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FTF Niche Project No. 1071-20-503

1/2011- 12/2011

Iowa State University Submitted by, Margaret Smith and Linda Naeve

Bridging the GAP: Increasing the Competitiveness of Ugandan Women in the Marketplace

Final Report

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Bridging the GAP: Increasing the Competitiveness of Ugandan Women in the

Marketplace FTF Niche Project No. 1071-20-503

Iowa State University

Final Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Work Plan Status 2

2. Activities by Country 3

3. Outreach 4

Table 2. Volunteer Project Outreach Activities 5

4. Case Study 6

5. Annexes

Table 1a. Volunteer Assignment Data 9

Table 1b. Volunteer Assignment Activity Data 10

Table 2. Host Data 10

Table 3. Volunteer Scope of Work for Quarter 4 11

6. Appendix 1. Volunteer Report (accompanying document)

7. Appendix 2. VEDCO Final Evaluation (accompanying document)

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Bridging the GAP: Increasing the Competitiveness of Ugandan Women

in the Marketplace FTF Niche Project No. 1071-20-503 (1/2011 – 12/2011)

Iowa State University

Final Report January 1–December 31, 2011

1. Work Plan Status

The Work Plan and project objectives to ‘Bridge the Gap’ between subsistence and

commercial agriculture for Kamuli district women farmers in Uganda were comprehensive

and spanned the full year of the project. Volunteers worked with eight groups of ten

women farmers for a total of 80 farmers. They partnered with an in-country non-profit

organization, Volunteers Efforts for Development Concerns (VEDCO), whose staff helped

address project objectives between volunteer work trips. Work of each volunteer group

built upon work of the previous groups. All project objectives were addressed during each

volunteer work trip, but with multiple methods during the year. This project design used a

proven approach to teaching and technology transfer of multiple contacts and exposures to

new concepts.

Work tasks for Quarter 4 were completed for each objective defined in the project work

plan. In addition, new work plan activities of documenting group sale of maize and

soybeans from the first growing season were completed. Volunteers met with

approximately 80 Ugandan women farmers in the Kamuli district to:

a. assess grain quality with improved drying and threshing techniques,

b. assess soybean grain quality, drying and seed cleaning techniques,

c. continue training farmers and assess the use of the Farm Record Books, and

d. verify joint marketing transactions throughout the year and to address the

challenge of joint marketing of maize and soybeans.

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Table 1. Project Work Plan (shaded areas denote completed tasks)

Task Quarter

1 2 3 4

Objective 1: Improve Maize Grain Quality

Obtain grain class, grade and quality standards determined by UCE (those used by

AgroWays (U) Ltd. in Jinja

X

Interview AgroWays (U) Ltd about grain quality received X

Interview the Kamuli mill and warehouse owners regarding grain quality received X X X X

Conduct on-farm maize grain quality baseline evaluations X

Demonstrate maize grain shelling tools to 8 women groups for trial following spring

season harvest

X

Follow up on-farm maize grain quality evaluations X

Follow up survey of participating farmers regarding their post-harvest grain handling

methods (Quarter 4)

X

Objective 2: Increase soybean production

Review VEDCO grain production guides for development of a soybean production

guide

X

Obtain improved soybean seed and inoculum from the National Crops Resources

Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Kampala

X

Obtain local soybeans in Kamuli district

X

Plant a 1/4 acre soybean demonstration (2 varieties, + or - rhizobium inoculation) X

Evaluate crops in demonstration plantings and farmers’ fields X

Host field educational event for women farmers at demonstration plot X X

Obtain data from surveys compiled by VEDCO to provide baseline data X

Harvest, thresh seed, and compile, data from soybean demonstration plot X

Locate a source of improved seed for women farmers to plant in the first planting

season

X

Determine goals for second soybean crop and potential joint market strategies X X

Document joint sales of soybeans from the first growing season X

Objective 3: Improve on-farm production record keeping

Obtain and modify VEDCO record keeping books and develop record keeping book

for 80 participating farmers

X

Review manual with group leaders for input and revisions X

Revise and have manual translated into Luganda X

Distribute manual and train 80 participating women on use of the record-keeping

system

X X

Review record books with women famers groups X X X

Use data recorded in record books to determine changes in farming practices and

profitability

X

Objective 4: Develop a pilot, joint marketing effort

Meet with warehouses and mills to obtain quality grade information, storage

requirements, length of storage, pricing, etc.

