Search results

The increased poor performance of National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) projects in Uganda has become a concern of many stakeholders. Many NAADS projects have been undertaken with an aim of developing the poor in the country but none of them were successful. This paper therefore aimed at examining the performance of NAADS projects which were set up by the government in 2001 to eradicate poverty in Uganda.

The study adopted a cross‐sectional and quantitative survey research design. Data was sought from farmers and coordinators of the projects. Mukono district was used as a case study and a sample of 323 NAADS projects were used, covering a wide range of agricultural activities.

The research findings showed low performance levels of the NAADS projects and raised pertinent questions on the influence of NAADS stakeholders’ commitment to the performance of the projects. It was there recommended that an urgent review of NAADS policy and practices be done to ensure that project managers and coordinators discuss with farmers the personal benefits of carrying out activities of NAADS such that farmers fill a great deal of personal meaning of the project to their lives.

This is the first study to document the effect of stakeholder commitment on the performance of National Agricultural Advisory Services projects in Uganda. The poor people in Uganda have really not been committed to the NAADS projects despite the willingness of the government to take them out of poverty. One of the reasons is that they don’t see themselves achieving any benefits from these projects, the projects require high costs of agricultural extension services which cannot be afforded by the farmers and also because the poor people lack farmer groups to participate in the NAADS projects. Rural farmers look as if they do not have technical or professional connections to participate and take advantage of the projects.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence procurement records management had on the performance of the procurement function under the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS).

The study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. Procurement records management was the independent variable, while procurement performance was the dependent variable. The study also adopted a simple correlation and case study design. An accessible population of 101 respondents was identified, with 93 forming a sample. An 88% response rate was realized.

Results indicated that procurement records management had a significant effect on procurement performance. Whereby, there was a positive and statistically significant relationship between records creation and procurement performance; there was a positive relationship between records maintenance, preservation and procurement performance; and, finally, records access and use also had a positive significant influence on procurement performance.

This research focused on the central region of Uganda, and yet, Uganda has got so many other regions which operate the NAADS programs. This means that research was conducted within a defined scope. Therefore, based on this, the researcher could not generalize the research findings.

Findings imply that ethical practices should be emphasized and custodians of procurement records be held accountable for their actions, as this will help in the support of proper record-keeping and avoid documents not being on file, misplaced or misfiled, which negatively affects procurement performance. Enabling a more efficient information management system results into effective procurement performance that leads to significant cost reduction in both the private and the government sector, especially when digital records are involved.

As majority of the NAADS staff were found to possess inadequate knowledge in records maintenance and preservation, the government through the NAADS training committees should organize timely workshops to sensitize staff on how best records maintenance and preservation is core to its operations.

This study contributes to an important area which has not been given attention in the Ugandan context, where there is difficulty of relating the value of effective records maintenance to business management because of the lack of quantifiable evidence. Therefore, the study highlights the influence of records creation, maintenance and use on procurement performance. The review of literature finds that better records management results into better performance of the procurement units in procurement entities.

The poor performance of public agricultural extension systems in developing countries engendered interest in pluralistic concepts of extension involving a variety of service providers. Within the reform agenda, modalities relying on private‐sector providers were perceived as a path to improvement. This paper aims to assess the potential and limitations of such modalities.

The paper discusses the conceptual underpinnings of these extension approaches, highlights theoretical and practical challenges inherent in their design, and provides an assessment of several performance‐based case studies described in the formal and informal literature.

Many of the modalities reviewed entail partnerships between the public sector, farmers' organizations or communities, and private‐sector providers. The paper concludes that while private‐sector participation can overcome some of the deficiencies of public extension systems, there are also challenges that have been faced, including misuse of public funds, insufficient accountability to farmers, inequitable provision of service, inadequate quality, and limited coverage of the wide range of farmers' needs.

The review suggests that private‐sector involvement in extension is no panacea. Extension systems need not be uniform, and will require different providers for different clienteles, with public providers and funding focusing more on smaller‐scale and less commercial farmers. The public sector may need to provide some regulatory oversight of private‐sector extension activities, particularly when public funding is involved.

The paper draws conclusions from a diverse range of experiences, some of which are recent, and provides comparative insights. It may be of interest to development scholars and practitioners.

Uganda has gone a step forward in ensuring that information resources available for researchers and students are maximally utilized. Academic and research libraries are participating in supporting and achieving the missions of their respective institutions by teaching the competency of information literacy (IL). This paper seeks to examine the effect IL has had on the usage of electronic information resources in academic and research institutions in Uganda. It aims to focus on the innovations that Makerere University Library (the biggest and oldest academic library in Uganda) has undertaken to ensure that library users (the Makerere University community and other collaborating universities and research institutions in Uganda) are trained on how to access a variety of available information resources, evaluate the information and apply it to address their needs.

Data were collected for the study using interviews to both library staff and users of the selected institutions: two library staff in charge of e‐resources and ten students/researchers were interviewed from each institution. However, user statistics for the years 2004‐2005, as well as the IL training sessions conducted, were the main sources of information. The study focused on academic and research institutions – Makerere University, Uganda, Martyrs University, Nkozi and National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS). The researcher is physically involved in the IL program in Makerere University. The usage statistics were compiled and interpreted.

The paper finds that availability of information does not necessarily mean actual use. The study shows that some of the available resources have not been utilized at all. This means that users are not aware of the availability of such resources, they do not know how to access them, or they do not know what the resources offer. All this calls for continued information literacy programs. IL is very vital in influencing utilization of e‐resources. Information professionals are needed to pass on IL skills to library users, while library users should endeavor to find out what information is available online for their consumption. Their attitudes and perceptions also influence the level of utilization.

