Eastern African Working Papers

Contents

1. Chapter 2 A Review of Agricultural and Economic Development in the ECA sub-region Extract from ASARECA Strategic Plan 113

2. An overview of Maize in Uganda, by Ambrose Agona, Jane Nabawanuka H. Muyinza (NARO) 130

3. An overview of horticulture in Uganda by Ambrose Agona and H. Muyinza (NARO) 140

4. An overview of Coffee in Uganda By Roni Babigumira (IFPRI) 146

5. Overview of the postharvest sector in Burundi By Gahungu Tharcisse (ISABU) 150

6. An Overview of Tef and Durum Wheat Production In Ethiopia by Teklu Tesfaye (EARO) 154

7. An Overview of Irish Potatoes, Roses and Maize in Kenya By Prof Edward Karuri (University of Nairobi) 166

8. Overview of sorghum and Millet in Sudan by Babiker Hassan Hamid (ARC) 183

9. An Overview of Maize and Cashew Nuts in Tanzania by G. Ndunguru and N. Mlingi (TFNC) 191

10. Postharvest aspects for Roots and Tubers in Kivu zone Democratic Republic of Congo By Phemba Phezo (INERA) 208

11. The agro/Food processing sector in Madagascar By Roger Lalao Ranaivoson and Victor Rakotoiana (FOFIFA) 213

A Review of Agricultural and Economic Development in the ECA sub-region

By G. Mrema and Shaun Ferris*

Executive Secretary ASARECA

*Foodnet Co-ordinator

Introduction

The Eastern and Central Africa sub-region, comprising of the ten countries (Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire) whose NARI’s constitute the founder members of ASARECA is large, with a total area of 8.021 million ha and with widely differing climatic, edaphic and biotic conditions. Agriculture is the major sector of the economies of the countries in the sub-region, contributing between 29-60% of the GDP, 66-100% of the exports and employing between 68-92% of the population. (Table 1).

Agriculture will remain, at least for the next two decades, a major sector in the economies of the countries in the ECA sub- region. As the World Bank has noted, in its major review of economic developments in Sub-Saharan Africa, that transforming agriculture in Africa (including the ECA sub- region) in the 1990s and beyond is a formidable task (IBRD, 1989).

This sector must not only produce adequate food to feed a rapidly increasing population, but it must also increase production of export crops in increasingly competitive world markets as well as be a major employer of an increasing labour force. To achieve this African agriculture has to be transformed and the challenge of doing this includes:-

Transforming agriculture and expanding its productive capacity is the prerequisite for improving living standards in SSA. To achieve food security, food production will have to grow at about 4% a year. Beyond that, to raise incomes and meet Africa's export needs, the production of export crops must grow by no less than 4% a year.

Thus Africa must set its target for long-term agricultural growth not lower than 4 % a year. This will be no easy task. During the past 30 years, agricultural production in SSA has risen by only 2 % a year. Agricultural exports have declined, and food imports are increasing at about 7% a year. Despite the rapid growth in food imports, an average of about 100 million people in the early 1980s were undernourished - many more in years of poor harvests.

Severe food shortages are now widespread, drought and famine have been common in the 1980s. Such transitory shortfalls are even more damaging against a background of chronic food insecurity. Africa's future is at stake. The best minds must be put to work, the best policies and practices must be sought, and a new sense of urgency must drive efforts on every level to accomplish the task" [IBRD(1989)l

Transforming African agriculture, will remain a critical issue for the governments on this continent, including those in the ECA sub-region. In this respect, agricultural research institutions in the sub-region, will play a critical and catalytic role in the process of transforming agricultural production, to increase its productivity

In this chapter, a brief review of economic and agricultural developments, which have occurred over the past 3 decades, focusing on technological issues in the ECA sub-region, is presented. This is followed by the Team's analysis of the major challenges/issues facing the agricultural sector in the next 2 decades. Implications of these challenges/issues to the Agricultural Research Systems (be they national, international or private sector) are then presented. Major assumptions on agricultural development in the sub-region which the Team has taken note of, in developing the Strategic Plan for Regional Agricultural Research Programmes which need to be implemented under the auspices of ASARECA, are presented.

Table 2.1 Economic indicators

	Burundi	Eritrea	Ethiopia	Kenya	Madagascar	Rwanda	Sudan	Uganda	Tanzania	DRC
Land area 000km^2	26	101	1000	569	582	25	2367	884	200	2267
Population million 95	6.3		56.4	26.7	13.7	6.4	26.7	29.6	19.2	43.8
Pop Growth Rate % 85-95	2.8		2.6	2.1	2.1	0.6	2.2	3.1	3	3.2
Pop Density per 1000 ha 93	2347	331	471	464	238	3062	112	371	999	182
Life expectancy at birth 95	49		49	58	52	46	54	51		52
Tot fert rate birth per women	6.7		6.9	5.2	6	6.4	5.7	5.8	7.2	6.6
Infant mortality rate /1000 b	98		112	58	89	133	77	82	98	92
Child Malnutrition % underweight 89-95			47	23	32	28		28	23	35
Primary school enrolement % net 92	51		28		64	67		50		25
Illiteracy rate % 90	50			31	20	50	73		52	28
GNP per capita (US$ 95	160		100	280	230	180		120		120
Average Inflation rate % 85-95	6.1		5.9	13	17.9	10.4	63.2	32.3	65.5
Share GDP Agriculture % 95	56	11	57	29	34	37		58	50
Forest cover (% total land) 95	9		13	2	27	7	18	38	32	50
Total external debt (million $) 94	1126		5058	7273	4134	256	17,710	7441	3473	12,336
Debt as % of GDP 94	106		93	71	181	154		173	71
Debt service as (% of exports) 94	39		51	51	66	62	209	64	52
GDP average growth 80-90 90-95	4.4 -2.3		2.3 -	4.2 1.4	1.3 0.1	-2.3 -12.8	0.6 6.8	3.8 3.2	3.1 6.6	1.7
Terms of trade index 1990 (1980-100)	53		60	80	56	38	81	60	31	77
Av annual food production per capita growth rate % 90-93	-1	-1	-2.5		-1.8	-3.3	11.4	-4.2	-0.5	-1.7

