80% of Ugandans benefit from agriculture for food and economic security. A big percentage of them are smallholder farmers whostill practice subsistence agriculture which is characterized by poor farming methods and low yields due to poor land utilization. Post-harvest losses and wastage by smallholder farmers in Uganda has remained constant and as a result majority of farmers experience low yields per hectare of farm cultivated by smallholder farmers. This makes farmers wanting to cultivate much more farms to have more farm produce at their disposal. As a result, more land is cleared, leading to environmental degradation which is a bigger contributor to global warming.Most farmers incur losses during harvest (64%) followed by storage (12%) and drying (10%). More than Shs16 billion is registered in post-harvest losses every year according to Uganda Cooperative Alliance, October 2018 and World bank research.There are mainly five segments under the post-harvest chain where food losses occur; harvest, drying, threshing/shelling, grading/cleaning, farm storage, transportation, market storage. Post-harvest losses have a negative impact on food security for poor people, on food quality and safety, and on economic development.
Smallholder farmers in Post Conflict areas of Northern Uganda face a challenge of post harvest losses due to lack of networking opportunities with the private sector. Produce is wasted because farmers grow specifications that are not demanded by big market players such as bulk buyers and processors. Also they have limited access to financial, research, improved inputs and technical support services.
Agriculture modernization is a critical component of Uganda’s vision 2040 which is “A transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country. Wise Quality Technologies will support farmers through a developed mobile application that will provide access to reliable information from buyers and processors requirements.
P-Harvest Mobile App will act as an information circulation and access center forsmallholder farmers in Gulu and Kitgum Districts in Northern Uganda. Information on seed varieties, research on seed multiplication and pests/disease control, extension services and agricultural frameworks and development plans put in place by Operation Wealth creation and Ministry of Agriculture Animal and Fisheries will be shared to farmers. Also there will be created sustainable linkages between improved input dealers,financial institutions and research institutions service providers and smallholder farmers. Linkages will be easily created with smallholder farmers even in hard to reach ares where majority of farmers operate. Value chain actor will be able to calculate expenses in advance to be spent to collect produce thus increasing farmers bargaining power.The P-Harvest Mobile platform will support in delivering agricultural value chain development services such as linkages to training, financingthrough contract growing and access to improved seeds and Agro
chemicals and fertilizers approved and recommended on market.
Our solution will contribute to 30% reduction on smallholders post harvest losses per year for maize, ground nuts and beans value chains. This will translate intoimproved production, food security, sales and incomesfrom produce put on market that would ideally have been lost.
There are similar examples in the market. However smart agriculture has taken slow pace to penetrate deep rural areas because existing solutions are not inclusive enough. They only carter for already uplifted farmers and the smallholder farmers who constitute majority in the agriculture sector have less touch to such technologies. Our solution is dual in nature it will constitute an App for smartphone users and SMS platform for basic phone users. In this we are unique because we do not leave any smallholder farmer behind. We are focusing on solving the biggest challenge today of post-harvest loss by introducing smart technologies that will facilitate sustainable linkages between producers and market actors. We strive to ensure that farmers realize benefit from their produce, increase productivity, sales and improve their food security and incomes.
Some challenges that we anticipate during the course of implementation include; 1) slow adaptation pace by smallholder farmers. Introduction of new technology has there adoption levels (Early majority, late majority and laggards) in most cases our rural people follow into the late majority and laggards in technology adaptation and application. However, we will ensure that we develop easy technology that will be easily applied by smallholder farmers. 2) Network connectivity challenges in deep areas. It is a common occurrence that in some rural areas telecommunication and network connectivity is slow. We will ensure that good working relationship with private service providers provide a more efficient service through our designed application.3) Commitment challenge form value chain actors such as bulk buyers and processors. To balance interests of private sector sometimes come with its challenges and this affects operations. We will have clear memorandum of Understanding stipulating roles and responsibilities of each party.
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