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Sustainability and long‐term prosperity are chronic challenges in the agriculture sector of many countries. To address such challenges, farmer cooperatives are formed as an innovative approach to improve the livelihoods of millions of farmers around the world. Inspired by real‐life practice in the Kenya coffee industry, we study a class of stochastic and dynamic inventory models for storable agricultural products with random exogenous supply and price. For a variety of cost functions relevant in practice, we characterize the optimal selling policies to maximize the farmer cooperatives’ expected profit. We show that for concave inventory holding cost, the sell‐all‐or‐retain‐all (r, R) (or sell‐all‐or‐retain‐all R) policies are optimal with (without) the fixed selling cost; for convex holding cost, the sell‐down‐to (S, s) (or sell‐down‐to s) policies are optimal with (without) the fixed selling cost. For the special case of linear holding cost, the optimal policy is a cut‐off price policy and we derive closed‐form expressions for the optimal policy and the optimal total discounted profit. We discuss the model extensions to include general stochastic harvest and price processes, selling/storage capacity limits, price‐dependent random demand with a spot market, and the flexibility of procurement from other producers, and then perform a numerical study to quantify the impact of the optimal solutions. Reconciling the theory with practice, useful insights and guidelines are provided to help farmer cooperatives make strategic selling decisions.

The Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) and the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) jointly hosted an international conference on cancer and palliative care in August 2017 in Kampala, Uganda. At the heart of the conference rested a common commitment to see patient care improved across Uganda and the region. The theme – United Against Cancer: Prevention to End-of-Life Care – reflected this joint vision and the drive to remember that cancer care should include prevention, early diagnosis and screening, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care. The conference brought together 451 delegates from 17 countries. The key themes of the conference included: the importance of the World Health Assembly Resolutions on Palliative Care (2014) and cancer care (2017); the need to develop a National Cancer Control Programme; strategies for effective cancer diagnosis and treatment in low- and middle-income countries; advocacy, human rights and access to essential medicines, including access to opioids and nurse prescribing; paediatric care; leadership and commitment; collaboration; resources (financial and human), the recognition that palliative care is not limited to cancer care and the importance of learning from each other. The conference also gave the opportunity to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the UCI, with a celebration dinner attended by the Minister of Health and the US Ambassador. Participants reported that the conference was a forum that updated them in all aspects of cancer and palliative care, which challenged their knowledge, and was enlightening in terms of current treatment options for individuals with cancer. The benefits of having a joint conference were recognised, allowing for further networking between cancer and palliative care organisations. This conference, highlighting many developments in cancer and palliative care, served as a unique opportunity to bring people together and unite them in developing cancer and palliative care.

The 2nd Uganda Conference on Cancer and Palliative Care was held in September 2019 in Kampala, Uganda under the theme: Towards Universal Coverage. It was hosted by the Uganda Cancer Institute and the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU). The conference brought together 350 delegates from eight countries. Key themes from the conference included: universal health coverage (UHC), service provision and public health; resources for achieving UHC; capacity building; human rights and engagement on the implementation of the recommendations made by the Uganda Human Rights Commission; provision of cancer and palliative care to 'hard to reach' and 'vulnerable' groups; paediatrics; health promotion and prevention; policy and advocacy and digital technology. The conference also gave opportunity to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the work of PCAU, with a celebration dinner attended by the Minister of Health. The past few years have seen significant developments in both cancer and palliative care in Uganda, and this was evident in the presentations, and the way that provision has changed and improved since the first cancer and palliative care conference in 2017. Emphasis on UHC, along with the support of government and other stakeholders, is important in the ongoing development of cancer and palliative care services in Uganda.