Sources World Bank, UNCTAD

The Economic and Political Setting

With the exception of Ethiopia, the ten countries in the ECA sub-region attained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s (Eritrea separated from Ethiopia in 1990s) from the three major colonial powers (Britain for Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan; Belgium for D R Congo, Rwanda and Burundi,. and France for Madagascar). As countries in the sub-region became independent, political leaders pursued mixed economic policies, in accordance with economic strategies which largely echoed the ideas of prominent economists of the day. Industrialisation was then believed to be the engine of economic growth and the key to transforming the traditional economies partly due to the desire of reducing imports of manufactured goods

Agriculture was relegated to a secondary role of supplying raw materials and providing tax revenues to finance other development activities. Further, most African leaders believed (and often with the advice of economic planners) that the governments had to play a dominant role in economic development. It was, therefore, thought that government had to occupy the economy's commanding heights by allocating credit, fixing prices, rationing foreign exchange, operating key industries and directing the distribution of goods and services. Also, in effecting these policies, governments instituted several regulations which barred movement of goods across district and national boundaries with a view of controlling the marketing of, among other things, agricultural commodities

According to the World Bank (IBRD 1989, 1993) and most informed observers, the poor policies pursued by governments in SSA including those in ECA were, among other things, the cause of the decline and / or stagnation of the economics of this sub- region. This resulted in the decline of per capita food production, there was low growth in the productive sectors, poor export trade performance, and food imports increased, among other things.(Table 1) Other consequences of the policy failure included increased environmental degradation, deteriorating social conditions and mounting external debts.

All this led to a decay of the public institutions (schools, hospitals and agricultural support institutions such as those for agricultural research and extension). This economic decline led to political instability which affected most countries in the ECA sub-region with the debilitating effects of civil and social strife e.g., of the ten countries in the ECA region, tLI1 have been affected either directly or indirectly by military conflicts occurring in the sub-region (e.g. military coups d'etat, civil wars, refugees etc). Destructive armed confrontations have affected most countries resulting in deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and displacement as refugees of many more millions.

Others have argued that the economic decline, which has affected most countries in the region over the period 1960-1990, has been caused by factors beyond the region's control - bad weather, weak world commodity prices, fluctuating international interest rates, and too little aid (IBRD 1981, 1989, 1993). The dominant view, however, seems to place blame on the poorlinadequate policies pursued by governments in the sub-region, especially poor management of public resources including donor grants and loans, and inappropriate incentives. This debate has led to a rediinking of the development paths which African countries should follow to achieve economic growth.

The decline in economic growth of the 1970s to 1980s led to a crisis of confidence with many people in and out of SSA feeling a growing sense of hopelessness. This crisis in confidence has been reinforced by the adverse external image of Africa in the global media (CNN is available in nearly all major towns and centres) which focuses mainly on Africa's economic, social and political woes - famine, environmental degradation, civil wars, refugees, military coups d'etat, etc. As the World Bank has noted:

...... Sometimes this image is projected from within Africa itself in an effort to call forth for additional exceptional external support. Yet many in and out of Africa feel that Africa may become too dependent on external financial assistance and foreign advice and expatriate personnel. The danger is that pessimism can become self- fulfilling - weak performance breeds disappointment, responsibility is shifted to others, inaction undermines self-confidence and performance sinks even further. The process undermines the very basis on which to build growth and to develop African responsibility for Africa's destiny. " IBRD(1989)l

Agricultural Growth as the Engine for Economic Development

The agricultural sector is the mainstay of the economies of countries of ECA, contributing between 29 - 58% of GDP, 66 - 100% of exports and employing 68 - 92 %of the population. It is therefore the main source of income, employment, food, foreign exchange; and it also supplies raw materials for domestic industries. Agricultural growth is therefore essential for economic growth and poverty alleviation in the ECA sub-region. It is an effective and. viable lead sector for generation of economic growth. Very few countries have had rapid growth rates without agricultural growth preceding or accompanying it.

The Composition of the Agricultural Sector

The agricultural sector in the sub-region comprises of production of a large variety of crops including cereals, pulses, plantains and bananas, root crops, oil crops, coffee, tea. cotton and horticultural crops. Livestock production is particularly useful for rural income generation. Cattle production is one of the important agricultural activities and contributes to income generation. Small stock (sheep and goats) and poultry have large potential which has not yet been fully exploited.

In 1994, the sub-region produced 25.6 million metric tonnes of cereals, 44.0 million metric tomes of root crops, 2.7 ~ion tonnes of pulses and 1.3 million tonnes of oil crops. Other major crops produced were plantains/bananas (in million tonnes) 15.6, cassava (33.0), coffee (0.7), maize (9.2), sorghum (4.7), sweet potatoes (3.7), beans (1.2) and rice (3.4). The sub-region also had 95.2 million head of cattle, 60.0 million sheep, 62.6 million goats and 4.3 ~ion pigs in 1994. A major concern for the environment was the excessive harvesting of fuel wood and charcoal estimated at 209.8 million metric tomes in 1993, leading to deforestation. (Table 2.2 and 2.3)

Recent Performance of the Agricultural Sector

Until the 1970s, agriculture in the ECA sub-region grew more through expansion in area under cultivation rather than increased yield per unit of land area. Shifting agriculture was widely practised in the past but rapid population growth has resulted in land scarcity in quite a number of areas. In such areas, the only option left for increasing agricultural production is to increase yields per hectare as well as per labour input through improved technologies and farm management practices. Agricultural production in the sub-region is dominated by subsistence farming. This type of agriculture is characterised by low input use,, rudimentary technology, large post harvest losses, minimal processing, and is strongly affected by the frequent droughts.

The late 1970s and 1980s witnessed a stagnation in the agricultural sector. There was a decline in per capita food production, low yields per hectare, declining/stagnating agricultural exports, deteriorating terms of trade, declining world market share, increasing food imports and food aid, degradation of environment and a reduction in returns to agricultural investment

The situation was made worse by poor policy environment which included confiscatory pricing, monopolistic marketing systems, biased trading and overvalued exchange rates, depressed international prices, expensive credit, poor institutional support and infrastructure. A major determinant of agricultural performance remains the weather condition. The sub-region also has weak agricultural research and extension, as well as land tenure systems which constrain the growth of agricultural productivity

