Food and Nutrition Security

© mediatheek

Food and nutrition security (FNS) is one of the priority sectors of the Netherlands development policy. The long-term goal of the Netherlands FNS program in Uganda is “Ugandans have increased food and nutrient security through more resilient food systems”. 

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A key priority

Image: Dairy collection in Western Uganda © KAM
The Government of Uganda has identified agriculture as a lead sector to spur socio-economic transformation into a middle income country by 2040. Agriculture is the main provider of income and jobs for the population, and generates 25% of GDP. The sector is dominated by smallholders and productivity is low. The business environment for the agricultural sector is challenging due to, a.o., infrastructure, limited access to finance and insufficient regulation and enforcement. At the same time, malnutrition remains a significant problem. Commercialization of the sector is the prevailing strategy of the Ugandan government.
As a result, Food and Nutrition Security continues to be a key priority, with high relevance to the Ugandan development potential. 

Bilateral Programme

Beans cultivation
Food and nutrition security (FNS) is one of the priority sectors of the Netherlands development policy. The long-term goal of the Netherlands FNS program in Uganda is “Ugandans have increased food and nutrient security through more resilient food systems”. To achieve this goal the Embassy has defined a number of outcomes, such as;
  • Economic performance and resilience of farming systems increased
  • Quality of private sector development for FNS improved
  • Quality of governance for FNS increased.
To achieve these outcomes the Netherlands FNS program focusses on increasing agricultural productivity and income, improving access to food, job creation for youth and sector development. An important characteristic of the programs is agri-sector transformation based on market-led principles. Private sector involvement is promoted, including collaboration with Dutch agro-companies following the Aid and Trade policy.

The Embassy’s FNS program main components are:
  1. the development of specific, commodity related value chains (dairy, rice and potato, seed sector, horticulture) and the improvement of the agribusiness environment (agri-financing, agri-skilling of youth, land rights, solar energy, policy support).
  2. In addition, the Embassy supports food security activities for South Sudanese refugees and host communities in Northern Uganda.
Improving nutrition is integrated in the different value chains, such as a school milk program (for 300 schools) under the dairy value chain.

The Best Farmer Competition

Image: Flagging off Best Farmers  © KAM
The Best Farmers Competition The Embassy organises the nation-wide annual “Best Farmers Competition” in partnership with the media group (Vision Group), DFCU Bank, KLM and Koudijs. From an initial 1500- 2000 nominates, 10 farmers are selected, as the best Farmer of their regions. During a final reward ceremony the winners are announced and rewarded with, a.o., a week agri-business exposure program in the Dutch agro sector.