Integrating LAMIS in Economic Development Projects Case study of “ACTED/UNWFP Purchase for Progress (P4P)” in Nakapiripirit District

Organization Profile: ACTED: Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (non-governmental organization. Independent, private and not- for-profit) Mission: Providing Adapted Responses: Support vulnerable populations affected by wars, natural disasters and/or economic and social crises, and to accompany them in building a better future; thus contributing to the MDGs.

Vision: Guaranteeing the Link between Emergency, Rehabilitation and Development; establish a link between emergency, rehabilitation and development. Once basic needs have been covered, the population’s living conditions remain critical as our areas of intervention are among the poorest in 27 countries. For Uganda (Northern Uganda and Karamoja)

P4P Project in Nakapiripirit: Overall objective: I ncreasing market engagement and improved post-harvest handling among small- scale farmers and traders Specific Objectives: Developing and improving agricultural market infrastructure Increasing the capacity of smallholder farmers and traders on post-harvest handling and marketing of agricultural goods

Establishment LAMIS in Nakapiripirit INFOTRADE technically guided ACTED and the Production Department of Nakapiripirit District in establishing a Localized Agriculture Market Information System (LAMIS)

Responsibilities of LAMIS partners ACTED: facilitates capacity building of data collectors and district staffs on LAMIS facilitates the process of making raw data reach Infotrade feedback reports to the district for dissemination District Production Department: facilitates the process of data collection information dissemination at parish, sub-county, and district departmental level.

Data collection Focus is 43 commodities (crops, livestock and their products and fuel prices) Coverage: 4 major markets of Namalu, Lolachat, Nabilatuk, and Moruita Sub-counties Collections days: every Wednesday from Namalu, every Saturday from Lolachat, every Monday from Nabilatuk and every Friday from Moruita

Benefits of LAMIS Increased access of farmers and traders to agricultural market information Increased and improved farmers and traders decision making skills on what to grow and sell, and where to sell; particularly in Namalu Sub-county and Nakapiripirit District Enhanced and diversified product line for traders

benefits…. More guidance on decision-making for seed and crop selection for the National Agricultural Advisory Services Coordinators desk of Nakapiripirit District, resulting in more pin-pointed budgeting and planning Supporting the Nakapiripirit and Amudat Districts Contingency Planning process in providing prices for goods and services needed in cases of disaster, thus streamlining their budgeting.

Lessons learnt Working closely with technical institutions (e.g. Infotrade, District Production Department, Agrinet, etc.) is paramount to making projects run and be managed smoothly Involving the district’s relevant departments (e.g. production, marketing, agriculture) is key in promoting ownership and rooting to sustainability The use of existing government structures proves paramount since communication and or dissemination of information is made easy. It also empowers the government to start fitting the most relevant activities into their budgets

Lessons….. Use of community persons for data collection provides confidence to the community as the persons stays with them, uses the local language to communicate, and makes them feel part of the project Giving feedback to the traders about the information collected from both their local markets and other markets countrywide has promoted and increased farmers’ curiosity in making face to face contacts with potential business players

Lessons…. ACTED’s departments of the Disaster Risk Reduction used the market reports to enhance the procurement plans of all the community managed projects, particularly those involving crop production, trading, and cereal banking

Challenges Timeliness of information delivered by the data collectors varies. Though market information fit into the Nakapiripirit district development plan, the district has been slow to adjust, especially in the area of budgetary planning Inadequate resources to disseminate market information (market report) The sub-county headquarters where information is centered is not frequently visited by farmers and traders.

Recommendations The district production department need to factor a budget for running and operating LAMIS The market information dissemination will be initiated by ACTED through consultative meeting with production department to be facilitated and managed by the district Continuous consultative meetings and discussions should be frequently and timely initiated among trader representatives, farmer representatives, and relevant district and sub-county authortities (commercial officers, production officers, agricultural officers) to boost efficiency in the use of market information