Food access is an important element of food security that has since long been a major concern of rural households. One intervention to improve food access has been increased promotion of market production in the hope that households will get increased income and access to food through the market rather than through self-sufficiency characteristic of subsistence production. We examine the effect of market production on household food consumption using a case of rice in western Uganda, where rice is largely a cash crop. Our analysis is based on propensity score matching and instrumental variable approach using survey data collected from 1137 rural households. We find evidence of negative significant effects of market production on calorie consumption; More commercialized households are more likely to consume less than the required calories per adult equivalent per day. This implies that the substitution effects due to higher shadow prices of food outweigh the income effects of additional crop sales. On the contrary, we find positive significant effects on household dietary diversity. We suggest a mixed approach combining policies targeted at market production as well as production for own consumption, and nutrition sensitization.

Southwestern Uganda annually experiences prolonged drought that results in dramatic drop in milk production of dairy cattle. This study was conducted to assess the nutritional value and economic benefits of feeding silage and hay to dairy cattle in the sub-region. The cross-sectional study covered seven districts with 105 farmers interviewed during the wet and 45 others in the dry season. Up to 88 soil samples were collected and analyzed for soil texture, soil pH, organic matter and total Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Sodium and Magnesium. Likewise, 148 forage (105 fresh, 25 silage and 18 hay) tissues from 21 pasture species were collected and analyzed for nutritional values. Using a questionnaire, data on production costs and milk revenues were collected for cost-benefit analysis. Results showed that silage of Napier grass treated with molasses (10.2 MJ/kg) and hay of naturally established pastures (10.6 MJ/kg) had the highest metabolisable energy (ME) values, while the lowest (8.30 MJ/kg) was for star grass. Hay of star grass presented the highest level of crude protein (21.4%) with maize (corn) showing the lowest (9.38%). Digestibility of hay of naturally established mixed pastures was the highest (64.4%), followed by that of silage of Napier grass treated with molasses (62.0%), while star grass hay had the lowest (52.6%). With exception of silage made from maize, all the other six forms of silage had a good crude protein (CP) content. Regardless of the good CP content (≥9.9%), all silage untreated with additives was poor in quality since its ME was less than 9.9 MJ ME/kg and ration digestibility less than 67%. Nonetheless, feeding of silage and hay increased milk yield and farm productivity with a benefit-cost ratio of 5.5 and 2.7 for silage and hay respectively.

Motivation: Efforts to increase smallholder access to improved varieties and quality seed is often central to agricultural development, economic growth, and poverty reduction in low-income countries. Yet many governments and development partners grow impatient with slow progress in their seed sectors. Uganda stands out for its recent policy innovations, regulatory reforms, and market experiments for seed, and for the extensive analysis of its experience. Purpose: This article reviews the changing landscape ofUganda's seed system and assesses recent policy, regulatory, and institutional changes.Methods and approach: We draw on a wide range of documents, studies, and statistics.Findings: The low uptake of improved varieties and quality seed in Uganda has encouraged innovation to overcome failures in the country's seed market. These innovations include regulatory changes to allow the production of quality declared seed (QDS) by smallholder seed producers; labelling to allow text message verification of seed; and crowd-sourcing information on seed quality by farmers. All have promise, but it remains to be seen just how effective they will be. In the meantime, vested interests may resist moves to a more innovative seed sector, instead preferring to maintain the incumbent approach designed to use seed

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