An Assessment of the VSL Model in Enhancing Food Security in Sembabule District

An Assessment of the VSL Model in Enhancing Food Security in Sembabule District. A case study of selected SCC-VI groups of Mijwala and Sembabule Town Council.

A postgraduate dissertation

Presented to

Institute of Ethics and Development Studies

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for

the award of the degree

of Master of Arts in Development Studies

Uganda Martyrs University

Matthias Masiga

2011-MO92-30002

April 2014

DEDICATION

I dedicate this research work to my beloved wife Kisakye Margaret and my children who have given me the moral support during my time of study. I assure you all that despite the fact that once in a while I have cheated on your family time by burying my head in books, the fruits are sweet and promising. Thank you so much for bearing with me.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to appreciate the contributions made by the different individuals and organizations that made this research dissertation possible. Special thanks go to my employer for providing me with the necessary assistance especially transport during my data collection exercise.

I would also like to thank my supervisor Mr. George Ssengooba for the technical advice right from the research proposal development stage up to the final stage of this research.

I also extend my appreciation to my research assistant Catherine Namukasa for the great effort she put in especially during the data collection process.

In the same manner, I am most indebted to the entire administration and lecturers of Uganda

Martyrs University for transforming my whole life through the flexible weekend learning programme. Sincere appreciation goes to the Coordinator for Masaka centre Fr. Ssembatya

Joseph, for his continuous reminders, words of encouragement and regular communication with us.

From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank my entire family members Margaret my wife,

Jesse, Samuel and my beloved daughter Norah for the love and support rendered to me throughout my educational career. And to all my friends who could have contributed in one way or the other in making this research successful. Thank you very much.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents ABSTRACT ...... xi CHAPTER ONE ...... 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1.0 Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Background to the study ...... 1 1.2 Problem statement ...... 9 1.3.0 Objectives of the study ...... 10 1.3.1 General objective ...... 10 1.3.2 Specific objectives ...... 10 1.4 Research Questions ...... 11 1.5 Scope of the study ...... 11 1.6 Significance of the study ...... 11 1.7 Justification of the study: ...... 12 1.8 Definition of key terms: ...... 13 1.9 Conceptual framework ...... 14 1.10. Explanation of the conceptual framework ...... 15 CHAPTER TWO ...... 16 LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 16 2.0 Introduction ...... 16 2.1 The extent at which the VSL Model works ...... 16 2.2 Financial Models addressing food insecurity ...... 18 2.3 Challenges facing Village Saving & Loaning Model implementation ...... 21 2.4 Food Security Challenges ...... 22 2.5 Addressing VSL Challenges ...... 24 2.6 Addressing Food Security Challenges ...... 25 CHAPTER THREE ...... 27 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...... 27 3.0 Introduction ...... 27

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3.1 Research Design ...... 27 3.2 Area of the study ...... 27 3.3 Study Population ...... 28 3.4 Sampling Procedures ...... 28 3.41 Sample Size ...... 28 3.4.2 Sampling Techniques...... 29 3.5 Data collection methods and instruments...... 29 3.5.1 Primary Sources/ instruments ...... 29 3.5.1.1 Questionnaire method (questionnaire form used as instrument) ...... 29 3.5.1.2 Interview method (interview form used as instrument) ...... 30 3.5.1.3 Observation method (observation checklist) ...... 30 3.6 Quality control methods ...... 31 3.7 Data Analysis techniques; ...... 31 3.8 Ethical considerations; ...... 32 3.9 Limitations and delimitations of the study ...... 32 CHAPTER FOUR ...... 34 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION: ...... 34 4.1. Introduction ...... 34 4.2 Social demographic characteristics ...... 34 4.2.1 Sex of the member ...... 34 4.2.2 Age of respondents ...... 35 Table 3: showing the age of the members ...... 35 4.2.3 Relationship of the member to the head ...... 35 4.2.4 Religion of the member ...... 36 4.2.5 Marital status of the member ...... 37 4.2.6 Family size which the member belongs ...... 38 4.2.7 Read or write ...... 39 4.2.8 Highest level of education of the member ...... 39 Table 9: showing the highest level of education of members) ...... 39 4.2.9 Main source of income of the members ...... 40 4.3.0 Extent at which the VSL model works and how the model addresses food insecurity...... 41 4.3.1 Member information ...... 41

4.3.1.1 Members in VSLA groups ...... 41 4.3.1.2 Period taken in the VSLA group ...... 42 4.3.2 Cycles completed, Shares bought in each of the cycles, amount received at share-out in each of the cycles and current shares in the running cycle...... 43 4.3.3 Other forms of saving ...... 44 4.3.4.0 Access and utilization of credit ...... 45 4.3.4.1 Of the 140 respondents, 137 respondents acknowledged borrowing from the VSLA ...... 45 4.3.5 No. of times borrowed and amount ...... 45 4.3.6.0 Saving utilization ...... 47 4.3.6.1 The 101 respondents acknowledge that the money received at any of the share-out events was between UGX 63,000 to UGX 3,000,000 giving a mean share-out of UGX 457,286 as shown in table 18 below...... 47 4.3.6.2 The description statistics in Table 21 below on share-out money utilization clearly show that 58 respondents use their share-out money mostly in buying farm inputs all geared at a dressing household food security: ...... 48 4.3.6.3 On who decides on the utilization of share-out money: ...... 49 4.4.1 Improved food access since joining VSLA ...... 50 4.4.2 Improved diet ...... 52 4.4.3 Increase in number of meals ...... 53 4.5.1 Increment of land under crop/animal production ...... 56 The following were the reasons for the state of the land under crop/animal as shown in table 35 below; ...... 57 4.5.2 General food security amongst members ...... 59 VSLA kit used by the group in monthly saving meetings. (The kit consists of; money counting bowl, fines bowl, stamp, ink pot, ink pad, ruler, pen, pencil, social fund bag, loan fund bag, pass books, padlocks and safe box)...... 61 A VSLA monthly group meeting conducting saving and credit (a three padlock safe box in the front) 62 4.6.0Challenges hindering the VSLA model in addressing food insecurity problems: ...... 63 4.6.1 Poor record keeping: ...... 63 4.6.2 Drought: ...... 63 4.6.3 Poverty amongst the VSLA members: ...... 64 4.6.4 Illiteracy amongst the VSLA members: ...... 64 4.6.5 Some farmers don’t save aggressively for fear of being cheated like they were cheated: ...... 64 4.6.6 Security of the safe box: ...... 65

