Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (UMFSNP)

About the Project

Subsistence farming by Uganda’s smallholders currently accounts for 96% of all farm production and a quarter of the total GDP. The sector employs more than two-thirds of workers, contributing to 40% of household income. At the same time, stunting affects one in three children—more than 2.1 million children across the country, higher than its immediate neighbors—some of whom have lower per capita income. Undernutrition disproportionately affects rural areas, where stunting rates top 36%, compared to 19% in urban areas, and annual costs associated with child undernutrition are estimated at 5.6% of GDP. Meanwhile, Ugandan agricultural policy has focused primarily on increasing productivity and commercialization of staple foods and cash crops to raise farmer incomes. 

GAFSP will invest $27.6 million to support the government's efforts to explicitly link agriculture, nutrition, health, and education through school-based demonstration gardens, nutrition education, and backyard gardens. UMFSNP increases the production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, including African indigenous vegetables, high-iron beans, and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, while increasing the use of community-based nutrition services in smallholder households in project areas. The focus is on promoting short-term changes in high-impact nutrition behaviors and practices that are known to contribute to the medium- and long-term reduction of stunted growth in young children. Activities include distributing start-up materials to increase household production of nutritious foods while improving nutrition and health education through schools and community-based agriculture extension and health services. Services include routinely distributing nutrition commodities, such as iron-folic acid supplements or anthropometric measurement scales, to communities in 15 project districts. The project also supports community-led school demonstration gardens, education for women’s groups, and the scaling up of micronutrient supplementation.