X X

Interview one additional potential grain buyer about purchasing from aggregate

supply from Kamuli District

X X

Collect maize grain prices monthly from Kamuli women farmers, Kamuli Mill, and

AgroWays (U) Ltd in Jinja

X X X X

Develop cost analysis for aggregating, trucking and storage of maize X X X X

Locate and obtain cost estimates for trucking services X X

Group leaders visit grain mills and warehouses in Jinga and Kamuli to discuss group

marketing

X

Coordinate transportation requirements for grain collection for joint marketing X X X

Implement pilot group marketing project X X

Document group sales of maize from the first growing season X

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2. Activities by Country

All project activities were conducted in the Kamuli District of Uganda.

3. Outreach

Ten Iowa women Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers were featured in 15 local newspaper and

newsletter articles in 2011, sharing their volunteer experiences and the work they

conducted while in Uganda (Table 2). In addition, articles about the project were featured

in Iowa Farmer Today, a statewide agricultural newspaper and Successful Farming

magazine, a nationwide monthly farm publication.

Volunteers also gave 24 face-to-face presentations to community service groups, women in

agriculture and beginning farmer conferences, church groups, 4-H clubs, school groups,

and to family and friends. They reached over 900 people via this method of outreach (Table

2). Additional presentations are scheduled for 2012.

Other outreach included an interview about the project with volunteer, April Hemmes, that

appeared online at www.americasfarmers.com. She also wrote a blog during her work trip

in August, 2011 that was carried on the same website. Two volunteers also posted about

their experiences on Facebook.

Volunteer Lori Abendroth integrated her experience with the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer

program into development and delivery of a curriculum, 'Mission, Justice, and Poverty', to 50

of her church members in Des Moines, Iowa. Workshop participants met in October for a total of

eight contact hours of instruction and discussion (Table 2).

Each quarter, ISU Extension Communications published an article on the project that was made

available to all county extension staff and local media. The articles focused on the volunteers’

activities and perspective of the project. These articles are archived at:

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/articles

As a result of outreach efforts, $4,540 was donated to the project by individual Iowans and service

groups. The funds were used to purchase materials and supplies not included in the grant, such as

bicycle-operated maize sheller and cost share for new, group-owned bicycles dedicated to the

shellers.

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Table 2. Iowa /USAID 2011 Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer Project Outreach Activities

Volunteer Print Publication

Estimated

Audience Presentations

Estimated

Audience Social Media

Estimated

Audience

April Hemmes Farm News, Ft. Dodge 1500 Rotary, Hampton 30 Friends & Family 50

Hampton Chronicle 2000 Kiwanis, Hampton 30 Blog 400

The Field Position, - Kiwanis, Iowa Falls 20 Facebook 386

Latham Seeds News - Executive Women in Ag 60

Americasfarmers.com, Monsanto Corp. - Young Farmer Conf., IA Farm Bureau 120

Jennifer Steffen Fairfield Ledger 2600 Keosauqua Rotary Club 21

Ottumwa Courier 14,000 Fairfield Women's Club 18

Leopold Center for Sustainable Ag News -

Van Buren Co. Hospital News -

Lori Abendroth

Mission, Justice, Poverty 50

Gateway Church

Chris Henning Jefferson Bee & Herald 2600 Jefferson Rotary Club 40 Family & Friends 65

Scranton Journal 900 First United Church, Coven 12 Facebook 300

Iowa State Park Group 8 Online Groups 150

Rippey Lions Club 20

Lori Lang Shellsburg Pride 1600 Eden Aid Community Group 40 Facebook 250

Cougar Correspondent 600

Sheila Hebenstreit West Central Co-op Newsletter - Jefferson Rotary Club 40

Jefferson Herald 2600 United Methodist Women

Women in Denim 45

Brenda Zylstra Focus 1790 Inwood Kiwanis 30 Family 18

West Lyon Herald 808 Inwood Christian Reformed Church 250

Rock Rapids Kiwanis Club 30

Central Lyon FFA 25

CALL Lyons 4-H Club 30

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4. Case Study

a. Challenge

Women farmers in the Kamuli district of Uganda have previously made strides toward

food self-sufficiency, but many still lack the production, post-harvest management, and

marketing skills needed to generate enough money for their families’ needs. Maize is a

major food and cash crop for women, and they expressed interest in soybeans as another

dual purpose crop. Both crops are in demand in Ugandan markets. Crop quality has been

poor in the district, with estimated losses of 40 percent of the maize crop. Low grain

quality due to high moisture, drying crops on bare ground, and beating maize to thresh it,

reduces both the volume of grain available for sale and the price received. Lack of

business skills limits farmers’ ability to access better markets and improve profitability.

Farmers are anxious to sell more commercially, but lack understanding of business

formation that would help them working together to access better markets.

b. Initiative

The project focused on building both crop management and marketing skills with 80

Ugandan women farmers. Farmer-to-farmer volunteers from Iowa, working in the

Kamuli district of Uganda, focused on four objectives to help farmers improve their grain

management and business development, and to access better markets for their crops.

