The Livestock and Fish team working on the smallholder pig value chain in Uganda recently held a workshop to identify potential best-bet interventions based on the value chain assessment work.

Best-bets are interventions which better fit the prevailing conditions (constraints and opportunities) under which farmers and other value chain actors operate and have more chance to be adopted and contribute towards improving the current situation.

The two day workshop held on 8-9 April 2013 convened a rich mix of stakeholders and  partners. They represented research and academic institutions, local governments and private companies. Project staff from the Smallholder Pig Value Chain Development (SPVCD) and Safe Food Fair Food (SFFF) projects as well as CIAT and ILRI colleagues based outside Uganda also attended the workshop.

Among the partner institutions represented in the workshop were: the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI), whose director Loyce Okedi, offered the workshop’s opening remarks, the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Makerere University, local governments officials of the 3 districts where the project operates (Kamuli, Masaka and Mukono), VEDCO, Farmgain Africa and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM).

To undertake the initial selection of potential best bet interventions participants carefully reviewed the results of the in-depth value chain assessments conducted in Kamuli, Masaka and Mukono districts. They also reviewed knowledge available from previous research and practical experiences on pig production in Uganda and other parts of the world, like China and South East Asia.

Presentations

Presentations covered the results for different projects components at district level, which were selected to represent different value chain domains: rural production for rural consumption (rural– rural), rural production targeted to urban area consumption (rural– urban), and urban and peri-urban production for urban consumption (urban– urban).

Topics discussed included:

• How the In-depth Value Chain Assessment was conducted? (D. Pezo)
• Livelihood analysis, gender roles and decision making, and social capital assessment through group membership (E. A. Ouma)
• Pig Production Systems and Seasonal Calendar (E. A. Ouma)
• Animal Health and Management Practices (M. Dione)
• Food Safety, Nutrition and Zoonoses (K. Rösel and F. Ejobi)
• Feeding and Breeding (N. Carter and D. Pezo)
• Value Chain Mapping (P. Lule and E. A. Ouma)
• Integrating Gender into Livestock Value Chains Work (K. Colverson)
• Reviews of Successes and Failures in Uganda with Promoted Technology Interventions on Animal Health and Zoonosis, Feeding and Value Chains (Z. Nsadha, D. Mutetikka and A. Tatwangire)

Download the workshop report

Presentations and other outputs are available at: http://livestock-fish.wikispaces.com/VCD+Uganda.