Group photo of the workshop participants

On Monday 19th November, the Smallholder Pig Value Chains Development (SPVCD) in Uganda project held a Workshop in Masaka (Uganda) to launch the Value Chain Assessment work in the district.

The workshop participants included, local authorities, technical staff of the local government and the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), as well as leaders of farmers organizations. The activities of two ILRI projects, SPVCD and Safe Food – Fair Food (SF-FF), that are working with pigs in Uganda were presented. A plan of activities to be developed in the district with local partners was also presented at the workshop.

Value chain assessment (VCA) work in Kisosso, which is one of the 15 villages to be included in the study covering three types of smallholder pig value chains in Masaka district: periurban  production to urban consumption; rural to urban; and rural to rural was commenced on the next day, 20^th November. During the following three weeks, the project will be concentrating its VCA efforts working with key informants in each village, as well as on focus group discussions with farmers. Specific tools for other actors in the value chains like, traders, processors and service providers among others will be applied later.

Emily Ouma, Michel Dione and Danilo Pezo of SPVCD, and Francis Ejobi, the national coordinator of the  SF-FF project in Uganda participated at the event. The local coordinators for the VCA work in Masaka are Lawrence Mayega (District Veterinary Officer) and Eve Luvumu (NAADS).

By ILRI/Danilo Pezo, Project Coordinator – Smallholder Pig Value Chain Development in Uganda