African Journal of Agribusiness Research

African Journal of Tropical Agriculture Vol. 1 (3), pp. 030-036, November, 2013.© International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The role of rural producer organizations in enhancing market participation of smallholder farmers in Uganda: Enabling and disabling factors

E. L.  Ampaire^1,2*, C. L. Machethe^1,3 and E. Birachi⁴

¹Department of Agriculture Economics, Extension and Rural Development, University of Pretoria, LEVLO, Pretoria 0002, South Africa.

²International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), P. O. Box 6247, Kampala Uganda.

³Post Graduate School of Agriculture and Rural Development, University of Pretoria, LEVLO, Pretoria 0002, South Africa.

⁴International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), P. O. Box 1269, Kigali, Rwanda.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +256-772999609. Fax +256-(0414)-567635.

Accepted 18 September, 2013

Abstract

The study investigates the factors influencing the effectiveness of second-tier rural producer organizations (RPOs) in linking their members to output markets in Uganda. The percentage of farmers who sold some of their produce through the RPO was used as a proxy for effectiveness. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis indicated that RPO effectiveness was positively related to the size of a RPO and democratic leadership. On the other hand, the proportion of RPO leaders with leadership training, enforcement of internal control practices, bulking distance and size of executive committee had a significant negative effect on the effectiveness of such organizations. It was concluded that improving the effectiveness of RPOs required the (i) use of numerous sub-committee instead of many all-member meetings and smaller executive committees; (ii) dedication, respect and commitment by leaders of RPOs when imparting skills learnt in order to boost members’ morale; (iii) devising reward systems for leaders or putting in place stringent rules, such as leadership codes, to guide leader behaviour so as to prevent conflict of interest and possible elite capture; and (iv) policies guiding Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) lending conditions be reviewed to match rural producers’ economic status and seasonality of enterprises.

Key words: Marketing rural producer organizations (RPOs), RPO effectiveness, smallholder farmers, market participation, Uganda.