Livestock Extension Education: A Livelihoods Revitalization Strategy in Rural Uganda

The Ugandan government has relentlessly partnered with universities and philanthropic organizations in building the human capacities of livestock farmers to improve their herd production. The study investigated the impact of the livestock programs of Iowa State University (ISU) of the United States through its Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods and ISU Uganda program in Uganda. The study determined the influence of livestock training programs on the adoption of sustainable livestock production practices between 2014 to 2018 commensurate with the 2014 to 2019 strategic plan impact evaluation. We sampled 454 households, of whom 366 (80.6%) were livestock farmers. Among livestock farmers, 174 (47.5%) participated in livestock training programs. Farmers mostly trained in local chickens, exotic/layer chickens, and piggery; average in goats and feeding/feed formulation; but less in forage production and marketing/gross margin analysis. The frequency of attendance was low with 80.5% attending one to seven of 21 maximum times. In assessing knowledge comprehension and retention, we established an average score of 63.6% among all trainees. In production trends, 93.2% were involved in production before 2014, 76.0% were active in production by 2018, and up to 23.0% (re)joined a livestock enterprise between 2014 and 2018. Households who (re)joined production were associated with participation in livestock training and received inputs like breeding animals, water tanks, and feeds. The study recommends continuous training of farmers and upgrading service providers, establishment of resource centers, and engaging policymakers on policies on training and capacity-building efforts. Routine monitoring and evaluation of the training materials and farmers.