4.6.7 Many VSLA members lack good investment opportunities: ...... 65 4.6.8 Poor time management amongst VSLA members: ...... 65 4.6.9 Short loan period: ...... 66 4.6.10 High interest rates ...... 66 4.6.11 Little loanable funds ...... 66 4.6.12 Lack of transparency amongst the leaders of the VSLA groups: ...... 67 4.6.13 Some group members don’t respect the rules governing the VSLA model ...... 67 4.6.14 Some respondents complained of lack of market for their produce and hence they are exploited by the scrupulous middle men: ...... 67 4.6.15 Some officials and members from existing SACCOs are decampaigning the VSLA model: . 68 4.7.0 What needs to be done to improve the VSLA model in order to address food insecurity challenges? ...... 69 4.7.1 Train on record keeping: ...... 69 4.7.2 Support from government: ...... 70 4.7.3 Raise share value: ...... 70 4.7.4 Security of the safe box: ...... 71 4.7.5 The research also established that there are members who don’t want to borrow from the VSLA: ...... 71 4.7.6 Supervision: ...... 71 4.7.7 Reduce interest rate: ...... 72 4.7.8 Need to extend the repayments period from a maximum of 3 months to at least 6 months...... 72 4.7.9 Prolong the saving cycle from 1-2 years: ...... 72 4.7.10 Trainings on financial management, time management and agriculture trainings: ...... 73 4.7.11 Need to encourage husbands to join the groups; ...... 74 CHAPTER FIVE ...... 75 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDANTION ...... 75 5.0 Introduction: ...... 75 5.1 Summary of findings: ...... 75 5.2 Conclusion ...... 76 5.3 Recommendations: ...... 78 BIBLIOGRAPHY: ...... 81 Appendix I: INDIVIDUAL QUESTIONNAIRE ...... 84

Appendix II Interview guide for key informants (SCC-Vi staff) ...... 91 Appendix III Interview guide for key informants (Local leaders/Focus group discussions) ...... 92 Appendix IV ...... 93 Appendix V ...... 94

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: showing the sample size………………………………………………………..………28

Table 2: showing the sex of respondents……………………………………………………...…34

Table 3: showing the age of the respondents………………………………………………….…35

Table 4: showing the relationship of the respondent to the household head…………………….35

Table 5: showing the religion of the respondents…………………………………………….….36

Table 6: showing the marital status of the respondents ………………………………………....37

Table 7: showing the family size from which the respondent belongs……………………..……38

Table 8: showing the literacy levels of the respondents…………………………………………39

Table 9: showing the highest level of education of the respondents………………………….…39

Table 10: showing the main source of income of the respondents………………………………40

Table 11: showing the descriptive statistics of the members in VSLA groups……………….…41

Table 12: showing the period taken by the member in the VSLA group………………………..42

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Table 13: showing the descriptive statistics of cycles, shares bought in each of the cycles, amount received at each of the share-out in each of the cycles and current shares in the cycle running………………………………………………………………………………………...…43

Table 14(a) and 14(b): showing other forms of saving……………………………………..……44

Table 15: showing access and utilization of credit………………………………………………45

Table 16: showing number of times borrowed and amount borrowed……………..……………45

Table 17: showing the descriptive statistics on what the money was used for………………..…46

Table 18: showing the highest amount of money received at any share-out event…………...…47

Table 19: showing the anticipation of the members in receiving that much money at share out…………………………………………………………………………………………….….47

Table 20: showing the excitement of the members on receiving the money at share out……….48

Table 21: showing the descriptive statistics on utilization of share out money……………….…49

Table 22: showing on who decides on how to utilize the share out money……………………...50

Table 23: showing any plan to follow to guide utilization of the shared out money………….…50

Table 24: showing household food access improvement since joining VSLA……………….…51

Table 25: showing the reasons for food access status after joining VSLA…………………...…52

Table 26: showing improvement in household diet since joining VSLA……………………..…53

Table 27: showing reasons for diet status………………………………………………………..53

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Table 28: showing increases in the number of meals since joining VSLA………….………..…55

Table 29: showing reasons for meal status in the VSLA member households…………………55

Table 30: showing the descriptive statistics of meals got in a day by VSLA members…………55

Table 31: showing responses of the members if they had problems meeting their family food needs since joining VSLA………………………………………………………………….……56

Table 32: showing reasons for meeting/not meeting family food needs since joining VSLA…..56

Table 33: showing land sizes of members…………………………………………………….…57

Table 34: showing increment of land under crop/animal production……………………………57

Table 35: showing reason for state of land under crop/animal……………………………..……59

Table 36: showing comments on general food security amongst members…………………..…60

Table 37: showing suggestions on what needs to be done to improve the VSL model in order to address food insecurity challenges………………………………………………………….……69

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Conceptual framework……………………………………………………………...…14

Figure 2: showing kits used by VSLA group……………………………………………….……61

Figure 3: showing VSLA members during one of the saving and credit sessions…………...….62

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ACODE: Advocate Coalition for Development and Environment.

ASCA: Accumulating Savings and Credit Association

CARE: Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere

CGIAR: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

FAO: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

ICRAF: International Centre for Research in Agroforestry.

IFAD: International Fund for Agricultural development.

IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute

IIRR: International Institute of Rural Reconstruction

MDGs: Millennium Development Goals

MMD: Mata Masu Dubara

MSC: Microfinance Support Centre

NAADS: National Agricultural Advisory Services

NARO: National Agriculture Research Organisation

NGO: Non Government Organisation.

PMA: Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture.

ROSCA: Rotating Savings and Credit Association

SACCO: Saving and Credit Cooperative.

SCC: Swedish Cooperative Centre

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Scientists

UGADEN: Uganda Agroforestry Development Network.

Vi: We (Swedish word)

VSL: Village Saving and Loaning

ABSTRACT

The study was about an assessment of the VSL model in enhancing food security in sembabule district A case study of selected SCC-Vi groups of Mijwala and sembabule town council. The report sets out findings of the study to answer three specific research questions; To what extent is the VSL model working in enhancing food security amongst sembabule district farmers?, What challenges are facing by the VSL model in enhancing food security?, What are the appropriate strategies that should be taken to address the challenges faced by the VSL model?

The researcher used the following methods to solicit information; Questionnaires, Interviews and Observation. The researcher consolidated data that was collected and then computer based analysis was employed in data entry and analyzing the findings of the research. SPSS was employed in the analysis of quantitative data from where descriptive statistics was applied to generate frequency tables.

The project (SCC-Vi) a Swedish NGO implements the VSL model in partnership with the groups on the ground. Despite the fact that there are great achievements that this model has brought to the VSL group members, the study discovered that there are also a number of challenges that the model has faced in addressing food security among the members. Some of these were; high interest rates, drought, shorter loan periods, shorter saving cycle, security of the safe box and others.