Table 2.2 Agricultural Production Indicators

	Agricultural as % of GDP	Agricultural Labour as % of total labour	Agricultural exports as % of total	Food production per capita index 86-88=100		Cereal production (‘000) tonnes		Value of ag exports (Millions $)		Volume of cereal imports (‘000s tonnes)		Volume of Food aid (‘000 tonnes)
	1995	1990	1993	1980	1993	1980	1995	1980	1994	1980	1993	1980	1993
Burundi	56	92	70	98	90	385	269	64	63	18	22	8	4
Eritrea	11	78					153
Ethiopia	57	80	95	110	95	5612	8245	391	168	397		111
Kenya	29	80	66	92	76	2233	3394	693	719	387	131	86	287
Madagascar	34	84	72	114	92	2238	2780	334	147	110	111	14	58
Rwanda	37	92		111	86	273	151	66	47	16	115	14	82
Sudan		69	98	118	97	2843	3821	553	448	236	627	212	238
Tanzania	58	84		98	85	3126	4617	406	265	399	215	89	35
Uganda	50	93	100	97	104	1077	2080	344	173	52	76	17	59
Congo		68	13	101	101	862	1697	235	51	350	328	68	27

World Bank Atlas: African Development indicators 1996

World Bank Worl Bank Atlas 1997

World Bank Development indicators

The World Bank: SSA From crisis to sustainable growth Washington DC 1989

Despite these constraints there are a number of factors that could facilitate recovery in agriculture in this sub-region, which include, among others, the following: a growing labour force, large unexploited agricultural potential, untapped surface water and hydroelectric capacity, substantial reserves of phosphate and nitrogen based fertilizers, expansion of regional markets, and weakening of the green revolution in other regions of the world which may then have to import food.

Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes

Given the poor performance of SSA economics during the period 1960-1985, most of these countries were forced to implement Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAP) from the mid 1980s. llese ESAPs are being implemented on advice and assistance of the Bretton Woods financial institutions (World Band & IMF) and the major western donors.

The ESAPs include, among things, fiscal measures aimed at reducing balance of payment deficits through restrictions in credit (by higher interest rates), devaluation of currencies to make imports more expensive and encourage local production, reduction in government expenditure and privatisation of public enterprises.

The accepted philosophy now is that governments' responsibility for directing the production and distribution of goods and services should be much reduced and the private sectors' role much more enhanced. Governments' role should be confused to those areas where the private sector is unable to provide the services and goods (education, health, physical infrastructure, etc.). Governments should not supplant markets but support them through the creation of an enabling environment for private sector to thrive. Thus most of the public parastatals and other institutions dealing with agricultural marketing and input supply established in the 1950s - 1970s are being privatised so that an enabling environment is created to attract additional local and foreign investment which will lead to high economic growth rates as it has occurred in the newly industrialised countries(NIC) of Asia!

The effect of ESAP on agriculture has, however, been quite significant. First prices paid to farmers for their produce in local currency terms have increased significantly although the cost of inputs has increased by an even higher percentage. Second, governments M over SSA are being forced to privatise the parastatals created to service the agricultural sector. Progress in this regard has, however, been slow, due to, among other reasons, lobbying by vested interests within the parastatals, lack of private local entrepreneurslindividuals to purchaseltakeover these parastatals, etc. Third, trade liberalisation has led to all types of goods (including agricultural inputs) being readily available although at quite high prices in local currency tenns. Some imported items (e.g. Thailand rice in Dar-es-Salaam/Nairobi) are cheaper OM locally produced ones indicating inefficiencies in local production and marketing systems, or due to being subsidised exports from the developed countries (e.g. livestock products from the European Community).

The private sector (both local and foreign) is now being encouraged to invest in agriculture by abolishing the prohibitive economic environment established in the 1970s and creating a more permissive one. Governments now accept that competitive markets are the most effective way yet found to get goods and services produced and distributed efficiently. External and domestic competition provides the incentives, which unleash entrepreneurship and technological progress. Openness to trade, investments and ideas encourages domestic producers to cut costs and improve productivity by introducing new technologies and developing better products. These permissive domestic economical enviroiunents are being created in the expectation that these will reduce rather than increase the cost of doing business. Govermnents in the sub-region now accept that sound macro-economic policies with sustainable fiscal deficits and realistic exchange rates are a prerequisite to progress. Government budget deficits just crowd out productive investments by tamers, entrepreneurs and place the financial system under fiscal strain inducing hyper inflation.

Table 2.3 Total Agricultural Production in 1994

	Production in 1994 x 1000 metric tonnes					Numbers in 1994 in Thousands
	Cereals	Rootcrops	Pulses	Oil Crops	Fishery	Cattle	Sheep	Goats	Pigs	Fuel / Charcoal
Burundi	213	1124	287	7	23	380	350	850	80	4558
Eritrea
Ethiopia	7070	2074	815	145		31000	23200	18100		43890
Kenya	3481	1750	200	25	191	11000	5500	7438	107	36710
Madagascar	2517	3210	60	30	21	10288	740	1300	1558	8051
Rwanda	158	1616	142	5	4	610	400	1100	130	5397
Sudan	4805	157	116	446	34	21751	22870	16449		22488
Tanzania	3534	7716	302	126	400	13376	3955	9682	335	33963
Uganda	2036	5923	572	111	255	5100	1980	3350	880	13500
Congo	1798	20,447	198	422	160	1696	1012	4317	1185	41293
Total	25,162	44,017	2692	1317	1088	95201	60007	62586	4295	209845

Challenges Facing the Agricultural Sector

The above issues raise a number of challenges to the agricultural sector and Technology Development and Transfer (TDT) systems in the sub-region which have to be tackled in the next 2-3 decades. These include, among others, the following:

A major challenge to the agricultural sector and more specifically TDT systems is to develop / adapt the technologies which can increase the overall on farm production and productivity of all major fanning groups: peasant subsistence fanners (psf); small scale farmers (ssf); medium scale farmers (msf) and large scale farmers (Isf), through intensification (where there are land shortages) or extensification (where availability of land is not a constraint). Either way the increase in overall on-fann production and productivity can only occur through increased utilization of modern technological inputs(e.g. high yielding seed varieties, fertilizers, mechanization and water management etc.). In this respect, there is need to ensure that both the 'hardware' (e.g. high yielding plant and animal varieties, fertilizers, machinery and implements, irrigation systems, etc.) and the 'software' (i.e. the husbandry and management technologies which facilitate the optimal and economical utilization of the hardware) aspects of the technologies are developed and adopted by farmers. In addition, there will be a need to repackage these technologies (both hardware and software) to fit them into the circumstances which all the major farming groups face (i.e. psf, ssf, msf and Isf). Both public and private sector institutions should be actively involved in technology development and transfer.

