The Agriculture Cluster Development e-subsidy program: beneficiary stories

Introduction

The Agricultural Cluster Development Project (ACDP) is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) with support from the World Bank. The objective is to raise on-farm productivity, production, and marketable volumes of five selected priority agricultural commodities (maize, beans, rice, cassava, and coffee).  In 2017, ACDP started with five pilot districts of Ntungumo, Amuru, Kalungu, Nebbi and Iganga, and by December 2019, mobilization and sensitization had commenced in 34 roll-out districts.

The smart e-subsidy program is implemented in three cropping cycles, is time-bound and declines through the cropping cycles. In season one government grants 67% subsidy, in season two 50% and in season three 37%. After the third cycle, the farmer is expected to have graduated both financially and in knowledge to effectively afford the full cost of the inputs and therefore requires no subsidy. Access to the inputs is through the e-voucher process.

The e-Voucher system,

Under the e-Voucher system, a farmer contributes towards the purchase of key inputs needed to intensify the production of one of the prioritized commodities, on one acre of their farms, and improve post-harvest handling through investing in farm-level storage. The instrument for providing a time-bound, partial, and a diminishing matching grant for the purchase of key farm inputs is the e-Voucher.  Eligible farm households receive an e-Voucher that covers part of the expense involved in the purchase of a group of inputs (fertilizer, seed, on-farm storage, access to technical and market information). Each farm household chooses the specific combination of inputs purchased through the e-Voucher system from the menu of eligible inputs through ICT tools including mobile phones). The private sector plays the role of ensuring that inputs reach the farmers bringing in a key element of production, quality inputs and establishing input stores in the villages

The main objective of the e-Voucher system is to manage and track project beneficiaries and subsidy use. Specifically, the system ensures that a farmer receives input subsidy support, receives vital and relevant agro information, and becomes visible to the farm inputs supply chain, financial systems and to the agricultural extension systems.

Speaking to Mugume Joram a bean farmer from Kisenyi Village, Rutembe Sub County, he narrated that, “I expect to harvest 60 tonnes of beans this season but I still face challenges of market, middle men buy on the farm at very low prices yet I put in a lot of time and money”.  As farmers begin to realise higher yields, markets are still a challenge. However, the Chief Administrative Officer, Ntungumo, Ms Nyakito Joanita said, “there is a ready market for beans from Rwanda, in addition with the good road network buyers came from all over the country to buy our beans because of the good quality”. This indicates that, there is need to capitalise on the existing market and create linkages between the farmers and buyers.

Under the e-subsidy program, the majority of farmers now harvest over 600kgs of beans per acre compared to when they used to harvest 400kgs per acre before joining the program.  For coffee 10kgs per tree is now harvested. 

Ssentongo, a coffee farmer from Kigasa village, Kyamulibwa Sub-County in Kalungu District revealed that he received fertilizers which he applied in his coffee garden and expects to get approximately 12kgs per tree for this season. He, however, noted that the e-Voucher system sometimes has network challenges.  Farmers can pay in time and but there are delays in receiving the inputs. One of the reasons he suggested was due to the monopoly by some suppliers which in turn causes delays in delivery of inputs.

Ssentogo says that in his village, farmers no longer dry coffee on the ground, but use tarpaulins. This has enabled them to produce clean coffee free of Aflatoxins. With support from the ACDP Matchmaking grant, they expect to receive over three billion shillings Uganda shillings that will be used to construct a coffee processing store. Farmers in the sub-county will also be able to sell collectively, at a good price and job opportunities will be created for the communities.