Therefore, because of these challenges, the study came up with a number of recommendations on how to improve this model so that it fully addresses food security challenges among the VSL member’s household. Some of the recommendations included; need for more sensitization, need for more trainings on microfinance management, prolonging the saving cycle from 1 year to 2 years, extend the loan repayment period from 3 months to 6 months, reduction of interest rates, support from government and others.

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CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

The study is about an assessment of the VSL model in enhancing food security in Sembabule

District A case study of selected SCC-Vi groups of Mijwala and Sembabule Town Council. It begins by giving a brief background to the study by first getting to know the global and national picture of Village Saving & Loaning (VSL) and food security and then narrowing it down to

Sembabule Town Council and in Mijwala Sub County.

Against this background a statement to the problem is presented followed by the general

objective of the study, which is then broken down into three specific objectives from which the

research questions were derived. This chapter further presents the significance of the study,

justification of the study and scope of the study. This chapter concludes with a conceptual

framework of summarized concepts followed by a brief explanation of the relationship between

some of the variables in the conceptual framework.

1.1 Background to the study

The needs-driven approach and agricultural credit as an input to be provided by specialized

credit institutions, dates back to the 1950s and 1960s followed by credit NGOs in the 1970s and

80s. This school equated the rural economy with agriculture, ignored the existence of rural

savings and consequently the demand for deposit services, and identified a perennial need for

credit. This approach stressed the unique features of agricultural finance in theory and practice,

elaborating dozens and more credit products and documenting them in voluminous agricultural

credit handbooks, with detailed descriptions for credit by crop, loan size, geographical area and

1 target group. This school of thought has resulted in a disaster of rural finance which has continued into the 21st century. Much of the support given during half a century has not only failed to create a lasting system of rural finance, but has in fact undermined its very emergence.

In the process, donor credit provided by multilateral and bilateral agencies frequently, particularly in Africa, has not only failed to reach the target population, but has also made the countries poorer: these countries are now stuck with huge amounts of external debts which cannot be repaid from failed investments in agriculture (Seibel and Almeyda, 2004).

Seibel and Almeyda (2004) further maintain that the new school of institution-building and sustainable financial services has gained worldwide recognition, at least in theory, during the

1990s. This school has analysed the rural economy as complex, comprising a multitude of agricultural and non-agricultural activities with widely differing profit margins, and has identified a need for continual access to reliable financial institutions with a wide range of financial services, foremost among them keeping the savings of the poor and the non poor in a safe place. This has led to an overall shift from agricultural credit to rural finance, in which the term finance encompasses, as a minimum, credit and savings as well as finance for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes and for consumer and emergency purposes. This school recognizes that rural finance is no panacea, cannot respond to all needs which are overwhelmingly many, and is far from solving all rural development problems; but it stubbornly insists that no matter what, rural people need access to financial services on a sustainable basis, and that such services can only be provided in a lasting manner by sustainable financial institutions as part of an orderly, well-regulated and effectively supervised financial system.

Village Saving and Loaning programmes are under implementation in India, Cambodia,

Nicaragua and Ecuador. While many of these are smaller in scale and each has its own distinct

2 variation on the basic methodology, most of them stick to the basic set of principles, which may be summarized as:

“Savings-based” financial services with no external borrowing or donations to the loan, portfolio, self-management, simplicity and transparency of operations, flexibility in loan sizes and terms, very low group management costs met through group earnings. In 1999, CARE started to promote the Mata Masu Dubara (MMD) programme’s Village Saving and Loan methodology outside of Niger and there are now programmes operating in Eritrea, Ghana,

Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe (Hugh Allen,

2002).

In Africa and elsewhere, agricultural finance is always vulnerable to a policy gap between government ministries. This prompts attention to take deliberate efforts to address the gap.

Continued vulnerability will mean continued absence of appropriate financial services and products along the value chains, leading to unbalanced development of the agricultural sector.

Yarney (2010) says that the approach being promoted by Standard Bank (South Africa’s largest bank), involves engaging with smallholder clients from the beginning of the farm production process right through to the end. The bank ensures that their clients have the right seed variety, make certain they are using the right fertilizers, educate the farmers about the business of farming and guarantee a market. The bank also insists that when granting a loan, the farmers take out appropriate weather risk insurance. He concludes that the banks are in search of, and are willing to embrace finance models that work to finance all aspects of agriculture.

Von Braun et al (2008) further maintains that from the current global food crisis, combined with the energy crisis and emerging climate change issues threatening the livelihoods of millions of poor people as well as the economic, ecological, and political situation in many developing

3 countries, progress in achieving development goals (such as cutting hunger and poverty in half by 2015) has been delayed significantly; in fact, the number of food-deficient people actually increased in the past two years by at least 75 million.

FAO (1981) says that the present world food situation is one of the great modern paradoxes, where about 500 million people – the largest number ever – are seriously malnourished while world food production has reached the highest levels in history. Hunger in the third world is not necessary. Official Food and Agriculture Organisation projections show that the earth can provide more than enough food not only for our present population but even for the future generation. Access to food is not simply a question of land availability, but of social, political and economic power. The poor people have none of these.

Agricultural Finance Year book 2010 highlights that despite some development of financial services in Uganda, majority of small holders remain without access to the services they need to compete in the market and improve their livelihoods. Apart from limited access to financial services in rural areas, there is a poor saving culture and also a mismatch between short lending terms and crop cycles. Medium to long term financing for agriculture is lacking. Access to financial services in particular savings and credit products, would expand their opportunities for more efficient technology adoption and resource allocation. Financial constraints are more pervasive in agriculture and related activities than in many other sectors, reflecting both the nature and location of agricultural activities. Financial constraints in rural areas involve higher transaction costs and risks than those in urban settings because of the greater dispersion of production, lower population densities, lower quality of infrastructure and the seasonality of rural production activities.

Consequently, banks and other traditional for-profit financial intermediaries tend to limit their activities to urban areas and to more densely populated, more affluent, more commercial areas of the rural economy. The problem is further compounded by the lenders who tend to offer only a limited menu of products, mainly with heavy collateral requirements. Wealthier farmers can obtain larger loans at lower cost from formal lenders because they can credibly pledge assets or future cash flows. Asset-poor households, by contrast, are limited to much smaller loans at high interest rates because they have to return lenders who must substitute costly monitoring for collateral. Poor farmers may also turn down loans, even if they qualify, because they are unwilling to bear the risk of losing collateral. Consequently, the county’s agricultural potential cannot be fully realized hence aggravating food insecurity challenges among the already poor resourceful farmers. Expanding crop land will offer only a limited solution to the landless of the poor. Success would depend upon good-quality land being available to the most in need. Of the world’s 13,250 million hectares of land, about 30 per cent is expected to be arable, half of which is now under cultivation. Just over half of the land presently under cultivation is found in developing countries, but it is inhabited by three quarters of the world’s population.