The second challenge to the agricultural sector and the TDT systems follows from the first - this is the development of the technology transfer system (both the software and hardware) to ensure its efficient supply and utilization. Development and testing of the 'hardware' and 'software' on a research station alone is not enough. There is need, in addition to developing a system (be it publicly, privately or cooperatively owned) which provides/distributes the technological inputs in a timely manner and at affordable prices to the fanners. This will require research and innovation into institutional management and organizational structures which can best serve the farmers to increase their productivity. With Government's role in the provision of services to the agricultural sector, being reduced, the private sector will assume an increasing role in this respect.

The third challenge is to ensure that whatever is produced is safely stored on the farm (for home consumption) andlor is transported, processed and marketedlexported to the urban consumerlexternal markets with a minimum of post-harvest losses. The output recovery system will need both physical ( e.g. storage structures, post harvest processing technology, transportation systems, rural roads, etc.) as well as socio- economic ( e.g. prices, marketing institutions, etc.) technologies. With dismantling of the public marketing organizations due to ESAP, an alternative system, which will largely be privately or cooperatively owned, needs to be developed to ensure that the produce is efficiently stored/transported/processed/marketed in the urban areas/export markets.

The fourth challenge is to maintain the sustainability of the agricultural resource base i.e. in meeting challenges 1-3, there must be minimum environmental degradation (i.e. minimum soil erosion, development of alternative sources of energy to firewood, etc.).

In tackling the above, African leaders, scientists, civil servants, the private sector etc, will have to avoid getting bogged down with fads and fashions which emerge from the development community. They will have to establish institutions and structures which ensure that the strategies formulated are implemented. Even more important, this will also require the establishment andlor strengthening of the capacity for institutional crafting in most countries of the sub-region. Lele & Goldsmith(1989) have ably described how India, which in the 1950s and 1960s was a hopeless case from a food production perspective, has been able - in a period of less than 20 years - to transform her agriculture to one where she is now able to export food. The sub-region may well learn something from such cases.

The Implications of ESAPs on Agricultural Technology Development and Transfer

The ESAPs being implemented by all governments in the sub-region have, in the opinion of the Team, the following implications on Technology Development and Transfer systems in the sub-region.

Funding for Agricultural Services

The ESAPs being implemented by governments in the sub-region have led to significant reductions in government expenditure on agricultural services(agricultural research, extension, etc.). Most governments are highly indebted (Table 2.4) and have to spend a considerable amount of the government revenue servicing these external debts (some governments are spending as much as 50 % of the total government revenue in debt servicing) and have little room for raising additional resources for among others, agricultural development. It would seem to the Team that governments have little choice other than raising its revenue by taxing the agricultural sector which is the largest in the economies of the sub-region contributing between 30- 60 % of the GDP. The key issue here is how to impose such taxes on the agricultural sector while still maintaining incentives to farmers.

Coupled with how much should agriculture contribute to the Government revenue, is the issue of how much of the Government budget should be spent on agriculture and where in the agricultural sector. External policy analysts have blamed African governments for not investing enough in agriculture, and instead spend more on prestige investments such as airlines, industry, etc. While this criticism has largely been accepted, it has also to be appreciated that policy makers face difficult choices here. With declining government revenues due to, among other measures, ESAPS, and the need to provide services (public goods) to many sectors (including a well organised and rapidly increasing urban population), as well as build and maintain rural and urban infrastructure, the amount of resources the government can invest in the agricultural sector (for research, extension, etc.) is quite limited! At the moment most governments in the ECA sub-region are spending less than 1 0 % of their annual budget on the agricultural sector.

Table 2.4: Government Expenditure in a Selected Number of Countries of the ECA Sub-region (1994)

	Interest payments for external debts % of total expenditure
Burundi	10.7 %
Eritrea	n.a.
Ethiopia	n.a
Kenya	24.8 %
Madagascar	52.0 %
Rwanda	19.2 %
Sudan	92.1 %
Tanzania	13.9 %
Uganda	12.1 %
Congo	7.4 %

African Development indicators

NB: The above does not include payments on the principal sum and is a % of total expenditure and less principal repayments. Figures for 1996 do indicate even higher payments for debt servicing by most countries with quite a number spending up to 50 % of their budgets servicing debts.

These observations lead the Strategic Planning Team to make the following assumption on what can be recommended for ASARECA and its system of Regional Agricultural Research Programs.

Assumption 1

Given the nwcro-economic scenario which governments in the sub-region are facing, it is unlikely that any of them are going to be able to increase significantly funding for agricultural services - including agricultural research. With governments spending up to 40 % of their annual budgets servicing debts and given the pressures on allocation of government revenue to many sectors (education, health, infrastructure, public legal institutions, etc) and agricultural research being a long term investment, the most NARS leaders can expect is for governments to maintain current levels of funding (which are quite inadequate) and they shouldfind alternative means offunding their research programmes, in addition to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of undertaking agricultural research. Although assistancefrom donor agencies (through IDA loans andlor other donor grants) mayfill the gap in the short term, it is, however, unsustainable in the long term. Ais is a key strategic issue which must be factored in any long term plan for the NARS or regional agricultural research programmes under the umbrella of ASARECA.

Agricultural Research Priorities

Given the declining /stagnating funding for agricultural research from national treasuries, as explained above, the agricultural research systems in the sub-region will have to prioritise their research programmes/projects. In this respect, NARS leaders and other development planners will have to confront the classic conflict between efficiency and equity objectives in development in general and research planning in particular. Should the research systems focus on the most promising environments which would seem to be the conclusion of a straight forward economic-surplus-type analysis of research priorities OR should they focus on the most difficult and not always promising environments in which so many small scale farmers reside. The focus on economic growth in development policies being pnrsued by all governments under the ESAPs would seem to tilt the debate for targeting research endeavours towards the most promising environments. Indeed as Lele & Goldstnith(1989), among others have noted, the success of the 'Green Revolution' in Asia was largely due to focusing on a few crops (rice, wheat, maize) and targeting at the most promising areas(irrigated areas). This leads the Team, therefore, to make the following assumption on priorities for agricultural research at national and regional levels in the ECA sub-region.