The paper shows the extent of information literacy and its influence on electronic resources in Uganda. It points out the challenges for the future and provides a number of recommendations for the way forward, which will be helpful both to the relevant communities in Uganda and to other academics in similar circumstances.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways of improving performance of agricultural projects through stakeholder engagement and knowledge management in a Sub-Saharan context.

Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from 342 agricultural projects in Mukono and Wakiso districts in Uganda. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used in the analysis.

The results reveal that stakeholder engagement and knowledge management are valuable intangible resources that significantly influence performance of agricultural projects. The findings, managerial and policy implications are fully discussed in this paper.

The authors empirically show that a model that synchronizes stakeholder engagement, knowledge management and performance of agricultural projects is a requirement for promoting sustainable agricultural performance outcomes. This study makes a contribution by providing information that is relevant for filling the practical gap that exists in agricultural projects of Sub-Saharan Africa as well as contributing to the theoretical development of project management discipline.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the gaps in some existing competence frameworks and investigate the power of reflection on one’s behavior to improve the process of the competences development.

The authors used a correlational design and a quasi-experimental non-equivalent group design involving a baseline assessment (pre-test) of participants’ ability to reflect on their actions instead of applying the standardized competences. Participants were placed in a treatment group and control groups. The treatment group was exposed to a coaching intervention in reflection and operant competence development. Six months later, the authors conducted post-test assessment to assess effect size caused by the coaching intervention regarding the treatment group’s ability to reflect and transform standardized competences into operant competences.

The results showed that reflection and operant competences correlates significantly. Second, there was a larger effect size between the pre-test and post-test assessment results for the treatment group implying change in reflective practice and acquisition of operant competences.

The results demonstrated the need to utilize reflection as a component that will add value to the existing competence frameworks.

The research adds value to the existing competence development frameworks by introducing reflective practice among managers to create competences that are compatible with the operational context.

This paper to examine the relationship between performance expectancy and behavioural intention to use mobile-based communication technologies for agricultural market information dissemination in Uganda.

A descriptive field survey method was adopted. A total of 302 commercial farmers and agribusiness traders in Eastern Uganda participated in the study from whom data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, correlation and regression analyses were used in the study.

The findings reveal a significant positive relationship between performance expectancy and behavioural intentions to use mobile-based communication technologies for agricultural information access and dissemination. This implies that, commercial farmers’ behavioural intentions to use mobile-based communication technologies for agricultural market information dissemination and access will be influenced if they anticipate mobile-based communication technologies to offer greater performance in their daily transactions.

This study was conducted in the context of resource constrained countries particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, however reflecting knowledge from other contexts. The study was conducted with a structured questionnaire being the main data collection tool, and this limited the study from collecting views outside the questions asked in the questionnaire. The variables studied could not be analysed for a long time, given that the study was cross-sectional in nature.

The study provides recommendations on how to further boost farmers’ behavioural intentions to use mobile-based communication technologies for agricultural information dissemination. Policy makers need to ensure that policies are put in place that encourage third party software developers and telecommunication companies to provide software products and solutions that are beneficial to the commercial farmers and can enable them complete their agricultural transactions in time.

The study provides critical literature on the influence of performance expectancy on commercial farmers’ behavioural intentions to use mobile-based communication technologies for agricultural market information access and dissemination in resource constrained settings.

It is noted that farmers in Uganda are slowly progressing to newer mobile information and communication technology tools for market information access and dissemination; however, little is known as to why there is slow adoption of these mobile technologies for agricultural purposes; yet policy makers need to come up with proper strategies to encourage wide scale use of mobile technologies for agricultural market purposes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between stewardship behaviour and perceived goal congruence. Using local governments, the paper introduces collectivism as a moderating variable to ascertain whether the mixed views in the stewardship behaviour-perceived goal congruence nexus is due to variations in collectivism.

The paper espouses a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical design. The authors use structural equation modelling to investigate hypotheses. Using proportionate and simple random sampling procedures, a sample of 310 respondents were drawn from local governments in Uganda of which a response rate of 72.6 per cent was obtained.

The findings show that stewardship behaviour and collectivism are significant predictors of perceived goal congruence. Furthermore, the magnitude effect of stewardship behaviour on perceived goal congruence depends on collectivism; implying that the assumption of non-additivity is met.

Only a single research methodological approach was employed and future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate.

Variations that occur in stewardship behaviour create variations in goal congruence in local governments. It is confirmed that collectivism technically strengthens the link between stewardship behaviour and perceived goal congruence: suggesting that indeed collectivism could establish a maximal impact on the stewardship behaviour—perceived goal congruence link.

This is one of the few studies that focus on testing the interactive effects of collectivism on the relationship between stewardship behaviour and perceived goal congruence in local governments in Uganda.

The study aimed at understanding the level of inefficiencies in the potato market chain. Farmers sell potato to traders but continue to complain of limited market access and low profits. The purpose of this paper is to determine market efficiency and profits of the potato market chain, and factors that influence the profits.

The study focussed on potato farmers, traders and small-scale processors. It was conducted in Kabale and Mbale districts being the major potato producing areas in Uganda, and Kampala being a major potato market. Data were collected from 180 farmers, 60 traders and 32 small-scale processors. Descriptive and regression methods were used to analyse the data.

There were three major potato market chains and all were profitable and efficient. The farmer-buyer node was the most efficient (efficiencies of 128-159 per cent). The trader node efficiency ranged between 56 and 81 per cent. Sex of chain actor, group marketing, contract duration and distance to market were among the factors that affected profits.

Processors considered were those operating on very small scale, hence results do not apply to large-scale processing. Consumers were not included but the data and results are adequate for the study objective.

This paper provides empirical information that serves as a basis to adopt market options for increased benefits to various chain actors.