Many policy makers in Uganda are concerned about food security that affects the country from time to time. In fact there are communities, such as those in Kotido, Moroto, Kaabong Districts that are chronically food insecure. Several factors have been cited as possible reasons for this vulnerability to food insecurity. They include, unreliable rainfall patterns, declining soil fertility, pests and diseases, lack of access to land by some potential producers; low commodity prices; reliance on traditional methods of production such as use of unimproved seeds and animal breeds and use of the hand hoe; and poor extension services. While aggregate data are generally

5 available at the national level, little work has been done to understand the food security problem at house hold level (Bahiigwa, 1999).

Nyangabyaki (2001) mentions that the liberalisation of agriculture in particular has led to a renewed interest in the food security debate. Even more, importantly, the occurrence of food shortages and famines in the liberalization period has led to some people raising questions as to the relationship between liberalization and food security. In 1997, the issue of food security led to feverish debate. The Prime Minister, Kintu Musoke admitted that government had verified famine threat in 19 Districts of “Apac, Iganga, Kamuli, Tororo, Mukono, Kitgum, Gulu, Soroti,

Mbale, Kumi, Moroto, Kotido, Rakai, Kasese, Kapchorwa, Masindi, Kisoro, Kabale, Pallisa and

Kabarole.” The number of Districts increased, however, to include Lira and Moyo. The Minister reported that government had so far released 852 million Uganda shillings to purchase emergence relief and was planning to release more funds. Part of the emphasis of the structural adjustment programmes was on the liberalisation of local markets and foreign trade. Since the famine of 1917-1919, the colonial state and post colonial state ensured food security by forcing peasants to keep famine reserves.

The system was kept in place until mid-1960’s when it was abandoned all together. However, whenever there was threat of famine, district authorities banned the selling and movement of foodstuffs. In mid-1960s the state created Produce Marketing Board as parastatal that was to be exclusively in charge of food trade at the national and international levels. As is the case of

Coffee Marketing Board and Lint Marketing Board, Producer Marketing Board offered farmers extremely low prices. According to the assumptions behind liberalization, the participation of government parastatals in foodstuffs trade was detrimental to farmers. They reacted by cutting back production. The abolition of parastatal monopoly and leaving the market to set prices would

6 lead to increased production. In 1989, market monopoly of Producer Marketing Board in foodstuffs trade was brought to an end. This further worsened the food security situation in many districts of Uganda up to this day.

Since 2009, financial services form an additional service to farmers provided by SCC-Vi project through community based savings and empowerment. The model is based on various traditional systems for group saving and loans.

The added value from these interventions expected is;

Food security enhancement at house level through procurement of certified seeds and other agricultural inputs in addition to purchase of foods elsewhere during times of scarcity, increased savings, ability to seize investment opportunities, improved knowledge of financial matters and improved planning and increased cohesiveness among group members (Planting the future, 2011).

The Swedish Cooperative Centre was created in 1958 by eight Swedish National Cooperative member organisations wanting to express their solidarity with the poor people of the world. In collaboration with the member organisations, the Swedish Cooperative Centre works to create involvement, mould public opinion, mobilise resources and gain the support of people for long- term development work oriented towards assistance towards self-help in order to improve the conditions of life for poor and vulnerable people.

In the development cooperation in poor countries, the work is based on the conviction that development cannot be created from outside. On the contrary, development is created by people in their own context. This is why SCC works through “self-help” by building capacity of collaborating organisations in partnership so that they can serve their members and their members’ interests better. These activities create opportunities and increase the incomes,

7 influence and security of poor groups in society. SCC-Vi primary target group is poor women and men, mainly living in rural areas, who are members or potential members of democratic organisations or informal groups working to achieve common goals.

Organisation and individual responsibility is crucial to lift oneself out of poverty. However, the poorest people are not organised. Their primary goal is to make it through the day. Today, this group can only be reached though humanitarian assistance. Yet, by encouraging organisation and a member-based organisational form we can indirectly, in the long term, also reach the poorest groups (SCC, 2003).

Agriculture is the predominant economic activity and source of livelihood in Sembabule District.

Although Sembabule District appears to be predominantly a cattle production area (mostly in

Ntuusi, Lwemiyaga and Lugusuulu Sub-Counties), over 80% of households in Mateete,

Sembabule Town Touncil, Lwebitakuli and Mijwala Sub-counties practice crop agriculture.

Agriculture in Sembabule is still predominantly smallholder subsistence farming with low productivity per unit of input. The main cash crops grown in the district are Coffee, Banana,

Vanilla and Tobacco whereas some of the main food crops include: banana, maize, beans, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Food production is for both subsistence as well as sale of surplus for cash. Despite the government policy of trade liberalization, which leads to better farm gate prices with a number of marketing outlets, there are still some constraints, which need immediate intervention. Farmers are not yet well organized into marketing groups they lack proper record keeping strengthening their bargaining position for better prices, and crediting worthiness in financial institutions. This implies that farmers do not get competitive prices, this leading to low incomes and hence cannot adequately invest in land improvement (District State of the

Environment Report).

Sembabule District lies along the cattle corridor, which experiences harsh dry conditions compared to several parts of the country. Severe food shortages are always witnessed in

Lwebitakuli, Mijwala, Sembabule Town Council, Lwemiyaga and Mateete Sub Counties.

As a result of this rampant food insecurity amongst the many farming communities, Swedish

Cooperative Centre-Vi Project introduced the Village Saving & Loans (VSL) model in the areas of Masaka, Rakai, Lyantonde, Ssembabule, Mpigi, Gomba, Butambala, Mubende and Mityana, to stimulate the saving culture amongst the farming communities and hence increase food security.

Sembabule District population has financial infrastructure challenges; the district has no bank in any of its towns. The only available financial institution is FINCA Uganda and the rest are

SACCOS like Ttala ya mawogola, Matete SACCO, Sembabule SACCO and others. Most of the civil servants and other residents rely on the banks that are in Masaka some 56Km away for financial services.

1.2 Problem statement For decades, governments and donor agencies have been trying to establish viable financial systems to meet the need for basic financial services in the rural areas of Africa. For a great variety of reasons very few institutions have succeeded in delivering this goal, and even then at very high cost and with great difficulty (Allen, 2002).