Assumption 2

Given the small size of most NARS in the sub-region, the many commodities and factors which require to be researched on, the need to show impact in the short to medium terms, as well as the scarce resources available for research, the NARS leaders will increasingly be under pressure to focus on the more promising research areas / commodities, farmers groups. In other words, given the ESAPs being implemented, agriculture in this sub-region will follow the same economic and structural paths as it has done elsewhere in the world, where the 'market' will play a dominant (perhaps a commanding) role with the more progressive partners benefiting first. Agriculture in the sub-region will move from one dominated by 'subsistence' farmers to one dominated by 'commercial' farmers, be they small, medium or large scale. Such farmers will rely more on the 'market' for getting their inputs and disposing of their outputs. Such farmers will also be the ones who will influence the research priorities of the NARS at national and regional levels. The team believes that in developing a long-term strategic plan for regional agricultural research programmes, this issue has to be factored in.

Demographic Factors

There are four major demographic trends which will significantly influence the agricultural sector in the countries of the ECA sub-region. These are the increasing total population (total population has been doubling in every 17-20 years in most countries) (Table 2.5); increasing rural-urban migration (urban population has been increasing at 5-7 % - doubling every 10- 1 2 years). [By 20 1 0 AD, the urban population will be about 100 million people in the 10 countries of the sub-region]. In some countries, by the year 2015 AD, the urban population will be more than the rural population (e.g. Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar)]. The third factor is an ageing rural population (rural population is increasingly ageing as it is the young who migrate to urban areas to liberate themselves from the drudgery associated with the handtool technology agriculture common in the sub-region). The fourth factor is the AIDS epidemic which is affecting quite a number of countries in the sub-region and it is likely to have a significant impact on the economically active segment of the population. All these demographic trends are likely to decrease even further the labour (already inadequate) available for agriculture, which is so much dependent on labour. A poignant point, in this respect, is the fact that the increase in agricultural production in SSA at 2 %'p.a. for the period 1960 - 1990 correlates quite well with the increase in rural population which was 2% p.a. These demographic trends lead the team to making the following assumption!

Assumption 3

The agricultural sector will have to produce an even greater amount of food to feed an ever increasing urban population in most countries of the sub-region. Governments cannot in this respect, rely on subsistence farmers (who only market a small proportion of their produce and only in good years) but will rely more on commercial farmers (be they small, medium or large scale) who market a substantial part of their produce. The Technology Development and Transfer systems, nationally and regionally will have to pay increasing attention to, not only increasing production on the farm ( higher levels of productivity) but also developing technologies which ensure that whatever is produced on the farm is processed, transported and marketed to the rapidly increasing urban population. The increase in urban population offers a big market for agricultural sectors of the countries in the sub-region, and with more open borders, is likely to increase cross-border trade. Such trade is most likely to be efficiently transacted by private business people and this avails to the TDT systems a cadre who can pay for some of the services/technologies they produce.

Liberalization of Trade

There are essentially four issues which will affect the TDT systems in the ECA sub- region as a consequence of current worldwide movements of liberalising trade. These include the liberalised world trade regime due to the World Trade Organisation agreements (and hence the need for countries to remain competitive on a worldwide scale); Regional Trade Agreements (COMESA, EAC, IGAD) and their implications on regional trade and technological spillovers, as well as control of diseases and pests of plants and animals (which may spread more easily due to freer movement of goods 'and people within the region).

World Trade Liberalization

Generally SSA, including ECA sub-region has lost out to other regions of the world in terms of quantities of its traditional commodities traded (coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco, sisal, pyrethrum, palm kennels, etc). Export quantities have either declined or stagnated Although the sub-region enjoys preferential trade agreement with the European Union under the Lome Convention, this does not seem to have led to significant increases of export commodities rather the reverse has occurred - with exports declining by about 40 %(from a total of US $ 3.086 billion in 1980 to US $ 1.922 billion by 1992).(Table 2.6) What has happened over the past 40 years, in some countries, has been the shift of production from large scale-estates to production,

by small scale fanners (e.g. Tea and Coffee in Kenya), with total volumes increasing only marginally. Prices of these commodities have also declined or stagnated in the world markets (other than a few years where some have increased due to external shocks - frost on coffee in Latin America). Yields per hectare appear also to have stagnated for some commodities due to diseases and pests.

Table 2.5 Demographic trends for the 10 countries of the ECA sub-region

	Total Population		Urban population
	1995 millions (%growth rate)	2010 millions	1995 millions (% of total)	2010 millions (%of total)
Burundi	6.4 (3.0%)	9.97	0.48 (7.5%)	1.29 (12.45%)
Eritrea	3.5 (2.7%)	5.22	0.62 (17.2%)	1.18 (22.3%)
Ethiopia	55.1 (3.0%)	85.85	7.38 (13.4%)	14.70 (16.9%)
Kenya	26.7 (3.8%)	48.61	7.40 (27.7%)	18.26 (38.2%)
Madagascar	14.8 (3.8%)	25.89	4.01 (27.1%)	9.61 (36.2%)
Rwanda	8.0 (2.7%)	11.93	0.49 (6.1%)	0.94 (7.7%)
Sudan	28.1 (2.7%)	41.9	6.91 (24.6%)	13.4 (31.4%)
Tanzania	29.7 (3.1%)	46.90	7.25 (24.4%)	18.4 (38%)
Uganda	19.6 (3.1%)	31.00	2.45 (12.54%)	5.0 (15.9%)
Congo	43.9 (3.3%)	71.50	12.8 (29.1%)	22.8 (31.6%)
Total	235.8	378.77	49.79 (21.1%)	99.93
% of SSA	39.9%	41.5%

Assumption 4

line sub-region will continue to face increasing competition from other parts of the world in its traditional export markets for the main commodities (coffee, tea, cotton, sisal, pyrethrum, etc). Protected markets for the sub-region's products (such as the European Market under the Lome Convention) may not be available in the future due to World Trade Organisation agreements. As export commodities are critical to economic development for, among other things, obtaining foreign exchange, and thus the capacity to import, invest and develop, the sub-region will have to do more to increase productivity in this sector if it is to remain competitive in world markets. It will be necessary, therefore, for the agricultural sectors of the countries in the sub- region to ensure that future productive processes are capable of responding to changing technologies, market demand and input and output prices. In addition, there will be increased importation of food products from regions of the world which are able to produce more competitively than the ECA sub-region [e.g., already 1 kg of Thai / Vietnamese rice is cheaper in Dar-es-Salaam / Kampala than rice produced in Shinyanga / Jinja respectivly. This liberalised trade arena also opens -up an avenue for obtaining some agricultural inputs at a cheaper price.

