give pieces of advice on better agronomic practices and input use
to raise maize output.
Maize being one of the major crops regionally
exported and rising in value from about US$6.0 million in 1990 to US$10.4
million in Uganda, it was thought it would be a stepping stone towards poverty
eradication (Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), 2005). Based on the
availability of such substantial maize market regionally, APEP came up with
demonstration sites to expose farmers to improved maize production
technologies. Among the technologies APEP demonstrated included improved
agronomic practices, improved
1
seed varieties, fertilizer and herbicide use and
post harvest handling techniques. In 2004, 291 demonstration sites were
established exposing 4,227 farmers to these techniques (APEP, 2004). These
technologies are all incentives known for increased production efficiency
(Rahman, 2003).
1.2
Problem Statement
Empirical
studies suggest that most under developed and developing countries are still
facing
the problem of
high poverty levels. In addition to poverty, Uganda’s population
3.4%, very high; yet agricultural resources are
limited, e.g. arable land. This calls for improving yields of major staples,
such as maize for better food security & livelihoods of rural households.
Thus, resources need to be used in the most efficient way to achieve this
objective. Further, improved efficiency is expected to improve food security by
cutting hunger halfway in 2015 (Amos, 2007).
Most farmers in these
countries practice subsistence farming with low productivity. This may be
attributed to high inefficiencies (technical and allocative) because farmers
lack access or less information on efficiency, and low literacy levels limiting
interpretation of such information to guide them in commercial production.
Further, less access to such information may be attributed to the few studies
carried out in these areas. In order to realize increased production and
efficiency, small-scale farmers in developing countries need to efficiently
utilize the limited resources accessed for improved food security and farm
income generation (Amos, 2007).
In the light to boost productivity, APEP provided
technical services to farmers in Masindi District. APEP (2005) indicated a
positive response amongst its maize farmers; with higher yields compared to
non-APEP farmers. Though farmers applied the production techniques given by
APEP and realized increased production, it is not clear whether they were
relatively more efficient both allocatively and technically compared with those
who did not use the APEP advisory services.
There are no known studies that have been done to
determine the technical and allocative efficiency of APEP maize farmers in
Masindi District. Thus, this study was carried out to establish technical and
allocative efficiency and factors affecting technical efficiency of APEP in
comparison with non-APEP farmers. Results from this study were used to
establish the impact of APEP services among maize farmers in Masindi district.
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