In the first period (July-December 1997), 48 percent of households in Uganda were food secure and 52% food insecure. During the second period (January-June 1998), 59 percent of households in Uganda were food secure, while 41 percent did not have enough food to feed themselves. It has been established that food security varies from one season to the next, depending mainly on

9 the weather pattern. However, despite the variation, it has shown that at any one point, at least 40 percent of households in Uganda do not have enough food to feed themselves (Bahiigwa, 1999).

Despite the enormous amount of money channeled by Swedish Cooperative Centre-Vi project into the farming communities for income generation, many farmers have up to now remained food insecure.

However, despite the fact that this model has been under implementation for many years by

SCC-Vi Project in the aforementioned areas, farmers are still sinking in poverty and have food insecurity challenges. Therefore this study is meant to assess the VSL model in enhancing food security in Sembabule district. A case study of selected SCC-VI groups of Mijwala and

Sembabule Town Council.

1.3.0 Objectives of the study

1.3.1 General objective

To assess the VSL model in enhancing food security in Sembabule District.

1.3.2 Specific objectives

1. To find out to what extent the VSL model is working towards food security enhancement.

2. To find out the challenges faced by the VSL model in enhancing food security.

3. To suggest appropriate strategies that should be taken to address the challenges by the

VSL model.

1.4 Research Questions 1. What is the extent to which the VSL model is working towards food security

enhancement in Mijwala and Sembabule Town Council?

2. What are the challenges faced by the VSL model in enhancing food security?

3. What are the appropriate strategies that should be taken to address the challenges faced

by the VSL model?

1.5 Scope of the study Geographical scope: The study was carried out in Sembabule Town Council and Mijwala Sub

County in Ssembabule District. The study concentrated on the selected members in the VSL groups which are spread throughout these two geographical areas. In Mijwala Sub County the study was conducted in Mabindo Parish while in Sembabule Town council, all the three parishes

( Market Ward, Dispensary Ward and Parish Ward) were covered.

Conceptual scope: The study is about the role of the VSL model and how this model addresses food security challenges amongst SCC-Vi groups. On average each group is comprised of members ranging between 20-35.

Time scope: This study looked at only the VSL model implementing groups for the period running from 2009 up to 2013. This is because SCC-Vi project started implementing this model in Sembabule from Jan 2009 up to date.

1.6 Significance of the study The study will provide information to SCC-Vi project management the value for money of their funds that are channeled into the VSL model for their beneficiaries (the farmers).

The study will also provide information to district and sub county planners on the severity of food insecurity in the district and in particular the two sub counties so as to plan accordingly to avert future food insecurity problems.

The study will also highlight the gaps in the VSL model that need the attention of SCC-Vi project and the district in order to have farmers who are self reliant in matters of food security.

The study will also provide information to various organizations and individuals, district and relevant planners on the possible strategies to employ in order to make the VSL model a better option to address food insecurity in the district in particular and other areas of the country in general.

1.7 Justification of the study: For quite some time now many NGOs have been implementing a number of interventions in

Sembabule District amongst which are Lutheran World Federation, Welshare International,

Kitovu Mobile, SCC-Vi Project and others. Amongst the interventions that were well embraced by the farmers was the VS&L that is implemented by SCC-Vi project. A lot of donor money mainly from SIDA has been earmarked for this model in all SCC-Vi operation areas in the East

African region and Sembabule District in particular. But since its implementation in Sembabule

District right from 2009 up to date, a number of livelihood challenges still exist in the areas where it is implemented hence calling for a study into these livelihood issues.

1.8 Definition of key terms: Food security: Food security is the physical or economic access to food to all people at all times. At household level, a household is considered food – secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. The world health Organization defines three facets of food security: food availability, food access, and food use.

Key informants: refers to individuals who have particular knowledge on a topic of interest.

Mata Masu Dubara. CARE Niger’s pioneering VSL programme. Hausa for‘Women on the

Move’.

Social fund: money that is lent out to a member to cater for emergencies like sickness, death and other uncertainties. No interest is paid.

Shares: savings that a member buys per sitting. One can buy a minimum of one share and a maximum of five shares per sitting.

Share-out event: a time of the year at the end of the cycle when members share their accumulated savings and the profits accruing out of the borrowed money that generates interests.

1.9 Conceptual framework Independent variables Dependent variables

VS&L Model Food security enhancement

- Savings • Surplus food amongst group members - Loans • Increased number of meals - Planning & cohesiveness among • Increased nutrition and members standards of living

- Farming as business • Reduced crop pests and diseases

Intervening variables

-Seed companies and produce buyers

-Record keeping

-Supplements from government e.g. NAADS

Source: Framed by the researcher March 2012

1.10. Explanation of the conceptual framework From the above conceptual framework, the Village Saving & Loaning model is the independent variable and food security enhancement is the dependent variable. With the VSL model as an independent variable under implementation, it is expected that food security as a dependent variable will be realised at household level (economically in the short run and physically in the long run through improved farming-high yields), increased saving culture amongst the VSL group members, loaning amongst members and increased cohesiveness among group members.

All this will translate into surplus food amongst group members, increased number of meals, reduced crop pests and diseases and increased nutritional levels and standards of living. This can be fully enriched with the availability of intervening variables like record keeping, supplements from government e.g. through NAADS & Microfinance Support Centre (MSC) and also support from seed companies supplying quality seeds at a good price.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction The chapter provides the review of literature which was used pertaining the role of the VSL model in enhancing food security amongst the selected SCC-Vi groups as per the themes and objectives. The review identifies the research gaps and the available data on the magnitude of food insecurity amongst the farming communities.

2.1 The extent at which the VSL Model works Village saving and loaning is part of the many rural micro financing packages that are meant to address rural poverty and hence food insecurity in rural households. Rural micro financing can be defined as financial services for the poor. The provision of financial services has been cited as one of the means through which to alleviate poverty and giving improved living conditions for the poor. Access to savings, loans, remittances, insurance and other financial services is important in order to improve household’s livelihoods and enterprise management, increased productivity, smooth income flows and consumption costs enlarge and diversify their business and increase their incomes. Financial services help poor people to manage risks and reduce the vulnerability incase of unforeseen events.

According to Financial services policy document of SCC, access to credit for emergencies and insurance for the loss of a family member can help poor people not to fall into severe poverty, having to sell off valuable assets like land, a major factor of production.

Gonzalez-Vega (2003) further emphasizes that rural finance plays a critical role in household strategies to reduce vulnerability. It assists the poor to smooth consumption and to build up assets greater than the value of the liability.