Table 2.6: Basic Agricultural Statistics for the countries of the ECA sub-region

	Agricultural Exports millions of US $		Cereal imports tonnes x 10 ^3		Foodn aid tonnes x 10 ^3		Commerical Food imports x 10 ^3		Fertiliser imports t x 10 ^3	Cereal outputs internal x 10 ^3
	1980	1992	1980	1992	1980	1992	1980	1992	1992	1994
Burundi	64	69	18	19	8	1	10	18	6	206
Eritrea
Ethiopia	391	168	397	1047	111	994	286	53	133	3900 s,z,w
Kenya	693	612	387	642	86	287	299	355	100	3.220 z,w
Madagascar	334	151	110	145	14	58	96	87	8	2,360 (r)
Rwanda	66	60	16	14	14	10	2	4	2	137 z,m
Sudan	553	371	236	654	212	586	24	90	67	4,880 s,w 1992
Tanzania	406	272	399	212	89	15	310	197	50	3,469 z,r,s,m
Uganda	344	136	52	37	17	28	35	9	2	1950 m,s,m
Congo	235	83	350	219	68	121	282	98	4	1700
Totals	3086	1,922	1965	2,989	619	2,100	1.344	911	372	21,822
Total for SSA	10,091	7,345	8,370	13,173	1,601	4,411
ECA as % SSA	31%	26%	24%	23%	39%	48%

M= Millet, z = maize, s = sorghum, r = rice

Regional Trade Liberalisation and Markets

All the countries in the sub-region are members of regional economic blocks (COMESA, EAC, IGAD) which have among their main objectives - increasing regional trade, as well as facilitating freer movement of people and goods. While in the 1960s and 1970s governments enforced regulations which controlled the free movement of people and goods in between countries and in some cases, in between districts/regions in the same country - the emerging trend now is for such controls to be removed(e.g. issuance of an East African passport). Although the costs of trading between countries are still quite high (due largely to high transportation costs) it is likely these will decrease as the infrastructure is improved.

Assumption 5

Regional trade in agricultural commodities between ECA countries will increase as both the tariff and non-tariff barriers are removed. The private sector will play an increasing role in this trade -from small scale traders ferrying their goods on a bicycle to the large scale commodity traders. Prices for agricultural products will increasingly follow a regional pattern rather than national. nis will inevitably lead to increased economic activities as well as economic development through regional trade and value addition through agro-processing. 7he TDT institutions will have, in the opinion of the Strategic Planning Team, to factor this in when developing their long term research plans.

Agricultural Inputs and Technologies

The liberalised regional trade - freer movement of people across the sub-region, will lead to technological spillovers - thus hybrid seeds developed in one country will be readily available to farmers in a neighbouring country and/or throughout the sub-region. Likewise, other inputs such as machinery and equipment available/developed in one country will be available to farmers/traders throughout the sub-region.

Assumption 6

The liberalised trade scenario, which is emerging in the ECA sub-region, will enable farmers to more easily access the products of agricultural research being developed in any institution in the sub-region. Thus hybrid maize seeds developed in Kenya for high altitude areas will be available to farmers in Rwanda / Congo etc. Likewise, improved potato varieties developed in Rwanda will be available to farmers in Tanzania and Ethiopia. This is likely to have a profound influence on the TDT institutions in the sub- region. Some of them may attempt to influence their governments by lobbying for imposition of non-tariff barriers to protect their national market - however, given that the borders are so porous and policing them is so difficult, this is unlikely to be successful. It would seem logical, therefore, for the national TDT systems to plan their programmes with a regional dimension in mind in addition to the national focus.

Control of Plant and Animal Diseases and Pests

The trade liberalisation and freer movement of people in the sub-region will inevitably lead to spreading of plant and animal diseases and pests. While phytosanitary, zoosanitary and other regulatory measures may be imposed by governments to control the spread of diseases and pests across borders, these are unlikely to work given the long porous (to people and livestock etc) borders which each country shares with its neighbours. Experience of major outbreaks of plant and animal diseases which have occurred in the sub-region over the past decade does demonstrate the difficulties of controlling such pests and diseases [e.g, African Cassava Mosaic Virus(ACMV) etc.]. The most effective way to control such outbreaks is for the NARS to work together and take appropriate and prompt joint measures to contain the spreading of such diseases and pests at the point of outbreak.

Assumption 7

Trade liberalisation and freer movement of people across boundaries will lead to plant and animal diseases spreading faster in the sub-region. ]'his will require close collaboration among the NARS in the sub-region to be able to promptly detect and control the spreading of such diseases and pests. ne Regional Agricultural Research Organisations such as ASARECA avail to the NARS in the sub-region a mechanism through which they can collaborate to tackle such problems!

Environmental Degradation

Environmental degradation in whatever form it is described - desertification in the Arid and Semi-Arid zones, soil erosion in the highlands, and soil degradation - through physical and chemical soil changes in the humid tropics, will remain a major issue for agricultural development as well as for technology development and transfer institutions in the ECA sub-region and, indeed, the entire continent.

There has been a widening global agenda of concerns about the relationship between resources, environmental change and sustainable growth in agricultural production. Countries in ECA sub-region and the entire SSA are caught up in this agenda and have had to adjust their agricultural sectors to give more attention to Natural Resources Management (NRM) issues. However, we are now witnessing the third wave. since the 1940's, of global social concerns about natural resources availability and environmental change for sustainability of the agricultural production systems.

The first wave of concerns occurred in the 1940's and 50's and focused primarily on the quantitative relations between resource availability and agricultural growth - adequacy of land, water and other resources to sustain growth. Through this wave soil conservation departments/sections were established in most agricultural ministries in SSA. The second global wave of concerns. about resources and environment, occurred in the 1960's and 1970's and focused on the capacity of the environment to assimilate the multiple forms of pollution generated by, among others, agricultural production. This led to more attention being paid to the safer use of pesticides and other chemicals in agriculture and the development of biological control methods for some pests and diseases. an area o agricultural science where the NARS in SSA have also been quite active.

Whereas these two global waves could be tackled within national boundaries. the third wave is more on a transnational scale and has occurred since the 1980's and early 1990's and includes issues such as global warming depletion of ozone layer, acid rain, etc. This third wave of concerns, though of much interest to scientists in African NARS, has, however, not featured prominently in the research agenda of the latter due largely to resource limitations. It may well be argued that, by and large, the environmental concerns of most countries in SSA are still of the first wave - reduction of soil erosion and reversal of deforestation. To a large extent the deforestation and environmental degradation in SSA region has been caused by poor agricultural practices (shifting cultivation,) etc., and increasing population (leading to deforestation for firewood).

