Uganda: Value Chain Roadmap for Sunflower

The goal of Uganda’s Value Chain Roadmap for Sunflowers

The goal of Uganda’s Value Chain Roadmap for Sunflowers is to set the sector on the course of strategic development by addressing constraints in a comprehensive manner and defining concrete opportunities that can be realized through the specific steps detailed in its Plan of Action (PoA). Uganda’s current model has performed well, yielding strong economic and social returns. Nonetheless, there is an imbalance in the sector between a competitive contract farming segment and an underdeveloped independent farming channel.

Efforts to address persistent constraints to growth must be redoubled if the sector is to remain competitive. The industry must unite and evolve in order to leapfrog into higher growth and value addition. This will require addressing gaps in input supply, skills and institutional support. At the same time market structures must be reformed, and the building of trust will remain of paramount importance. The PoA responds to these requirements by setting four strategic objectives:

1. Improve availability of inputs to the sector.
   a. Improve the availability of seeds for propagation by a twin strategy of developing import contacts and national multiplication.
   b. Improve accessibility and affordability of non-seed inputs for the sector.
2. Improve quality of institutional support, and better position the sector for attracting investment.
   a. Improve institutional coordination and upgrade representative associations.
   b. Improve the value proposition of the sector towards policymakers and investors.
   c. Improve access to finance for sector operators.
3. Enhance capabilities for value transformation in the sector.
   a. Propagate knowledge and best practices in the sector.
   b. Improve the quality of, and access to, extension services.
   c. Improve access to technology.
   d. Improve essential infrastructure, including warehousing and product quality management infrastructure.
4. Strengthen enterprise capacities for harvesting information as a tool to access target markets.
   a. Better inform/train exporters on knowledge and procedures related to exports.
   b. Improve linkages in target markets and with other sectors