Rural finance is particularly important for the rural poor, since agricultural incomes and rural health fluctuate widely and could destabilize consumption if households have no savings or credit to fall back on. Furthermore, rural households lack sufficient access to formal insurance, relying instead primarily on informal safety nets (IFAD, 2003).

The Village Saving &Loaning was originally developed in Maradi, Niger by Cooperation for

America Relief Everywhere (CARE) in 1991 and has fully spread to about 16 countries in Africa including, Uganda, Ghana, Mali, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Eritrea, Zanzibar etc.

The VSL Model offers a solution to the problems of sustainability and institutional instability that for years have bedeviled practitioners who have attempted to create rural financial intermediaries. The VSL Model is modest and built around the idea that the capabilities that allow for success are already available in most African villages, so long as the methodology is transparent, simple and not too labour intensive (Allen, 2002).

World Bank, (2004) report, maintains that, making improvements in the financial sectors of developing countries will contribute significantly to achieving global development priorities, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty and hunger by

2015.

A significant body of research shows that development of a viable financial sector is vital for both economic growth and poverty reduction. However, a number of studies show that the financial needs of agriculture-dependent rural communities remain largely unmet despite new approaches and expansion of the microfinance sector. Such studies imply that the positive impact of rural finance on growth, poverty and livelihoods is limited by the weakness of rural financial markets (Zeller and Sharma, 1998).

World bank (2003b) sector paper, points out that, the approach to rural finance developed over the past decade within the international community, including the World Bank, emphasizes the importance of creating sustainable financial institutions providing a range of financial services that are based on client demand. This approach offers the opportunity to make a lasting contribution to the reduction of rural poverty, because people need access to financial services on a permanent basis in order to manage their financial affairs, including the growth of their economic activities. While there are still many unresolved issues, especially with regard to financing for agriculture, diverse institutions in a number of countries are now providing a broad range of people in rural areas with access to appropriately designed financial products.

Innovations that increase the efficiency of these institutions, and thus make the provision of financial services to rural people more attractive, are well beyond the pilot stage in many cases.

2.2 Financial Models addressing food insecurity • ROSCA (Rotating Savings & Credit Associations)

ROSCAs are referred to as “cash rounds” or merry- go-rounds in Uganda. This is arguably the most popular and fastest growing form of financial intermediation among the poor especially in urban and peri-urban areas – although ROSCAs are growing in number and popularity in rural areas too. There are variations in terms of sequencing “prize winners”. Many ROSCAs determine sequencing by order of who signed up first so that the first to join gets the “prize” first. An equally popular method is the “lottery method”, and this has two variants. The first variant is where at the beginning of the ROSCA, numbers are written on pieces of papers and each member picks one paper that bears a number. This number determines the order in which the members will receive the prize or lump sum paid out by the ROSCA.

The second variant of the lottery ROSCA is where it is cast at every meeting to determine who will get the prize. Only the members who have not yet won the prize participate until the

18 rotation ends and everybody has got the opportunity. It is not uncommon for members to make private arrangements to swap turns with members that might have a greater need for the money at the moment.

The main reason for which ROSCAs have been established among entrepreneurs is restocking of business inventory. However, other popular purposes include buying household items, the purchase of construction materials, construction of houses, accumulating money for school fees, and even building up lump sums which are later used to open formal bank savings accounts.

ROSCAs are used by both rich and poor people, although most seem to be among the poor. This is mainly because there are more poor people, while at the same time the few not so poor that are there have access to the more formal financial sector. Members of ROSCAs tend to be of relatively similar economic standing. Many people belong to more than one ROSCA with each serving different financial needs - short term ROSCAs to generate small amounts and longer term ROSCAs to yield larger prizes.

However, while appreciating the elegance and simplicity of ROSCAs, it is important not to overlook their drawbacks. Firstly they are largely inflexible and unresponsive to emergency needs. Secondly, ROSCAs make very poor long-term savings instruments the longer the cycle, the less likely they are to complete (Mutesasira et al, 1998).

• ASCA Model

Another similar model that addresses food security in rural households is that of the ASCA

(Accumulating savings and credit Association). Here savings are invested in a loan fund from

19 which they borrow, repaying with a service charge or interest added. This is also normally a contribution to a social fund that acts as insurance for unexpected events. Therefore the ASCA looks like VSL but the VSL is more organized with the executive committee looking at the internal controls of funds. ASCA savers deposit money at regular intervals, and the fund thus generated may or may not be lent to non-members (usually at a higher interest rate) as well as members. At the end of the period the money is returned. Unlike in ASCAs, VSL looks at how members use their borrowed money to address household challenges like food, decent shelter, school fees, etc. Just like VSL, ASCAs also carry substantial risks because the money is not distributed to all members immediately as in the case of ROSCAs (thus requiring a treasurer to hold the fund) and because the money is put out on loan – necessitating more complex book- keeping and loan collection procedures (SCC-Vi Financial Services- Policy).

• Study Circle Model

The Study Circle Model has been part of the democracy in Sweden for almost 100 years. It started at the end of 19th century. At that time, Sweden was underdeveloped and had large social and economic inequalities. There was poverty in the rural areas, food shortages, bad living conditions, high illiteracy rate and lots of social unrest. For these reasons, different groups thought that there was need for change. Ideas about consumer and producer cooperation reached

Sweden from England where workers formed associations, purchased large amounts of food which they sold at cost price. Being in this kind of work and with very little education, it was obvious that they needed some knowledge and skills related to arithmetic and book keeping.

More study groups to address this problem then started. Olson Oscar was the first person to formally develop what was later called Study Circles in 1902. As members of the community

20 continued participating in study circles, they gained knowledge necessary to master public issues, to understand how society works, to take control of their own lives and to master the tools to change their living conditions. The benefits from the study circles method is that there is personal development, society development, people learning how to solve problems in their own surrounding, participants get good opportunities to discuss topic that concern many people in society such as farming, nutrition, business development, sanitation, environmental conservation,

HIV/AIDS, gender issues, and others (Vi Agroforestry study circle handbook 2008).

2.3 Challenges facing Village Saving & Loaning Model implementation For 30 years since the start of the micro financing revolution, people who live in many rural areas and in particular those who are very poor, have a difficult time gaining access to useful micro finance products. VSL based in the community, are complementary to MF’s, tending to serve the very poor whose income is irregular and less reliable and who may not be full time business people. Their principle need is for services that help them manage their household cash flow and provides a useful lump sum for life-cycle events – which may or may not include income generation. Hence these people are economically vulnerable and, for the most part, that are served only intermittently by local markets (Allen & Staehle 2007).