For SSA, the critical environment protection issue is, therefore, essentially one of land use for agricultural production. In this regard, soil erosion (both chemical & physical erosion) is of paramount importance. However, soil erosion has been defined as a problem in SSA since the beginning of this century! Indeed fifty-five years ago the then Deputy Director of the British Empire Imperial Bureau of Soils, located at the world famous Rothamsted Experimental Station in the UK noted the following on soil erosion:-

"The current wastage of land through this so-called soil erosion is not immediately serious for the world as a whole, since there is still plenty of good land for everybody, but it is becoming serious in certain countries, notably the United States and territories in South and East Africa. it was stated a few years ago that at the then rate of erosion, the United States would be incapable of organized existence by the end of the century. For much of Africa, where erosion is a more rapid process, the end of the century would be an optimistically distant date for the end of human dominion over the land". [Jacks (1942)]

It is now three years to the end of the century and the Team leaves it to the reader to make his/her own judgement on Mr. Jack's prophecy, made 55 years ago. Further one of the areas which was, from a soil erosion perspective, regarded as a disaster area in the 1930's is the Machakos district of S.E Kenya. In a recent study Tiffen et.al. 1994 conclude the following on the state of soil erosion in this district:

"... The evidence for a reversal of environmental degradation has been presented. In pursuing improvements in their livelihoods, the Machakos people have not destroyed their environment, despite their poverty and the riskiness of their climate. hat there was a real environmental problem in the 1930's has been shown in the photographic record. The change that hay taken place was not due to changes in rainfall systems. It has been shown that soil erosion has been eliminated on much of the cultivated land, and greatly reduced on others, and that there are beginning to be signs of improvements in grazing lands.... Some areas that were formerly under natural vegetation are now conserved and productive arable fields, av are areas that were formerly degraded and almost bare grazing lands in the older settled zonev. Thefuel shortage, first noted in densely populated areas in 1910, has never reached the often predicted crivis point, and there are now more trees, grown for many different purposev. Agricultural output on a per head and per hectare basis has increased in value substantially, with food output tracking population growth... " [Tiffen et.al. (1994)]

The Machakos district which now supports a population close to 6 times its population in 1932 [1.4 million (1989); and 0.245 million in 1932] in a total land area slightly greater than one third of the area of Belgium (13,600 km2), is in the semi and zone with rainfall being around 400-500 mm per annum. Earlier efforts at reducing soil erosion in this district were directed at exclusion of people from certain areas which were regarded as highly erodible while efforts from 1960's encouraged settlements and conservation works and hence the results reported by Tiffen et.al.(1994)above.

Two more quotations are relevant to this issue. First, Dr. Colin Maher who may be regarded as the father of soil conservation in East Africa and was the founding director of the Soil Conservation Service of Kenya in 1938. Dr. Maher noted in 1950:

"The grave erosion which occurs on ploughlandfrom time to time has often induced an "old-timer " to say rueffily that we should never have put a plough into Africa. However, the relatively unscarred Africa which carried a small population on the basis of Vhifting cultivation remained curiously unprogressive in a world which was advancing in S(.ientifl(. knowledge by leaps and bounds. Western interference caused the population to increase while accelerating the rate of deterioration of the soil. The biggest problem is not the soil directly but the people on the soil. Soil must be used by good farmers to remain productive. The emphasis must always be on the people who care for the land, not directly on the land. A poverty-ridden people pass their suffering to the soil". [Maher, (1950)]

And secondly, Dr. J.W. Rowland who was the Director of the Henderson Research Station in Zimbabwe in the 1950's:

"The country does not profit greatly if conservationists achieve soil stability and at the same time put minimum requirements of meat and milk beyond the reach of the majority of the people. In these terms, conservation in its wider sense must contrive soil stability - with enough food to furnish minimal nutritional requirements for all - at a price, which is within reach of all sections of the population. " [Rowland (1957)]

It would seem, therefore that advocating for environmental protection to a people who cannot even feed themselves is a futile exercise! Further, it may well be argued that the success of soil conservation in Machakos District of Kenya, as stated by Tiffen et.al above, despite it being in a semi arid area, is largely due to the proximity of Machakos to Nairobi city with its large market for vegetables and fruits and the good infrastructure linking the two, both of which played a critical role in facilitating the creation of a productive agricultural system in the former growing high valued crops which in turn encouraged investments in the agricultural enterprises including land improvement investments such as soil conservation works.

The Team is, therefore, forced to conclude that the farmers are likely to adopt solid conservation technologies if these lead to a more productive agriculture and improve living standards through economic growth. In this respect, conservation technologies which do not increase the demand and labour, and which lead to the farming enterprise becoming more productive and able to sell a surplus and hence be able to purchase inputs such as fertilisers. are likely to be the ones which will play a critical and successful role in reducing environmental degradation on agricultural lands in the ECA sub-region as well as the entire continent. This, therefore, leads the Team to make the following assumption on Environmental issues:

Assumption 8

Global concerns on environmental degradation in Africa, caused principally by inappropriate agricultural practices will increase in the short to medium term. These environmental concerns will, in many cases be prone to passions championed by well-intentioned scientists and observers from the affluent industrial countries, who also exert considerable influence on the actions of the financial donors. Agricultural research systems in the sub-region will be under increasing pressure to incorporate many aspects of environmental research in their research programmes notwithstanding their already wide research agenda and scarce manpower and other resources. There will be pressures to experiment with such models as low input sustainable agriculture (LISA Concept) where it is contended that small scale peasant farmers can be lifted out of poverty without the use of modern agriculture inputs such as seeds/fertilizers; only human power to carry out field operations, organic fertilisers etc. as currently practiced in the traditional agriculture found in the sub-region.

The Team believes the advice by the Nobel Laureate Dr Borlaug - and who was one of the pioneering scientists for the Green Revolution is pertinent in this respect:

" However much they may respect traditional farming practices, agricultural scientists must resist the temptation to romanticize them. They must not succumb to the illusion that, confronted with explosive population growth, Africa's food needs can he met through the improved 'low-input sustainable' systems that are based largely on traditional practices but require much more from farmers in terms of labour, knowledge, and skill. " [Borlaug & Doswell(1995)]

A more objective policy debate needs to be put in place - where reduction in rural poverty through increased agricultural productivity is assumed as a necessary condition for natural resource conservation. To re-echo Dr Rowland above, the Team believes - that it is only when the peasant farmers are assured of at least one square meal a day that they can become good conservationists and environmentalists. This can only occur if the farmers are able to purchase and use modern inputs and they can only do so when they are able to produce a surplus to sell in the increasingly competitive markets!

