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Showing posts from June, 2014

Will restructuring the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADs) solve Uganda's Agriculture sector problems?

By Dr. Annettee Kuteesa, R esearch Fellow,  Economic Policy Research Centre Listening to President Museveni’s state-of-the-nation address a few weeks ago, it was no surprise that the agriculture, industry, services, and ICT sectors were the centre of his speech. These four dominate the economy. However, when it came to agriculture, you could sense the president’s disappointment with its performance. There was the inability of the peasants to tap into agriculture on the one hand, and Naads spending behaviour that has let down sector growth, on the other. His solution is to restructure the institution. While I agree with the president and laud him for the change long overdue, one must stand back and assess what type of restructuring Naads needs. The Impact of Naads on Agriculture Two years ago, the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) carried out a study on the impact of Naads on agriculture. The study discovered that there was very little impact of the programme on the inte