The role of national agricultural advisory services (NAADS) in promoting food security of households in Uganda:
Loading...
Date
2014-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kampala International University, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Abstract
National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) is a semi-autonomous public agency in the ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. It is responsible for public agricultural advisory or extension services. The NAADS programme was created in 2001 to enable rural poor farmers’ access agricultural information, knowledge and improved technologies. NAADS is currently being implemented in all districts, municipalities and sub counties of Uganda (New vision, Wednesday, May 28, 2014 pg3). It has been hailed by the government officials as having played a great role in promoting food security of households in Uganda through provision of services and agricultural inputs to improve agricultural productivity and hence ensuring food security in the local communities. The aim of the study was to find out the role of NAADS in promoting food security of households’ in Uganda in order to suggest ways of improving the performance of the NAADS Programs. The research reviewed different authors and scholars, journals, brochures and articles that discuss the performance of NAADS in promoting food security of the local communities in Uganda. The research was a descriptive study that employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches of research. The study findings revealed that majority (62.2%) of the respondents agreed that NAADS has transformed the agricultural sector of Bugangari sub county through providing advice on the type of crops to plant, spacing of crops and the type of soil which is better for a given crop. This is evidenced by the improved yields per household in the sub-county. The challenges found by the study indicate that NAADS officials take long to visit the farms, changes in weather affects the growth of crops and that political interferences affected the operations of their activities. Respondents suggested an increase in funding, such that they have enough in puts and that politicians should avoid politicizing the programs. In conclusion, the findings in the research indicate that the NAADS program has benefited some people of Bugangari Sub County. However this contradicts with the presidents findings where he wanted to scrap off the program.
Basing on the findings, the researcher recommends increased in beneficiary participation in the NAADS programme implementation particularly at the low level. In addition more sensitization and training is also needed because most farmers who joined NAADS recently are not well conversant with it and the government should increase funding the NAADS program since it is impacting positively on promoting food security and the standard of living for the people of Bugangari sub county.
Description
A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Public Administration Faculty of Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment for Award of the Degree of Bachelor Arts in Public Administration of Kampala International University
Keywords
National agricultural advisory services (NAADS), Food security, Households, Uganda, Bugangari sub county Rukungiri district