Presented at the Country Learning Exchange held during the 7th GLTN Partners meeting 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.

1. TSLI– ESA TECHNICAL SUPPORT IN THE
IMPLEMENTATION IN THE VEGETABLE
OIL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (VODP2)
IN UGANDA
RICHARD NICK KABULETA

2. Project Area and Livelihood Needs
 Kalangala was largely comprised of subsistence farmers and fisher folk
 Curved out of the greater Masaka District in 1989
 Government not sure of economic viability at the time of granting it a district status
 Ranked 71st poorest out of 76 districts in 2014 (Uganda Poverty Status Report, 2014)
 Popular at the time for high levels of poverty, depletion of forests, high in fish
catch
 An acre of land in 2005 valued at less than USD 30
 Most land owners did not live on the island
 Very poor island, preferred districts with better social and economic services
 Bugala a popular island for fisher folk
 Declining stock in L. Victoria influenced them to settle on the island to meet
their food and livelihood needs

3. The Project
 Implemented by GOU with support from IFAD
 Project Goal: To contribute to sustainable poverty reduction in the project area
 Development Objective: To increase the domestic production of vegetable oil
and its by products thus:
raising rural incomes for smallholder producers
Ensuring the supply of affordable vegetable oil products to Ugandan
consumers and neighboring regional markets
 Project Components:
Oil palm development: Implemented in Kalangala with start up
activities in Buvuma
Oil seeds component: Implemented in 43 districts spread across the
four hubs of Northern Uganda, Eastern Uganda, Lira and West Nile
Implemented through a PPPP approach
3

4. Land tenure context in central
Uganda
 British and Buganda king singed the Buganda Agreement of 1900
 Established powers of King vs Protectorate Power
 Granted square miles of land to chiefs and private land owners
(“mailo land”)
 Land divided among the Queen’s government and the Kabaka,
Chiefs and Missionary Societies with crown land measured up
to 10,550 sq. miles
 Mailo land:
 Official mailo: under Buganda Local Government offices
could not be sold
 Private mailo: 1,000 chiefs allocated 8,000 sq.miles, rights
similar to free hold; less than 30 sq. miles per person.
 Over 80% of the residents of Kalangala did not have security of
tenure on where they grow their palms and have built their homes.
 With the tag “squatters” hanging over them, absentee landlords
have been reclaiming their private mailo land.

5. Gross annual income earned by smallholder oil
palm farmers - Kalangala
5
Farmer loans, incomes and taxes to GOU:
Oil palm is a perennial crop taking up to 3 years for the garden to mature
and 25 years for harvest.
 USD 11.8 Million in smallholder loans disbursed of which USD 4.2
million has been repaid
 Between January and March 2018, the 1,123 farmers with mature
gardens have earned USD 1.7 Million
 In March 2018 alone, the farmers earned USD 0.8 Million.
 BIDCO and OPUL have paid GOU taxes worth USD 246 Million since
2010
Y2010 Y2011 Y2012 Y2013 Y2014 Y2015 Y2016 Y2017
Series1 51 419 853 1,159 1,126 1,756 3,097 4,307
51
419
853
1,159 1,126
1,756
3,097
4,307
Income(US'000)

6. Land Tools Implementation
 Conflicts on land ownership and boundaries increased when harvesting
on oil palm FFBs started
 Farmers who feared to lose the land on which they farmed wanted
to sell off the gardens and relocate.
 The project observed loss of interest to implement agronomic
practices for high yields
 Land tools were introduced and implemented by smallholder farmers
to document their claims on their gardens, map the conflicts, capture
impact of oil palm growing and assess productivity
 Farmers availed opportunity to document land on which they had
oil palm trees
 Farmers able to provide evidence to land lords on garden
boundaries, facilitate engagement, negotiation and partnerships

7. Process
 Tools used: STDM, Participatory
Enumerations, Continuum of Land
Rights Approach, GEC
 Farmers were mobilized by KOPGT
through their units and block leadership
 Each garden mapped with neighbours
and unit leadership present
 Farmers shown their garden maps and
area
 Merged data with farmer system, garden
maps, farmer points, piloting farmer
garden certificates

8. Key Outputs
 Farmer-led mapping of farmlands
 Clarified garden boundaries and reduced
communal conflicts
 Garden numbering
 Operationalized the farmer information
system, production and yield tracking activated
 Land Information Management System with
1,535 farmer records
 Both tenure and production information
 Garden Certificates
 showing the farmer garden map and other
basic information

9. Emerging Outcomes of the STDM
implementation
 Estimation of the extent of tenure insecurity
 78% of the enumerated farmers are tenants
 Initiatives to improve tenure security
 Follow up National project with a sub-component on Land
 Land rights have been clarified
 Overlapping claims have been cleared, reduced land conflicts
 Environmental protection, demarcation of forest land vs farm land
 Environmental features marked before the project now clarified; all 14
forest reserves intact
 Identification of growth poles
 Guiding land use planning and development; updated shape files and
maps

10. Conclusion and next steps
 The Farmer Driven Enumeration exercise has empowered farmers to
appreciate their oil palm investment
 Land tenure was the biggest issue that risked sustainability
 Reliable income and production projections by both the farmers and the
project
 Updated farmer records in KOPGT
 GLTN and VODP now to finalize the production of the garden certificates
 Farmer leadership has embraced them as farmer identifiers
 KOPGT to produce maps showing information the information in the LIS
 Government has included a sub-component to support tenure security issues
in the follow on project
 To support even non-oil palm farmers in the target project area

11. Pictures from the field

12. THANK YOU