Feature: China's experience can spark agricultural revolution in Uganda

After her husband lost her job at the district administration, Janet Yeko, a mother of four children had to take the center stage in feeding and taking care of her family.

Every morning, she braves the dew to till her land in a remote village in this mountainous eastern Ugandan district of Bukwo.

After working her garden, she rushes to the market to sell some of her vegetables to boost the household income. Her husband stays in the garden till the afternoon when he retires home to a meal prepared by Yeko after she returns from the village market.

Like many families in Uganda, this is Yeko's daily routine if the family is to survive. Many families in Uganda derive their livelihood from agriculture. Government figures indicate that up to 80 percent of the country's total population of over 35 million people derive their livelihood from agriculture.

Experts argue that this type of farming should not continue to be the trend if millions of Ugandans are to be pulled out of poverty.

James Tumwine, a top ministry of agriculture official told Xinhua in a recent interview that the east African country can borrow from China's experience of using agriculture to fast track development.

Tumwine said whereas the environment and conditions between Uganda and China may vary, Uganda could use some of the principles.

He argued that there is already an existing mechanism, South to South Cooperation, through which the country can learn how China was able to make it.

Uganda, China and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) through the South to South Cooperation have an agreement to support small-scale farmers in boosting their production, including through sustainable technologies.

China has periodically, since 2012, sent experts and technicians to Uganda to share knowledge and expertise about innovations and good practices that have been tried and tested in countries facing similar conditions and challenges.

Tumwine, who heads the Uganda side of the China, Uganda and FAO cooperation, said through this mechanism, Uganda can draw lessons from the Chinese experience.

"We cannot continue to talk about how China has developed in the last 30 years without us having a clear road map on how we can do it in Uganda. We don't have to reinvent the wheel, the wheel is already running, you just have to hasten the opportunities," he said.

He said from his various training in China and elsewhere, there must be a deliberate effort to develop agriculture especially if a country derives its livelihood from it.

He said like China, Uganda and many African countries must master the importance of value chain development. He said in Uganda while a particular crop may be promoted and the farmers pick interest, there is no clear mechanism of where it is going to be marketed or what value addition is going to be done on the produce.

"When we visited China, we realized that when you talk of any commodity, the government addresses the entire value chain, they will know where the seed comes from, who will produce it, how they will add value and where it will be marketed," he said.

"If we can adopt that idea of promoting the entire value chain of a given commodity, we shall go very far in utilizing Chinese agricultural technology that can help Uganda prosper," he added.

He said the country needs a deliberate plan to implement policies and make adjustments where the policies seem not to give the desired results. He said China was able to fast track its development in the last 30 years by perfecting its policies on agriculture.

He said agriculture officials who have trained in China have to share their experiences when they come back home so that appropriate policies are developed.

Through the South to South Cooperation, a 220 million U.S. dollar Chinese Agri-Industrial Park is being constructed in the central part of the country, about 50km north of the capital Kampala.

The 2,500 acre industrial park will involve rice farming, poultry, horticulture, and fish farming. It will also include agribusiness, value addition, use of renewable energy and agro-machinery.

"It is going to be a model agricultural industrial park where people can learn from, know more about Chinese technologies. It will market its own products," said Tumwine.

He said growers would also get training from the park and also be able to sell their produce to the park. Endit