Uganda is contributing nearly $10 million to the latest phase of a South-South Cooperation project focused on crop and animal production with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Chinese government after the first two phases yielded dramatic results, including a quadrupling of rice production per hectare.

In one of the most significant contributions of its kind from a beneficiary country under the initiative, the Ugandan government is putting in $9 623 703 through a Unilateral Trust Fund (UTF). This comes in addition to $2 389 138 contributed by China to Phase III of the project through the FAO-China South-South Cooperation (SSC) Programme Trust Fund.

Under an agreement signed in Kampala by FAO Representative Antonio Querido and Uganda’s Finance Minister Matia Kasaijia, the Uganda UTF will be used to support overall implementation of Phase III of the project. It will focus on four areas, namely: 1) establishment of an integrated technology transfer base; 2) development of high yielding schemes for rice and foxtail millet; 3) support for livestock improvement programmes; and 4) development of the aquaculture value chain.

''The Uganda Trust Fund contribution to Phase III of the SSC project marks a strong endorsement of the significant impact it has already had and a resounding vote of confidence in its potential for continuing improvements to the lives and livelihoods of Ugandan farmers and those who depend on them,'' Querido said.

The support will directly reach a minimum of 9 600 farmers, of whom at least 30 percent will be women, as well as provide training for 200 technical officers in Uganda and China. China’s technical assistance to Uganda under Phases I and II has already brought significant results, addressing the East African country’s longstanding issues of poor agricultural productivity.

One project area saw a fourfold increase in rice production per hectare, while in other areas, milk production increased from 2 to 7 litres per cow per day. More than 3 000 Ugandan farmers and 80 government staff have been trained, while high-quality, low-cost fish feed techniques have increased aquaculture production.

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