Volunteers provided training on new post-harvest handling techniques, including drying

grain on tarpaulins and using new, bicycle-powered maize shellers to improve maize

grain quality. They also developed new farm record books, appropriate for Ugandan

farms, and taught women farmers to keep written farm records. Volunteers facilitated

formation of groups and/or marketing associations that allowed farmers both to share

machinery too expensive for a single farm, and to jointly market their grains. In addition,

volunteers trained farmers to grow soybeans, to use them in the family diet, and to also

use any surplus for cash sales.

c. Results

Improved post-harvest management made positive changes in maize grain quality. Maize

storage losses were reduced from 42 percent to 22 percent of the crop and the quality of

maize sold classified as ‘good’ increased nearly fourfold, from 19 percent to 82 percent.

Farmers expressed great satisfaction with the new farm record books to track project

crops. Ninety-eight percent of the farmers kept written records during the first growing

season. Ninety-six percent kept records during the second growing season, less complete,

however, than those from the first season.

Only 20 percent of project farmers marketed either their maize or soybeans collectively.

Reasons given for low participation included a lack of market demand and low yields,

thus they used their crop for home consumption. Prices for volumes of aggregated maize

were about 25 percent higher than for maize sold individually. Ninety–seven percent of

project farmers are interested in aggregating and selling their grain collectively in 2012.

Farmers saw the value of growing soybeans and adding them to their families’ diets.

About one third had surplus soybeans for sale. All of the project farmers plan to grow

soybeans in 2012.

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Farmers increased income due to farming system and marketing changes they made while

participating in the project. One indicator is mobile phone ownership, which increased

from 44% of project farmers to 76% owning mobile phones at the end of the project year.

d. Knowledge generation and sharing

Iowa farmer volunteers, participating Ugandan farmers and VEDCO staff members

worked to capture and disseminate the knowledge developed during this project in:

their reports, newspaper interviews, presentations, and blog

the 2nd

generation Farm Record Books that were revised with input and advice

from our Ugandan collaborating farmers

one-on-one advice shared verbally with other Kamuli district farmers (those not

participating in the 2011 project) about post-harvest grain handling, soybean

production, written farm recordkeeping, and collaborative grain marketing.

Indications of dissemination included the expansion of the number of farmers growing

soybeans in the second cropping season of 2011. Project farmers sold, and/or shared seed

from the improved soybean cultivar with neighboring farmers who then planted them in

the second growing season.

Information was shared via:

websites (Americasfarmers.com and extension.iastate.edu)

print media-----newspapers, newsletters, and a national agricultural magazine

volunteer oral and visual presentations to Iowa farm, church, and service groups.

Presentations included still photos and video

one-on-one communication among Ugandan farmers

group communication from VEDCO staff to additional non-project farmers

Solutions to improving poor grain quality, increasing soybean production, and improving

economic returns with collaborative marketing of grains piloted in 2011 will be shared

with 100 additional farmers and their families in the 2012 Iowa State University USAID

Farmer-to-Farmer project, to be conducted in the same district in Uganda. Sharing will be

via:

Iowa woman farmer to Uganda woman farmer

Ugandan farmer to Ugandan farmer, and

VEDCO staff to Ugandan farmers.

Challenges that arose as the project developed included:

the need for bicycles dedicated to the maize shellers. These will also need to be

jointly owned among farmer groups

the need for formal, written machinery sharing agreements within farmer groups.

Some groups drafted agreements in 2011, but these need further development and

formalization, and implementation.

the need for better ways of cleaning/winnowing threshed soybeans. Han

winnowing results in many allergic reactions of the women farmers to soybean

dust and chaff.

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the need for a better ways to grind roasted soybeans into meal Farmers are

currently pounding the soybeans with their mortars and pestles, which is slow and

tedious.

the need for marketing groups to formalize their relationships with written

charters. Some of these were drafted in 2011 and need to be further developed.

the need for marketing groups to establish bank accounts so that they can receive

payments for grain.

Each of these challenges will be addressed in the 2012 Iowa State University USAID

Farmer-to-Farmer project, to be conducted in the same district in Uganda.

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Table 1a. Volunteer Assignment Data

Ass

ign

men

t (T

rip

) N

o.

