Uganda, July 2025

Elaboration of Concept notes: Strategically prioritized NRDS’s needs towards implementation

The National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS) of Uganda has been revised and validated as a working document. Following this, the national rice development task force team organized a working week with support from the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) for the elaboration of concept notes to guide the implementation of the NRDS. However, there was the need to first conduct a comprehensive mapping of all actors along the rice value chain (RVC) and assess their current engagements in the sector. As a result, a detailed survey was undertaken to examine the state of rice industry development, ongoing interventions, expected outcomes, and existing gaps in alignment with the revised NRDS. The survey revealed that, despite ongoing efforts, significant gaps remain within the sector. These findings underscored the need for a well-structured, bankable concept notes to support targeted interventions under the NRDS.

The primary objective of the current exercise therefore was to develop such concept notes, building on the validated findings and aligning with the strategic priorities of the NRDS to enhance rice sector development in Uganda.

A four-day concept note formulation workshop was organized in Kampala, between 30th June to 4th July 2025, bringing together twenty-six (26) participants from the public and private sectors, research institutions, farmer organizations, and representatives of development partners. The workshop served as a platform for multi-stakeholder collaboration aimed at translating the strategic priorities of the revised National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS) into actionable and bankable concept notes.

Participants actively engaged in technical discussions, group work, and peer review processes to ensure that the proposed interventions are responsive to the sector’s identified gaps and aligned with national development goals. At the end of the engagement six (6) concept notes were formulated these are

1. Support on enhancement of quality of locally processed rice in Uganda
2. Enhancing the rice seed value chain to promote sustainable rice production and food security
3. Enhancing rice farm productivity through Irrigation and Water Management
4. Increasing access to credit by rice value chain agents for enhanced competitiveness within the sector
5. Support for appropriate rice mechanization technologies for small and medium-scale farmers in Uganda
6. Strengthening Market Access for Small Holder Farmers in Uganda

As part of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) process of the rice sector, the facilitator presented the CARD M&E Framework to the participants, providing an overview of its purpose, structure, and application in tracking progress within the rice sector. This was followed by a detailed explanation of the thirteen (13) key indicators included in the framework, which are essential for assessing the performance and impact of interventions aligned with the National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS). The sources of secondary data to set the baseline for the M&E was identified and participants volunteered to approach such organizations in order to collect the data.