Allen (2002) points out that, the VSL groups in some parts of Africa have dropped the use of safe boxes with 3 padlocks that has also brought about security concerns. It is also difficult to assist groups to develop the capability to run high-level financial institutions, getting groups to pay for business development services ( including training in VSL operations) is also quite difficult.

World Bank (2003b) states that the establishment of viable rural financial systems encompasses many specific challenges, in addition to the challenges inherent in the development of

Countrywide financial systems. Low population density and difficult to reach remote areas in many countries translate into high transaction costs for financial institutions contemplating an entry into these areas. Limited economic opportunities in many rural areas result in small transactions, further increasing overall transaction costs. The heavy concentration on agriculture and agriculture-related activities in rural areas exposes farmers and their lenders to multiple risks. Some of these risks are affect a single household, whereas others are covariant in nature and affect an entire region or country. Weather risk is probably the single most important risk influencing the outcome of a farmer’s investment. This risk also affects associated economic activities such as agro-processing. Price risk can also be quite substantial, especially for products that are sold in very competitive international markets. For financial institutions, in addition to the risks inherent in financing agriculture and agriculture related activities, there are risks associated with the concentration of portfolios on the agricultural activities that are most prevalent in a particular rural area; this makes risk reduction through portfolio diversification in rural areas difficult if not impossible to achieve.

2.4 Food Security Challenges Food security is the physical or economic access to food to all people at all times. At household level, a household is considered food – secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. The world health Organization defines three facets of food security: food availability, food access, and food use. Food availability is having available and sufficient quantities of food on a consistent basis. Food access is having sufficient resources, both economic and physical, to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. Food use is the appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation (Wikipedia).

Sen (2001) maintains that for the elimination of hunger in the modern world, it is crucial to understand the causation of famines in adequately broad way, and not just in terms of some mechanical balance between food and population. What is crucial in analyzing hunger is the substantive freedom of individual and the family to establish ownership over adequate amount of food which can be done either by generating the food oneself (as peasants do). A person may be forced into starvation even when there is plenty of food around if he loses his ability to buy food from the market, through loss of income( for example due to unemployment or collapse of the market for goods that he produces and sells to earn a living). On the other side, are when food supply falls sharply in a country or region, everyone can be saved from starvation by a better sharing of the available food (for example, through creating additional employment and income for potential famine victims.

Ssewanyana & Kasirye (2010) emphasizes that the status of food security in Uganda is worrying.

The share of Ugandans suffering from food insecurity measured in terms of caloric intake is alarmingly high with low rates of income poverty. Based on the 2005/06 Uganda National House hold survey data, a population of 17.5 million Ugandans in 3.1 million households were unable to meet the minimum caloric requirement in 2006. This raises questions on whether Uganda will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) No.1; halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. While Uganda is on track to halve extreme poverty, it is less likely to halve extreme hunger by 2015. Yet it is suggested that food insecurity and income poverty are closely linked. Similarly, food insecurity at household level is closely linked to child nutrition status.

The famine that hit some districts of Uganda during 2009 demonstrates that adverse effects on the agricultural sector directly increase vulnerability of food insecurity. At the same time,

23 increasing land under cultivation improves food security at household level. This suggests that improving agricultural productivity is a key to long term food security.

The nutritional status of small-scale farmer families is generally low, in particular among women, children and the elderly. People encounter food shortages during parts of the year, there is a lack of protein intake and food distribution within the families is often skewed (Plating the future, Vi Agroforestry’s strategy, 2011).

According to IFPRI (2002), as we enter the 21st century, humanity faces a glaring contradiction; the persistence of desperate hunger and environmental degradation amid plenty, official declarations made at international meetings have repeatedly decried this situation, and heads of states have agreed on measurable goals related to food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable natural resource management. Yet few countries have achieved these goals, or even made much progress towards them. If the world remains on its current path hundreds of millions of people will remain food insecure, millions of children will die each year from malnutrition, and environmental degradation will continue unchecked.

2.5 Addressing VSL Challenges One of the greatest challenges faced by the micro finance industry is reaching the poorest in sufficient numbers to make a difference. Therefore by side stepping the costly and problem fraught issue of managing an external loan fund, and focusing on training local groups to save and lend at interest to members, the process of expansion has been greatly simplified and decentralized. The introduction of metal lock box fitted with 3 padlocks and keys held by 3 members of the groups management committee, reduced the likelihood of theft, since collusion amongst the 3 members would be highly unlikely. This innovation has greatly increased the confidence of members in the safety and security of their savings (Allen, 2002).

Through the elimination of the record-keeping, ledgers, and using pass books, where savings and loans are tracked, means that the least literate members of the group has full information about their savings and loan status and the disposition of the group’s assets. The elimination of ledgers reduces complexity and improves transparency in the groups (Allen & Staehle, 2007).

2.6 Addressing Food Security Challenges There is need for economic and political analysis here, as there is also is for having further understanding of crises and disasters other than famines. A good example is the kind of predicament that some countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia have recently experienced. In these crises as in famine, some sections of the population have lost their economic entitlements with unexpected suddenness (Sen, 2001).

Sen (2001) maintains that, since famines are associated with the loss of entitlements of one or more occupational groups – particular regions, the resultant starvation can be prevented by systematically re-creating a minimum level of incomes and entitlements for those who are hit by economic changes. Thus the cost of such public action for famine prevention, are typically rather modest even for poor countries, provided they make systematic and efficient arrangements in good time.

Agroforestry and VSL are proven methods for mitigation of environmental degradation, ending soil erosion, improving water absorption, enhancing soil fertility and increasing & diversifying agricultural production. These methods have greatly contributed to the betterment of smallholder farming household livelihoods (Planting the future, Vi Agroforesry’s Strategy 2011).

Ssewanyana and Kasirye (2010) point out that improving post harvest storage technologies and preservation methods, creating remunerative employment especially for the urban population,

25 and strengthening the food distribution mechanisms would go a long way in addressing these seasonal food fluctuations.

Conclusion

Chapter two dealt with literature review. Most of the literatures used in this study were obtained from the studies conducted on users of rural microfinance models and organizations working in the fields of rural microfinance. The researcher visited UMU libraries at Masaka, Bwala and that at the main campus, sembabule district offices documents, Vi agroforestry documents and sembabule district farmer’s association to review all the necessary literature.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction In this section, the methods used in the study are hereby pointed out. These are the research design, the study area, population the sampling techniques that are to be used and the sample size. It explains how data was collected and the instruments to be used to collect data.

3.1 Research Design This case study was adopted so as to gather as much information as possible from different sections of the people. More so the case study design is cost effective and saves enormous amount of time. By the fact that the researcher did not have enough resources, it was paramount to employ the case study design. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches.

