| 22 December 2009
Agriculture Research & Development
• Less than 30% of subsistence farmers’ use improved seeds/breeds.
• Less than 10% practice any form of livestock or crop protection
• There is hardly use of fertilizer or any form of soil & water amendment on farm fields.
• No DATIC
• Farmers are not involved in the prioritization, implementation, testing and impact assessment of reaesae3rch
• Technologies are not adequately tested and demonstrated under farm circumstances
• Technologies are disseminated without complementary packages leading to poor farm level performance
• There is limited socio-economic input into technology assessment and selection.
Extension Delivery System
• The district has only 4 veterinary officers instead of 11.
• Extension officers are poorly facilitated with transport and fuel.
• There are no good office or accommodation spaces fro extension officers at the s/c level.
• Access to roads to villages are poor
• District office is under resourced to allow it to perform its function efficiently and effectively.
• There is no NAADs Programme in the district.
• Insufficient funding for efficient and effective service delivery
Environmental Issues
• Community management structure on environmental protection and conservation is weak.
• Over cultivation of croplands has resulted in soil erosion and decreasing crop yields over the last five years. Drought has also played a negative role in agriculture.
• Population expansion has led to increasing opening of land thus exposing it to agents of soil erosion.
• Both farming communities & livestock keepers who burn bushes have degraded the forest reserves of Moroto & Napak.
Socio–economic Values
• Low literacy and hence Low awareness
• Poor conventional technology adoption rate
• Political neglect or poor leadership
• Negative cultural practices
• Lavish marriage practices
• Migratory lifestyles exposing people to conflict and diseases
• Top- down intervention by Gov’t and NGOs
• Gazetting of productive land resource in the district
Land Use & Human Environment
• About 3,500km2 is available fro cultivation
• Population density on arable is 23 Persons per km2.
Gender Issues
• Men involved in looking after livestock
• Females involved I domestic chores
• Girls offer casual labour
• Social roles put women as determinants of food intake.
Rural Finance
• There is no system and institutional arrangement to ensure increased availability and accessibility of market based rural financial services on a sustainable basis.
Agricultural Marketing
• There are poor or no access roads to villages
• Means of transportation is poor or non existence
• No markets and market information storage
• No cooling and agro processing base (electricity, water)
• There is Low or no aggregate demand fro processed product
• Farmers lack access to education and knowledge.
Water for Agricultural Production
• Agriculture in the district is rain fed
• Gov’t policy regarding water fro production is not being handled seriously at central government level
• There is no access by farmers to appropriate and cost effective irrigation technologies
HIV/AIDS
• Like in other parts of the country, this scourge has adversely affected the productivity sand production of farmers in the population.
The Private Sector
• Still weak to access, avail and afford technologies
• Still weak to access and avail agricultural finance
• Still weak to access and avail on farm and off farm storage, warehousing, packaging and handling facilities
• Lack effective and efficient support institutions
Poverty and Indicators
• Moroto has the lowest human development index (0.24)–UNDP 2001 Report.
• Over 80% of the households eat one meal a day.
• There is Low literacy level and Low life expectancy at birth.
• People have negative attitude and Low aspirations towards farming.
• Household income are Low (< 1 USSD)
• Poverty is pervasive in times of drought and is worst for households without livestock (social safety net)
• There is chronic under nutrition
• Rampant food deficiency
• Low agricultural productivity
• Majority of crops are of poor types (Local)
• Pests and diseases are not adequately controlled
• Serious soil erosion
• Poor farming methods (Monoculture)
• Frequent droughts
• Low soil fertility
• Prominence of women and child based labour
• Use of primitive tools (technologies)
• Insecurity leading to over cropping and lack of rotational farming.