Conclusion

The Strategic Planning Team, has had to make the above eight assumptions on the likely future developments in the agricultural sector in the ten countries of the ECA sub-region in order to guide itself in the process of developing a strategic plan for regional agricultural research programmes under the auspices of ASARECA. Agricultural research is part of the agricultural sector with the responsibility of developing and disseminating technologies for increasing agricultural production. It is, in this respect, a service unit to the agricultural sector. The likelihood of its products being adopted/used by the farmers is very much influenced by developments in the whole sector.

To summarize, therefore, the team assumes that governments in the sub-region are unlikely to significantly increase their financial resources to the agricultural research systems due to austerity measures being implemented under ESAPs and the NARS have to find alternative and sustainable financing mechanisms for their programmes. The NARS will be under increasing pressure to demonstrate the impact of their research programmes/projects and will as such devote a larger proportion of their resources to the most promising environments/technologies. In such a scenario, the research systems will concentrate on the more enterprising farmers - i.e., commercial farmers be they small, medium or large scale, and they will increasingly use the market to provide technologies to such farmers.

The demographic trends show a rapidly increasing urban population (doubling in 10-12 years) and hence the need for the subsistence farmers to convert to commercial farmers - who sell a significant portion of their produce to the market. This will also call for more research effort -to be directed at post production systems. The liberalisation of world trade will require the agricultural sector to be competitive by world standards for the sub- region to be able to maintain its market share; while on regional level, this will mean more regional trade facilitated by freer movement of the people across national boundaries within the regional economic blocks. Agricultural inputs (such as improved seeds) will also be more readily available for the region - through increased trade, and NARS have to plan their programmes taking cognizance of the regional dimension in addition to the national one.

The liberalised regional trade and freer movement of people will lead to plant and livestock diseases and pests spreading more easily in the sub-region and hence the phytosanitary and zoosanitary units will have to cooperate more closely to control such occurrences. In this era of heightened sensitivity to the importance of sustaining the environment, environmental dimensions of agricultural development and related research and extension issues, will become an increasingly prominent focus of project planning activities. In this environment debate, the Strategic Planning Team, hopes that the best way to tackle this problem is by converting the resource poor farmers from subsistence small scale farmers who use traditional methods, to commercial ones who use modern science based technologies and who produce significantly for the market. These eight assumptions are the ones, which have guided the deliberations of the Team in coming up with a strategic plan for ASARECA and its system of regional research programmes.

An overview of Maize in Uganda

By Ambrose Agona, Jane Nabawanuka H. Muyinza

Postharvest Programme

NARO Uganda

September 2001

General Introduction

Uganda is a land locked country situated between the latitude 4.5°N and 1.5°S. It is bounded to the east by Kenya, to the north by Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda and to the south west by Tanzania. Lake Victoria forms a large part of the southern boundary. The boundaries have profound social and economic influence on those countries adjacent to Uganda with significant implications for trade and political interaction (Bibangambah, 1999).

Given that Uganda is situated astride the equator; the climate is basically equatorial though strongly modified by altitude. Because of the equatorial climate, there is little seasonal variation on temperatures i.e. less than 6 degrees variation in the maximum and 3 degrees centigrade in the minimum.

Rainfall: Like other countries at the equator, Uganda has two distinct wet and dry periods each year, the ‘first rains in March-May and the ‘Second rains’ in September-November although northern Uganda has one long rain season typical of Savannah climate regions.

The bimodal rainfall distribution in most parts of the country permits at least two harvests of a crop a year. Only about half of the area of high rainfall is under crops.

Agricultural sector

Uganda’s agriculture is characterized by the predominance of small-scale peasant mode of production. Small holders produce nearly 100% of the food crops.

· Food crops: Bananas, Maize, sweet potatoes, cassava, millet, sorghum, Beans, groundnuts, soy bean, sim sim,

· Horticultural crops, Tomatoes, pineapples, mangoes, cabbages, onions, oranges.

· Cash crops: Coffee, cotton, tobacco, tea, and sugarcane. Maize is one of the crops with wide domestic use and export potential.

Relative importance of maize in the region

Maize (Zea mays L) is one of the world’s important cereal crops. In East Africa, the crop is a major staple food for a large proportion of the population, in addition to being an important animal feed. Maize importance is centred around the large quantity of carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and fats, contained in the kernels, making it compare favourably as an energy source with root and tuber crops per quantity. In Uganda, an average of 1.5 tonnes of maize per hectare are produced. A lot of this maize, in addition to being eaten directly as food, supports the local brewery industry, where the flour is fermented to produce many local brews.

Maize is eaten as green from cobs, which are either cooked or roasted. Its flour is also used to prepare a local paste called posho whose demand is on the increase. It is now increasingly served in hotels and restaurants in several urban centres including Kampala City. Maize flour is also used in making porridge for breakfast in may homes in urban areas while the maize itself is used in the manufacture of feeds for livestock. It is also a good source of starch and oil.

Contribution to GDP, income and poverty alleviation

Maize comprises a significant part of the diet of many of the region inhabitants. Per capita total maize consumption ranges from 28 kilogrammes a year in Uganda to 125 kilogrammes a year in Kenya. However, the yields remain low, fluctuating around 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

Improving the productivity of maize-based farming could significantly reduce hunger, enhance food security and alleviate poverty through increasing the purchasing power of the farmers. Given the large are on which maize is planted and its importance as food and cash crop, it was earmarked as priority for the regional research by ASARECA (AgriForum, No. 15 April 2001)

Maize was mostly used as a food crop for domestic consumption but after 1981 the Government began to promote it as an export crop in an effort to diversify Uganda’s sources of foreign exchange.

About a percent of the total maize produced in Uganda is consumed by the household on the farm and rest of the crop is sold. This means that maize is now produced mainly for sale. Most maize in Uganda is procured by WFP for its aid activities as Table 1 shows below.

Table.1 Percentage of total production of maize procured by WFP from 1991 -1997(in metric tonnes)

Year	WFP	Total	% WFP
1991	11,700.00	-	35.0
1992	18,200.00	-	61.0
1993	62,725.47	160,438.00	39.1
1994	48,136.16	99,511.00	48.4
1995	21,091.00	86,149.00	24.5
1996	32,158.29	87,464.00	36.8
1997	8,394.00	42,345.00	19.8