PRODUCTION AND MARKETING DEPARTMENT.

The Production and Marketing Department is one of the District’s priority areas especially in view of its enormous contribution to the welfare of the Bugiri community. Over 90% of the population of Bugiri derives their livelihood from subsistence agriculture.

The functions of the department are spelt out in part 2 of the second schedule of the Local Government Act (1997 – Amended 2002). The implementation of Agricultural Extension Program is further stipulated in article 176 (2) of the constitution. It is a constitutional obligation for Local Governments to adopt recommended agricultural technologies and ensure food security and poverty eradication. The department is made up of five sectors that work together to achieve the above constitutional obligation. These are Veterinary, Crop, Fisheries, Entomology and the District Production Office - which coordinates the extension services by both Government and Agricultural NGO operating in the district.
The department has 11 veterinary Officers, 10 staff for crop and 3 for fisheries giving a total of 24 out of the required 40 Extension Staff. This puts the staffing level at 60% at the sub county level.
At the district level, staffing is at 76% with 3 for Veterinary, 3 - crop, 2 - fisheries, 2 - entomology and a substantive DPMO. The staff are responsible for the 10 rural sub counties and 8 town councils.
Mandate of the Department
The department derives its mandate from the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries which is “To promote and support sustainable market oriented agricultural production, food security and house hold incomes.”

Strategic mission of the Department

The mission of the department is “To promote application of appropriate information, knowledge, and technological innovations for commercialization of agriculture in the district to improve the quality of life of the people of Bugiri.”

Key geographical information
• Over 97% of the Bugiri population are predominately rural and derive their livelihood from agriculture though at subsistence level. The district has been divided into three agro-ecological zones to render appropriate service to each ecological zone: -
• Agro-fishing zone that is mainly made up of the sub counties of Budhaya, Bulidha and Iwemba with sandy loam soils. The vegetation varies from flat form to -undulating irregular hills. It also has some savannah vegetation characterized by small thickets. This zone experiences two long rainy seasons especially in the month of March to May and September to November. The main form of livelihood in this zone is fishing and crop production especially cassava, maize, beans and banana as food crops with coffee as a cash crop. Dairy farming has been introduced and is promising.
• The Agro-livestock zone that covers Budhaya, Bulidha, Muterere, Nankoma, Kapyanga, Buwunga and Bulesa Sub counties including Bugiri Town Council. The soil type is clay – loam mixture. The vegetation consists of scanty hills covered by savannah with few spots of forest reserves. There are also some wetlands and streams. The main livelihood sources include sale of coffee, maize, rice, beans, livestock such as goats and poultry.
• The Cattle Corridor Zone It covers the sub counties of Iwemba, Nabukalu, Buluguyi and the northern part of Kapyanga. The soil type is clay – loam type, the vegetation is typically flat with scanty hills that are covered by savannah vegetation. The rainfall varies from 1,000 – to 1800mm. There are some permanent wetlands like Kimira and Kibimba. Households in this zone depend mainly on sale of livestock and crops like Maize, Rice, Ground nuts and Cassava that is grown on relatively high scale. Animal traction is a common practice in this zone.
In all the above ecological zones customary land tenure systems is used causing land fragmentation hence making mechanized farming very difficult to achieve commercialization. Most of the Natural resource have been hampered with due to the increasing population pressure as they cultivate rice and poor fishing methods in all the ecological zones. About 36 % of the population have the potential for labor supply but less than 30 % are participating in regular sound economic activities.

UGANDA MULTI-SECTORAL FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION PROJECT (UMFSNP)

Uganda Multi Sectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project started in 2017 and was officially launched in April 2018.
The Project development Objective is: “To increase the production and consumption of micronutrient rich foods and utilization of community-based nutrition services in small holder households in the project areas.”
The project which covers 100 primary schools, 10 Sub Counties and 342 villages is being implemented in a multi sectoral approach bringing on board the departments of Production, Education, Health, community, Environment plus Politicians at all levels and other stakeholders.
It is implemented through structures in the schools which include two parent groups in each school of 30 members each, school nutrition committee, school procurement committee, two lead farmers, two lead mothers and all are supervised by the school management committee.

The project further recruited Community Facilitators (CF) and each CF is managing and supporting a cluster of 5 schools.

The project is promoting the production and consumption of Micro nutrient rich foods such as Non locally available foods that is orange fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) and high iron rich beans (IRB). Locally available foods: Amaranthus (Dodo), pumpkins, spider plants, bitter tomatoes, Egg plants, Cabbages, Green peas, Nakati, lettuces, Sukuma wiki, Paw paws, jack fruits, mangoes, oranges etc.