The issue
Many refugee and host community farmers in Uganda have limited access to markets and therefore no or few opportunities to generate an income for themselves and their families. This makes poverty and despair a life condition – and one that is passed down from one generation to the next.
The project
The ‘Fresh Fruit Nexus’ project aims to catalyze sustainable market development and entrepreneurship in West Nile, Uganda, home to more than one million refugees, by training smallholder farmers to grow certified organic fruit and vegetables for export.
The change
The development objective is to improve smallholders’ livelihoods through increased income opportunities for refugee and host community farmers, especially women and unemployed youth, creating income opportunities for at least 1,500 farmers and 221 jobs in the fresh fruit and vegetable value chain.
The commercial objective is to promote an energy efficient and sustainable cold chain for organic products to ready-to-sell markets, including Denmark via sea transport to reduce CO2 emissions.
By end of 2021, the project had created income opportunities for 337 farmers cumulatively; whose capacities were built in production of organic commodities acceptable in the European market and resulting into 191 jobs being created (141 certified organic farmers for OFSP and 50 for turmeric).
The 191 farmers have accessed both internal and international markets for their products which has earned them a cumulative revenue of UGX 122,950,000 from sale of orange flesh sweet potato and turmeric.
The project has engaged in a process of product selection to meet the market preferences, with Europe being the primary market of choice. Local varieties of Orange Flesh Sweet Potatoes (OFSP) were found not suitable due to differences in taste and texture and a new variety (Beauregard) was acquired from Europe and adapted to the Ugandan climate. This new variety was successfully tested and commercial production by farmers commenced in the second season of 2020.
About this project
Period: December 2018 – December 2023
Donor: Danida Market Development Partnerships (DMDP)
Funding: 17,125,000 DKK (11,500,000 DKK from Danida and 5,625,000 DKK from DCA and commercial partners)
