The operations and activities of VEDCO are grouped in four major intervention strategies. They include:

 

Food and nutrition security management:

This thematic area aims at improving Food security and Nutrition management among small/ medium holder farmers. In Uganda, just like any other African country, women bear the responsibility of food production in homes. Under this component, VEDCO supports vulnerable households to achieve food security with a special focus on women participation.

VEDCO’s has a systematic approach to empowering farmers that starts with supporting households through their groups to attain food security and gradually progress to producing for the market. Through the farmer-to-farmer extension service (the RDE system), VEDCO supports farmers to access extension services, production inputs, practice the recommended farming practices, improve soil productivity and sustainably to improve food production in homes. It works together with the community to develop parameters for a food secure household. These parameters are yardsticks used by RDEs and VEDCO to assess the effectiveness of the trainings, adaptation rate and changes in household food production over time. In addition, the program emphasises record keeping, hygiene where each household must have a rubbish pit, toilet in a reasonable distance and a drying rack for dishes.

Over the years, VEDCO realized that there is always a gap in programmes on food security where in most cases they do not explore the nutrition element. This component is therefore designed to take care of the nutrition of the beneficiaries in the food security program.

Like the RDEs, Community Nutrition and Health workers support this nutrition component. The criterion of selecting them is similar to that of RDEs although there is a minimum education requirement given the tasks that are handled.

Community Health Nutrition and Health workers (CNHW) are equipped with basic skills through a ten (10)-module-training course. By the end of the training, the CNHWs are able to measure and interpret anthropometrics (nutritional status), compose and prepare balanced diets for special needs categories of people and maintain household hygiene. After the training, the CNHWs are commissioned and given a training guide and kit to be able to reach out to communities. The kit will be composed of a length/height measuring board, weighing scale, calculator, gloves, measuring tape, gumboots, bicycle, wheelbarrow, overall, watering can, spray pump, garden fork and a spade.
The CNHWs also establish demonstration sites for production of nutrient dense sources for use in practical demonstrations on preparation of balanced meals for special needs categories of people

Agricultural trade promotion
This programme aims at improving commercial competitiveness of farmers’ products and access to market. The program transforms model farmers from the food security program into enterprising farmers through technical support, organizing them to produce and market collectively, training in farm business and supporting them to add value to their produce. Participation of women in commercial and market-oriented farming remains a challenge. In this component women, tailored activities are conducted to enhance their active participation and total benefits. This program will enlist 60% women participation in agricultural enterprise development at least by the year 2009 in VEDCO areas of operation.

The program produces a market information service (MIS) constituting a data bank, a market information bulletin and community based resource centres. The data bank stores information on program out reach, enterprises promoted and production levels of the groups that is used for monitoring and improvement of service provision to the farmers.

The weekly bulletin publishes information on agricultural prices, information on weather changes. It also contains information on the kind of produce farmers have in stock that enables both the buyer and the farmers to make right choices on where to sell.

Through supporting farmer’s groups and associations, it promotes collective production and marketing of a range of enterprises for the domestic, regional and international markets and facilitates farmers to add value to their produce to access good markets.

 

Documentation, Communication, and Advocacy component.

 This programme aims at increasing farmer’s involvement in influencing policy and practice on issues regarding food security and agricultural trade at all levels 

The improvement of farmer’s livelihoods is much more than technical support and service provision but rather a greater influence from policy issues that continuously suppress the farmers’ potential to attain food security, profitability and improved livelihoods. Given VEDCO’s position at the grass root and the competence generated in the last twenty years of working closely with the rural farmers, VEDCO has an enormous potential to pick up farmers issues and engage policy makers. An advocacy programme was developed to support farmers’ groups to participate in advocacy activities on issues that affect production and marketing.   In this program, VEDCO is set out:

• To support farmer groups to participate in policy processes on issues affecting them in production and marketing

 

• To build the capacity of farmers to identify and influence issues affecting seed security, access to land, and agricultural trade

 

• To document, communicate information on key thematic areas

 

• To build and strengthen strategic partnerships, which contribute to the achievements of organizational goal

 

VEDCO Advocacy agenda

A number of issues as regards agricultural production and marketing affect farmer’s livelihoods, but VEDCO has strategically chosen to engage policy makers in the following:

Trade
Trade is such a tool for economic development. VEDCO is convinced that unless trade is just and fair, farmers’ improved livelihoods and poverty reduction efforts will be meaningful. VEDCO farmers only survive on what they realize from sell of produce. As such, VEDCO together with various players will address production challenges all levels that have hindered farmers from breaking through and making profits from their produce.

Seed Security
Seed is a gift of nature and a source of livelihood. Seeds are very critical farm inputs in the agricultural sector. However, new property rights and technologies threaten the freedom of seeds and that of farmers. In addition, the rapid extinction of diverse crops and crop varieties of non-renewable seeds threatens the future of seeds and as such, VEDCO with the various players in this area will engage policy makers to enact laws and policies that protect, preserve and conserve varieties.
 

Land

Land is a key factor in production that has a very big bearing on achieving governments’ objectives as set out in the Poverty Eradication Action Fund and the Plan fro Modernization of Agriculture. In 1998, government passed a land act and has since been implementing land sector reforms. As a result, of this, access to land by the poor sections of the population is threatened with the sizes of land accessible to them. VEDCO in partnership with the Land Alliance have been and will continue supporting farmers to resolve issues affecting their access to land, educate them on their right to land and engage other players on farmer’s access to land.

 

Institutional Capacity

 Vedco as an institution has survived two decades now. It has undergone several restructuring processes across its structures in order to take on challenges that face the organisation as a growing institution and to be able to offer quality services and functional systems that promote agricultural entrepreneurship. In this component, VEDCO will strengthen the monitoring and evaluation as well as financial systems in order to offer quality services.

Under this programme component, VEDCO will also broaden the resource base through implementing alternative ways of resource mobilisation while developing and strengthening the human resource base.

In VEDCO, we realise that farmers and their institutions are important levels in the VEDCO structure. VEDCO therefore encourages participatory approached programme planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The farmers individually and in their institutions are a basis for the program implementation