The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

essential for the formation of external relationships. Meeting children’s physical and
emotional needs influences their perceptions of the trustworthiness of those outside the
family and encourages reciprocity and exchange. The implication here is that policies that
help maintain the integrity of the family are helpful. Some of these policies are already being
pursued by both public and voluntary sector agencies working in the marginal areas. An
obvious example here is the NGO-based child sponsorship programs, which are active in the
area. At the community level, interactions among neighbors, friends, and groups generate
social capital.
Since households overwhelmingly desire help with large expenditures such as
funerals, soil and water conservation, and so forth, awareness campaigns could be held as
advertisements for groups, so that farmers can see what membership in a group could do for
them and therefore choose to become members. There are many ways of increasing social
capital. For example, a leaf may be borrowed from Kyamuange village in Kalama division of
Machakos district, where social capital was increased by forming a council of elders. The
formation of NGOs should be encouraged since, in most cases, they form groups in their area
of operation. It is hardly possible nowadays to find a development organization, research
organization, or government program that does not attempt to work with community-based
operations (CBOs) in the pursuit of rural development goals. This can be done by reducing
the registration costs and the length of time it takes to be registered. Hand in hand with this,
“NGO bashing” by politicians and government officials should be discouraged. This has a
negative effect on the formation of new NGOs and the continued operation of those already
formed. The catchment groups originally formed by the extension service to coordinate soil
and water conservation efforts in the rural areas need to be revived. In many areas, these have
become dormant. These catchment groups receive training from extension on a host of
farming-related activities.
Likewise, the Ministry of Culture and Social Services could be in the forefront in the
promotion and formation of CBOs. They could initiate advertising campaigns in both the
print and electronic media about the benefits of being a member of a group. In addition, the
provincial administration could hold public meetings. Another campaign could be
spearheaded through churches or mosques, urging members to join groups in their respective
villages. Moreover, some activities such as collecting garbage could be undertaken jointly
before and after the services for people to network.
Soil conservation issues come in all shapes and sizes and a “one-size-fits-all” policy
tool does not exist. Hence, improving agricultural production with preferences for improved
environmental quality may require a menu of policy options. But choosing one or many
policy tools is just the beginning. How well a policy instrument performs and how the
benefits and costs are distributed—among farmers, consumers, and taxpayers—will depend
as much on how a policy is designed as on which policy is selected.
Formation of farmers’ field schools should also be encouraged. This type of network
and platform provides important opportunities for farmers to learn about and share their
experiences regarding integrated soil fertility management, which includes soil conservation
structures. Thus, policy initiatives can be designed to reduce or remove potential physicaltechnical,
sociological, or institutional obstacles to local organizations with the purpose of
facilitating this process.
Finally, policies to help develop the effectiveness of social capital in the construction
of terraces should address ways to effect and maximize benefits from linkages between
groups and the state, markets, and civil society; to reduce the costs of group formation,
membership, and participation; to access public resources such as the Constituency
Development Funds to support viability of groups; and to strengthen the Office of
Community Development through training and other facilitation. The latter should serve as