Na

me

Gen

der

Sta

te o

f R

esid

ence

Occ

up

ati

on

Ca

teg

ory

Ra

ce/

Eth

nic

ity

Pri

or

FtF

Ass

ign

men

ts (

Y/N

)

Co

un

try

(U

ga

nd

a =

UG

)

Nic

he

Pro

ject

(10

71

-20

-50

3)

Ass

ign

men

t S

tart

Da

te

Ass

ign

men

t E

nd

Da

te

Nu

mb

er o

f v

olu

nte

er

da

ys

com

ple

ted

Est

ima

ted

Va

lue

of

Vo

lun

teer

Ser

vic

e

Lev

era

ged

(U

S $

)

Est

ima

ted

Va

lue

of

Ho

st C

on

trib

uti

on

(US

$)

Ty

pe

of

vo

lun

teer

Ass

ista

nce

Co

mm

od

ity

Ch

ain

act

ivit

ies

Ho

sts

1 Chris Henning F IA F W N UG X 3/19/11 3/28/11 10 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

1 Dana Foster F IA F W N UG X 3/19/11 3/28/11 10 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

1 Brenda Zylstra F IA F W N UG X 3/19/11 3/28/11 10 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

2 Jennifer Steffen F IA F W N UG X 5/23/11 5/29/11 6 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

2 Jenny Thomas F IA F W N UG X 5/23/11 5/29/11 6 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

2 Lori Abendroth F IA F W N UG X 5/23/11 5/29/11 6 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

3 Sheila Hebenstreit F IA F W N UG X 8/19/11 8/29/11 10 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

3 April Hemmes F IA F W N UG X 8/19/11 8/29/11 10 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

4 Susan Jutz F IA F W N UG X 11/9/11 11/19/11 11 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

4 Lori Lang F IA F W N UG X 11/9/11 11/19/11 11 5,000 1,500 T 4 VEDCO

Total 74 50,000 15,000

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Table 1b. Volunteer Assignment Activity Data

Persons Directly Assisted Persons Trained Number of Volunteer

Recommendations

Ass

ignm

ent

(Tri

p)

No

.

Male Female Total Male Female Total

Eco

no

mic

Org

aniz

atio

nal

Fin

anci

al

En

vir

on

men

tal

1 20 130 150 0 8 8 2 3 2 0

2 8 84 92 8 8 16 4 3 2 0

3 5 83 88 6 8 14 4 4 2 0

4 6 88 94 7 8 15 4 9 5 2

Total 33 297 330 13 24 38 14 19 11 2

Table 2. Host Data

Potential Beneficiaries

Host Country

Countr

y F

tF

Pro

ject

Inst

ituti

on t

ype

Dat

e of

Bas

elin

e

asse

ssm

ent

Mem

ber

s /

ow

ner

s

Em

plo

yee

s

Cli

ents

and

Suppli

ers

Fam

ily m

ember

s

of

clie

nts

Tota

l

VEDCO Uganda Collaborative

Marketing,

etc.

NGO June

2011

2 16 94 658 770

Volunteer Report after the Field Assignment

Refer to accompanying document, Appendix 1.

VEDCO Final Evaluation Report

Refer to accompanying document, Appendix 2.

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Table 3. Volunteer Assignment Scope of Work – Quarter 4

Host/Partner: Iowa State University

Beneficiary Organization:

Volunteer Efforts for Developing Concerns

(VEDCO)

Location of Project:

Uganda

Primary Contact Person:

Dr. Mary Holz-Clause Date Project Started:

January , 2011

Telephone: 515-294-1482

Fax: 515-294-4715 Type of Assignment: Farmer to Farmer

Email:

mclause@iastate.edu Dates of Assignment:

November 8 – 20, 2011

Brief background on beneficiary

organization:

Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns

(VEDCO) is an indigenous Non Governmental

Organization established in 1986 in response to

the challenges of poverty that resulted from the

social and economic disruptions caused by the

military conflicts of 1980-1986 in Luweero.

VEDCO works in seven districts in Uganda

and currently reaches out to 22,316 farmers

(60% women) organized in 933 farmers

groups, with approximately 133,900 farmers

indirectly benefiting.

Objectives of the Assignment:

1. Improve maize grain quality by

implementing better post-harvest handling

strategies

2. Increase soybean production among women

farmers in the Kamuli District

3. Improve on-farm production and marketing

record keeping

4. Develop pilot, joint maize marketing effort

among farm women’s groups

Tasks to be carried out:

Meet with all 8 women famers’ groups to discuss success of collective marketing, post

harvest handling and grading standards.

Visit farms to assess success of second season soybean plantings

Collect and assimilate data from second season record books of all project participants

Work with VEDCO staff to insure project sustainability

Expected number of persons to be trained

(m/f) 5/80

Required expertise of Volunteer:

Actively engaged in farming

(grain, horticulture, livestock)

Name of Expected Volunteers:

Lori Lang

Susan Jutz

Current Position of Volunteer

Farmer

Farmer