Uganda food production support project

The Ugandan Ministry of Cooperatives and Marketing (MCM) will implement the project. The cooperative movement will distribute 515,000 hoes; 300 MT of seed (ground nut, soybean, and vegetable) to produce 40,000 MT of food; 5,000 bales of gunny sacks for marketing; and 8,000 bicycles with related spare parts along with 100,000 bicycle tires for transportation. Three pickup trucks will be supplied for commodity delivery. The UGMA Steel and Engineering Corporation will be supplied with steel billets and flats to enable it to produce 375,000 hoes annually. TA totalling 49 work-months will be provided to strengthen the cooperative distribution channel. Activities include establishing an MCM planning unit; preparing a long-term cooperative development plan with detailed recommendations to improve procurement, handling, storage, and distribution; and preparing a forecast of community requirements and a comprehensive procurement plan. An inventory of transportation assets and a forecast of future transport needs, with a plan to meet them, will also be prepared. Cooperative agricultural credit requirements will be outlined, and a program to address these needs developed, and recommendations will be made to improve cooperative banking procedures. A prioritized list of library materials will be delivered to the Uganda Cooperative College. Training activities will include an M.S. (agricultural economics) and an M.B.A. (transportation) for two Ugandans; on-the-job training for 4-5 Ugandans; and a 1-week in-country seminar for 500 junior MCM field officers and primary society secretary/managers. Two or three Ugandans will be trained to conduct these seminars, and one or two others will be trained to conduct 4-week training seminars for about 50 officers of district and national cooperatives. Ten participants will complete 4-9 month out-of-country courses in procurement, transportation management, distribution and merchandizing, project analysis, and finance. Amendment of 7/29/86 extends project to 9/30/88 and increases funding in order to help finance a UNICEF emergency water supply and sanitation program in the Luwero Triangle and to expand the delivery - by the private and public sectors - of productive farm inputs to areas disturbed by the recent guerrilla and civil wars. (PD-BBD-482)