Abe Salomon, UC Davis, gave this presentation at the program's 2013 annual meeting on increasing capacity of smallholder farmers to produce and market indigenous leafy green vegetables in central Uganda.
Strategies to gain better market access for smallholder farmers were presented. Four major themes emerged:
1) Strengthening participatory extension approaches that link knowledge of markets with production decisions
2) Building knowledge base for soil fertility management of indigenous vegetables
3) Building capacity via participatory learning and research, and evolving “students into teachers”
4) Sparking entrepreneurship: creating small businesses and new partnerships around indigenous vegetables
Other outcomes include the formation of a seed marketing group, NGOs and community-based organizations adopting leafy greens production and marketing support among their client farmers, and mobile irrigation technology.