CLA for Commercial Production of Iron Rich Beans: Karamoja Subregion

To improve nutrition and food security in Karamoja, the Feed the Future Uganda Inclusive Agricultural Markets (FtF IAM) Activity promoted the production and consumption of iron rich beans (IRB) in the Karamoja subregion with the aim of increasing incomes and improving the livelihood of  households through agriculture-led inclusive economic growth. The Activity sourced the IRB bean seed from districts outside of Karamoja because it was not available in Karamoja and there was no commercial production of seed within the subregion.

To address this challenge, FTF IAM entered  external collaboration with three entities namely, the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), the agricultural research agency in Uganda, and Okeba, a private enterprise engaged in aggregation and off taking of grains. Okeba sourced and supplied farmers with foundation seed for planting while NARO provided technical training and coaching to farmers to improve production through better agronomic practices and post-harvest handling of IRB seed. Through collaboration, the partnership co-invested. FtF IAM organized farmer groups and introduced agro-insurance to protect farmers against risks derived from weather changes, pests, and disease outbreaks. Whereas NARO accessed foundation seed for the farmers and continued to provide technical assistance. The realized output was that 196 commercial and smallholder farmers from 6 farmer groups grew IRB seed, 479 acres were utilized, 115kg yield per acre was realized and a total of 54.92 MT of QDS seed produced in the second season. As of 2022, the Activity has reallocated resources from performance-based awards to capacity building of the groups in enterprise development so they can operate as commercially viable entities – Local Seed Businesses (LSB).