Responsible Land Tenure for Agribusiness

Training government officials on the Voluntary Guidelines for the Governance of Tenure (VGGT)

Uganda Agribusiness Alliance assisted the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Uganda Office to organize a training for “state actors” on safeguarding land tenure rights in the context of agricultural investments. The training aimed at enhancing capacities in promoting responsible agricultural investments in ways that respect rights, foster sustainable livelihoods and do not harm local environments, in line with the principles of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT).

The training was undertaken in three phases:

1. An online training workshop from 16th June to 4th July 2016, at which participants were provided with the necessary knowledge to initiate a stocktaking exercise on responsible investments in agriculture in the country, explored investment models that reduce or avoid the transfer of land tenure rights, and developed capacities on how to transfer land or resource rights. Five sessions were covered during the online training including:

• Basics on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure
• Basics of agricultural investment
• Creating an enabling environment
• Investment approval process
• Monitoring agricultural investments

2. A face-to-face workshop at Nile Resort Hotel, Jinja from 18th to 22nd July 2016 at which an in-depth analysis of the on-line concepts was undertaken, and
3. A one-month mentoring session in August 2016.

The face-to-face workshop was attended by representatives of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies involved in the promotion, approval and monitoring of agricultural investments including: Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Ministry of Water and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ministry of Local Governments, Office of the President, National Planning Authority, National Forestry Authority, Uganda Investment Authority, and Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

All participants were asked to develop action plans indicating ways of how to take the concepts earned forward. Briefing packages arising out of the work plan were prepared during the mentoring phase in the month of August.

Research on Agribusiness Process and responsible land tenure in Uganda

Under a contract with FAO-Uganda, research was conducted in 2016-2017 to identify (1) what the government sanctioned business process for establishing agribusiness investments in Uganda should be, according to government officials responsible for overseeing such investments; (2) what the business process for establishing agribusiness investments actually is in Uganda according to government officials from various ministries and agencies, and from the experiences of private sector agribusinesses, private sector legal advisors and non-governmental agencies specializing in agribusiness investments related to land issues; (3) where the gaps are between the officially articulated process and the actual experienced process, and why the gaps are there. Particular attention was paid to gaps in compliance with the principle and practices of the VGGTs. The research results were summarized in a presentation to key land tenure actors in Uganda in 2017, and included in a written report submitted to FAO-Uganda (unpublished.) [Cick here to access the paper on Agribusiness Investment in Uganda and the VGGTs]

Building capacity of Ugandan agribusiness investors for responsible land Tenure

A baseline study conducted by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in 2017 came to the same conclusion of earlier research by UAA for FAO, that often national medium or large-scale agricultural investments are not fully monitored by the Government of Uganda to meet all legal conditions, while international investments are much more expected to comply by both national laws and international guidelines.

Subsequently GIZ created a project on Responsible Agricultural Investments by medium scale domestic farmers as they implement aspects of national laws and international guidelines of land-based agricultural investments in Uganda (e.g., VGGTs, RAI and NPL). The medium scale farmers are natives of Uganda with farm sizes ranging from 10 to 35 acres on both private mailo and customary land. The project titled “Responsible Land Policy in Uganda (RELAPU)” was implemented by GIZ in partnership with the Ugandan Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development (MLHUD) and Uganda Agribusiness Alliance (UAA) in selected districts in Central and North Eastern Uganda. The project is part of the Global Program “Responsible Land Policy” which is part of the Special Initiative “One World No Hunger” of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The sensitization of domestic medium-scale farmers is expected to result into improved levels of compliance by different medium scale farmers or investors with national laws and international guidelines.

District and Regional Multi-Stakeholder Platforms for responsible land tenure

UAA’s responsibility in the RELAPU project has been to create open local investor platforms in each project region at which agricultural investors exchange their experiences. The regions include the Central Region (Mityana, Mubende, Kassanda Districts) and the North Eastern Uganda Region (Soroti and Katakwi Districts.) Both district level platforms in each district, and regional platforms combining the districts, are used for capacity building on relevant issues related to responsible agricultural investments depending on the needs. Through this process, information on responsible agricultural investments is shared and capacities of agricultural investors developed.

Intensive capacity building of Core Investors for responsible land tenure

At the regional multi-stakeholder platforms, a few investors were selected by their fellow investors (farmers) as champions. These “Core” investors are respected local farmers who would commit to adhere to some guidelines and to receive deeper capacity building and supervision, as well as train peers based on their experiences.

The criteria for selecting the core investor are:

1. Investors with investments on land ranging from 10 acres (for Soroti and Katakwi districts) to 30 acres of land and above (mainly found in Mityana, Kassanda and Mubende where most farmers hold larger sizes of land)
2. Investors willing to be trained and in turn train others

Six (6) investors were initially selected as champions and core investors. The core investors underwent intensive training in measures to improve their investments. This aimed at “up-lifting” these investors from the current status of non-adherence to international and national guidelines to the adoption of more responsible agricultural investments. These 6 core investors consisted of 4 investors from Eastern Uganda and 2 from Central Uganda. Two of the 6 investors were women. After selection at the platform meetings, the 6 core investors were visited and improvement plans drafted which addressed adherence to national and international guidelines. In the second year of the project, six more investors were added as core investors, and were as well visited, and improvement plans drafted.

The improvement plans were along thematic areas in line with the international guidelines on land-based investments (VGGT, PRAI, New Alliance’s Analytical Framework for Land Based Investments). Below are the common areas of the improvement plans:

1. Identifying a mechanism or arrangement for resolving any conflict which may arise between the investment and stakeholders including local community members.
2. Engage stakeholders affected by the investment (including any marginalized persons).
3. Conduct an informal or formal Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)
4. Develop a written employment agreement with all employees;
5. Improve water and soil management to increase environmental sustainability and compliance with the ESIA

The commitments made by the core investors are recorded in annual improvement plans that are monitored and assessed annually.

[Click here to access the paper on Uganda’s Medium scale farmers’ compliance to national and International guidelines]

Donor partners of Uganda Agribusiness Alliance’s work in responsible land tenure for agribusiness include Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), FAO-Uganda, and German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ-Uganda)