Innovative Gender-Inclusive Horticulture Technologies for Improved Livelihoods Among Small-Scale Farmers in Uganda

The Muni University-Omia Agribusiness Development Group (OADO) partnership operates in the West Nile sub-region of Uganda, an area facing challenges such as land degradation, poor soil health, and climate change. Historically a tobacco-growing region, it now relies on smallholder rainfed agriculture and is adopting high-value horticultural crops. Despite development interventions, 84% of the population lives in multidimensional poverty.

The partnership has implemented innovative approaches to address long-term development objectives, including using positive deviants in the community to combat soil fertility decline and malnutrition. They identified local innovators with scalable innovations and provided targeted training to over 780 beneficiaries. As a result, many farmers expanded their vegetable gardens from 0.25 to 0.75 acres. Supported by USAID, these approaches are being scaled to six local governments and include postharvest storage management and marketing to address production and postproduction challenges.

The Muni University-Omia Agribusiness Development Group (OADO) partnership in Uganda’s West Nile sub-region addresses key development problems such as food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty, and environmental degradation. The partnership combines technical innovations to tackle biophysical issues like plant nutrient deficiency, drought, and poor-quality seeds, with socioeconomic and organizational innovations to overcome challenges in farmer advisory services and technology diffusion. The region faces inadequate extension services, with one public extension officer covering 1,800 farmers, and limited farmer organization into cooperatives. The partnership’s interventions aim to improve soil fertility, climate resilience, and overall productivity, while addressing the scaling gap in technology adoption.