(Kampala, Uganda) Korea Institute for Development Strategy (KDS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries, and Fisheries (MAAIF) held the Final Launching Ceremony of the APM Strategy at Serena Hotel (July 11th 2017) as a part of the project of “Establishment of Agro-processing and Marketing Strategy in Uganda” funded by a bilateral grant from the Republic of Korea through Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The Korean Ambassador Jong-dae Park, Country Director Jun, the Uganda State Minister of Agriculture Christopher Kibazanga, other government officers, DPOs, leaders of farmer organizations from Masindi and Jinja, as well as the Project Manager Jinsoo Kim, and KDS Executive Director Hongmin Andrew Chun have attended this ceremony.
Since 2013, KDS have implemented the project “Establishment of Agro-processing and Marketing Strategy in Uganda” for four years under cooperation with MAAIF in order to improve postharvest management and marketing of rice/maize in Uganda. The project is composed of 1) establishment of the national Agro-processing and Marketing Strategy for rice/maize in Uganda, 2) capacity building of farmers and other value-chain actors, 3) establishment of the Pilot and Demonstration centers (“P/D center“), and to provide postharvest equipment/materials for farm households.
Especially, as a part of the establishment of P/D centers, Producer-Processor-Public-Partnership Model (“PPPP Model”) was formulated in October 2016. With active participation from stakeholders, the project was able to significantly improve postharvest loss (PHL), usage of the by-products, farmers’ access to market, and rice/maize value-chain.
Edward Mugisa, a maize farmer from Masindi participating in this project has sent his appreciation to KDS and KOICA. He confessed that he was able to sell his maize for higher price, which was used in expanding his farm and children’s education.
The APM Strategy was officially approved as a national strategy by the Ugandan government at the Top Policy Management (TPM) meeting of MAAIF held on June 13th. The priority actions included in the strategy will be taken into implementation step by step for the following five years to modernize postharvest management and processing of the rice/maize, improving the country’ rice/maize value chain.The Project Manager Jinsoo Kim shared that “The main focus of this project was 1) to establish the strategy based on evidences from the field experiment, 2) to formulate actions to bring tangible results rather than limit ourselves to the theory, and lastly 3) to create a sustainable strategy which can last even after the completion of the project.”
In addition, Mr. Hongmin Andrew Chun, Executive Director of KDS, recalled that compared to other similar ODA projects, this particular project is unique in the sense that KDS was able to establish more realistic strategy based on real evidences from the field, to develop the PPPP Model and pedal-powered threshers which were appropriate for the current situations. Mr.Chun also sent out his appreciations to the Ugandan government for the successful approval of the APM project.
The ceremony caught many people’s attention, which resulted in the coverage of the ceremony in the first page of the major Uganda news media, New Vision on July 12th.
**Now, the project heads toward its official completion on August 23rd.
