Skip to Content
Jane Rose Madoba, who lives in Busia, Uganda, received technical assistance to help improve her production through the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program.
Map of Uganda

Since 2011, Feed the Future has worked in 38 districts in the Northern, Eastern and Southwestern areas.

Country Context

  • 11%
    estimated reduction in the prevalence of stunting in children under the age of 5 in the areas where Feed the Future has worked between 2012 and 2015*

Value Chains

  • Maize/corn
  • Legumes
  • Livestock
  • Dairy
  • Coffee
  • Cassava
  • Millet
See more regional stats
  • 14.6 million

    Number of people living in Feed the Future target regions (Feed the Future Survey, 2015)

  • 6.5%

    Annual GDP growth; agriculture accounts for 21.9 percent of added value (World Bank, 2019)

  • 76%

    Percentage of population living in rural Uganda (World Bank, 2019)

  • 29.2%

    Percentage of stunted children under the age of 5 living in Feed the Future target regions (Feed the Future ZOI Survey, 2015)

  • 32.1%

    Percentage of people living in poverty in Feed the Future target regions (Uganda National Household Survey, 2012)

Our Strategy

Strategy

Promote inclusive and sustainable agriculture-led growth

Strategy

Strengthen resilience among households and communities

Strategy

Improve nutrition, especially among women and children

Strategy

Facilitate market connections and growth

Strategy

Build partnerships

Strategy

Promote science and technology

Strategy

Empower women, youth and girls

Strategy

Improve cross-border and domestic trade for food security

Our Progress

  • 48,000

    Producers using new technologies and practices with Feed the Future’s help in FY20

  • 2.4M

    Children under 5 reached with nutrition help in FY20

  • $20M

    Annual agricultural sales generated by Ugandan farms and firms reached by Feed the Future in FY20

  • 24.9%

    Reduction in wasting in children under the age of 5 in the areas where Feed the Future has worked between 2012 and 2015

  • 16,000

    Hectares tended with improved technologies or management practices in FY20

Our Work

Over the past 15 years, Uganda has reduced poverty faster than most other countries in Africa, and the percentage of the population living on less than $1.90 per day has fallen from about 64.9 percent to 41.5 percent between 2002 and 2016.

Approximately 80 percent of Ugandans are under the age of 30. Increasing agricultural productivity and providing employment for this rapidly growing young population is critical to Uganda’s development. Feed the Future’s approach supports relationship-building, market development to improve nutrition, income generation and strengthened resilience.

Rapid population growth in Uganda has caused malnutrition rates to remain high and has tempered other economic gains. Feed the Future focuses on sectors that have high profit margins, are accessible and provide nutritious benefits. Feed the Future integrates agriculture and nutrition investments to enhance cognitive and physical development, increase economic productivity, strengthen resilience and advance global development.  For more information, please view the Nutrition Priority Countries.

Building Trust in Marketplaces

Feed the Future prioritizes investments that have the best potential to improve the livelihoods of a wide range of people in the food system, including the most vulnerable and extremely poor. Feed the Future also unlocks opportunities where systemic change is needed by focusing on services that are important to multiple value chains, including agriculture inputs, processing and research.

For example, Feed the Future, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries and the Uganda National Bureau for Standards implemented a new e-verification system that uses tags to mark authentic agricultural inputs as non-counterfeit. Uganda suffers from nearly $1.5 billion in estimated losses each year due to counterfeit inputs. This system gives farmers the confidence to buy improved inputs, such as seeds and fertilizer, knowing that their purchases are guaranteed by the government; further, private input firms now purchase the tags for placement on their products.

Focusing on Quality Controls

Feed the Future provides training and support across the food system in Uganda and leverages public and private investments to reduce poverty. Feed the Future also continues: the improvement of crop genetics; bio-fortification; and integrated pest and disease management for crops like cassava, coffee, sorghum and beans, and livestock like indigenous chicken. As part of this effort, Feed the Future expanded seed stocks, conducted market studies and established strategic partnerships and systems to commercialize seed varieties.

In 2020, Feed the Future helped over 134,000 farmers to plant approximately 8,600 hectares of land with vitamin A-rich orange sweet potatoes and iron-rich beans. In doing so, these farmers earned more than $1.8 million and sold:

  • 430 metric tons of iron rich bean seeds.
  • Over 1,200 metric tons of iron rich bean grain.
  • 3,800 metric tons of orange sweet potato roots.
  • Over 2,800 metric tons of orange sweet potato vines.

Cultivating Nutritious Foods

Rapid population growth in Uganda has caused malnutrition rates to remain high and has tempered other economic gains. Feed the Future focuses on sectors that have high-profit margins, are easily available and provide nutritional benefits.

Feed the Future helped over 86,000 farmers plant approximately 8,300 hectares of land with vitamin A-rich orange sweet potato and iron-rich beans. In doing so, these farmers earned $154,000 and sold:

  • 430 metric tons of iron-rich bean seeds
  • 890 metric tons of iron bean grain
  • 48,000 metric tons of orange sweet potato roots
  • 2,400 metric tons of orange sweet potato vines
Source

These results reflect information from the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. African Development Foundation and Peace Corps, reported into Feed the Future’s central monitoring system for the fiscal year 2020 (FY20). For more information on the indicators above, please view our Feed the Future Indicator Handbook. All dollar amounts are listed in U.S. dollars.

Our Activities

Feed the Future supports the following programs, partnerships and organizations in Uganda.

View all activities
  • Agribusiness initiative (ABi Trust)
  • Agricultural Research Activity
  • AMS - Agriculture and Market Support Program(WFP)
  • Apolou FFP Activity
  • BHEARD - Borlaug Higher Education for Agriculture Research and Development Uganda
  • Enhancing Resilient and Adaptive Agriculture Livelihoods in Uganda-IITA
  • Graduation to Resilience
  • HarvestPlus/Meals for Nutrition (MENU)- Promotion of Bio-fortified Crops
  • ICAN Integrated Community Agriculture and Nutrition- Community Connector Follow-on
  • Inclusive Agricultural Markets (IAM)
  • Maternal Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) Activity
  • Nuyok FFP Activity
  • Peace Corps Interagency Participating Agency Program Agreement (PAPA) for Food Security
  • Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in East Central Uganda (RHITES-EC)
  • Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Eastern Region (RHITES-E)
  • Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in North Acholi (RHITES-NA)
  • Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in North Lango (RHITES-NL)
  • Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in South West Uganda (RHITES SW)
  • Youth Leadership for Agriculture Activity
  • Karamoja Resilience Support Unit - II
  • Biodiversity for Resilience (B4R)
  • Desert Locust Impact Assessment in Uganda
  • Feed the Future Uganda Biosafety Activity

Related Resources

November 29, 2018

Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) Uganda Country Plan

View PDF

February 7, 2017

Feed the Future Uganda Zone of Influencer Interim Assessment Report

View PDF

May 19, 2015

Uganda Feed the Future Baseline Report

View PDF

December 1, 2011

Uganda Feed the Future FY2010 Implementation Plan

View PDF

Featured Story From Uganda

Improving Nutrition Through a Village Shop

While the main driver of bean purchases is their high yield, when I mention to my customers the health benefits, they decide to order more.

Nakyanzi Ruth, local seed farmer

View all stories from Uganda

View All Stories

Keep Up With Feed The Future