Background to the Study
Following the implementation of the Question and Answer Service (QAS) Voucher System (VS) project in Uganda during the period 2009-2010, an impact study funded by the German Government through the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE) was carried out to measure the impact the intervention had on the farmers in the seven districts of Uganda. The seven districts of Kayunga, Kyenjojo, Kasese, Mityana, Nebbi, Soroti and Wakiso are located in five different agro-ecological zones of Uganda.
The study was carried out through collaboration of different actors including the Federal Agency of Agriculture and Food (BLE) of Germany, and the Rural Empowerment network (REN), a local NGO in Uganda.
Purpose
The main goal of the impact study was to gather information that is needed to plan for the continuation and extension of the question and answer voucher service. There was also need to convince farmers, their organisations, the government and the different donors to invest into it.
The specific objectives of the impact study were to:
- Assess the impact that the answers from scientist had on productivity of farmers.
- Evaluate to what extend farmers are willing to contribute to the continuation of the service.
- Gather some additional data for analysis.
- Geo-reference the farms that benefited from the service.
- Gather many images of the farming systems and the region.
Methodology
All 550 farmers who participated in the 2009 / 2010 project were interviewed on their farms. A standard questionnaire was completed to document the information and data that was gathered during the interview. Data was entered in Rural Universe Website (RUN)
www.runetwork.org. All images during the study were taken with digital cameras with GPS functionality.