3.2 Area of the study The study was conducted in Sembabule Town Council and Mijwala Sub County in Sembabule

District. Therefore the study focused on the existing VS&L groups scattered in Mijwala Sub

County and Sembabule Town Council. Mijwala Sub County comprises of the following parishes;

Mabindo, Nsoga and Kidokolo while Sembabule Town Council has the following parishes; market ward, dispensary ward and parish ward. In Mijwala Sub County the study was carried out in Mabindo parish where SCC-Vi implements the VSL model while in Sembabule Town

Council, the study covered all the parishes (Market ward, Parish ward and Dispensary ward).

3.3 Study Population The study population involved household members who are at the same time members of

existing VSL groups in the areas mentioned above and the key informants were the local leaders

from Sembabule and SCC-Vi staff.

3.4 Sampling Procedures

3.41 Sample Size One hundred twenty (120) respondents were selected from the study population of about 1500

farmers that are working with SCC-Vi in the two sub-counties (mijwala and sembabule town

council) plus key informants (10 local leaders and 10 SCC-Vi staff). This sample adequately

represented the majority of the population since the standards of living of the population is

almost similar in these areas.

Table 1: showing the sample size

Category Specific Population Samplin Sampling Data Data collection category g size design collection instruments methods

Community VS&L 1500 120 Random Questionnaire Questionnaire group sampling form members

Key SCC-Vi 10 10 Purposive Interview Interview guide informants Staff form

Local 10 10 Purposive Interview Interview guide leaders form

TOTAL 1520 140

3.4.2 Sampling Techniques. By the fact that the respondents are scattered in their groups in the two Sub Counties (Mijwala

Sub County and Sembabule Town Council), and also with limited time for research, a simple random sampling technique was used. The two sub counties were selected because SCC-Vi project VSL implementation is concentrated here. The list of the names of members of these

VSL groups was got from SCC-Vi project monitoring and evaluation officer’s database and from the secretaries of the respective VSL groups. Members were sampled from each group. More so purposive sampling was employed for the local leaders and SCC-Vi staff.

3.5 Data collection methods and instruments. The data collection instruments were used to collect data from respondents, the focus group discussions and some key informants. Other useful information was obtained from secondary sources. The researcher carried out an extensive analysis of the subject of research. Secondary data was collected from all the documents that were relevant to the study. The researcher visited

UMU libraries at Masaka, Bwala and that at the main campus, sembabule district offices documents, Vi agroforestry documents and sembabule district farmer’s association to collect all the necessary secondary data. The following methods with their instruments were used to collect data.

3.5.1 Primary Sources/ instruments

3.5.1.1 Questionnaire method (questionnaire form used as instrument) The questionnaire form as an instrument was administered to respondents to collect data. The questionnaire form was semi-structured so as to serve as an instrument that enabled the researcher to collect as much information as possible from the sampled respondents. The

29 questionnaire was administered to the sampled 120 VS&L members. The researcher and the research assistant asked questions and then filing in the questionnaire form.

3.5.1.2 Interview method (interview form used as instrument) An interview form as an instrument was used because it was important to have interactive interviews with some selected respondents who were considered key informants. An interview guide was employed here for the 20 key informants (10 local leaders and 10 SCC-Vi staff).

3.5.1.3 Observation method (observation checklist) The researcher also observed the ways of life of the respondents and their home environment. An observation check list was employed here.

Table showing the observation checklist

No. Item list comment

1 Member register

2 Financial records

3 Metallic safe box

4 Saving pass books

5 Food storage facilities

6 Arable land sizes

7 Appearance of family members esp. children (malnutrition vs good

nutrition).

8 Family sizes

3.6 Quality control methods The questionnaire was pretested on small representative sample in Kyolola Village in Sembabule

Town council so as to ensure that the questions are measuring what they are meant to do, but also find out if the questions are interpreted in the same manner by the interviewees. The pretesting also enabled the researcher to ascertain whether the questionnaire wording is clear to the respondent hence validity and reliability of the data. Much as there was rapport building with the respondents to ensure a higher degree of trust between the interviewer and interviewees, one cannot guarantee the validity of all the responses given by the respondents.

More so, by the fact that the sample size that was used was small, one cannot fully conclude that this is a very true representation of the whole study area. But it should also be noted that the main purpose of this research was not to come up with very firm conclusions but to point out issues relating to how the VSL model addresses food insecurity in Sembabule Town Council and

Mijwala Sub County. The research assistant was fully briefed on how to administer the questionnaire and also conduct good interview with the respondents and how to first build rapport with respondents. The researcher also involved himself in the whole research process hence covering more than 80% of the interviews.

3.7 Data Analysis techniques; By the fact that the research employed both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection, different data analysis techniques were used. Before data entry and analysis, the researcher processed and consolidated data collected from interviews to ensure completeness and consistencies. The researcher consolidated data that was collected and then computer based

31 analysis was employed in data entry and analyzing the findings of the research. SPSS was employed in the analysis of quantitative data from where descriptive statistics was applied to generate frequency tables. This method was employed because the manual system would make work difficult in analyzing data of 140 respondents. The information gathered from primary and secondary data formed the basis on which results were discussed.

3.8 Ethical considerations; Ethical principles were mainly on respect and confidentiality of the respondents. The researcher showed great respect to all the respondents regardless of the age and economic status.

All respondents were accorded respect hence enabling smooth and easy collection of information. Furthermore the principle of confidentiality was observed since the researcher collected only that information that was purposeful to the research.

The identities of the respondents and the information they provided was held in utmost confidentiality.

The researcher also made sure that consent was obtained from each respondent justifying the reasons for collecting the information and to whose benefit was the information.

The study was conducted in accordance with the university rules and regulations governing the research process. The study followed the approval of the research proposal.

3.9 Limitations and delimitations of the study Limited time for data collection, since the research was being carried out concurrently along with the class work. Hence balancing the class work and the research was quite challenging. However due to the fact that my employer provides 25 working days as annual leave for each staff, I was able to utilize those days to be able to work on my research.

Inadequate funds to facilitate the whole research process especially fuel for moving around the sub counties from where groups are scattered to collect the data. Some little funds saved from

32 my salary though not sufficient were used to help me move through the two sub counties during data collection and also aided me in all the paper work involved in the research process. Some respondents expected some incentives from the researcher thus they were asking for money before giving out information to the researcher. However by the fact that the researcher informed the respondents that the information was for academic purposes, they were convinced and hence gave out the information at no cost. The two sub counties have bigger geographical coverage and more so the groups are so scattered, however by the fact that the researcher had good knowledge of several sub counties in the area, it was easy to trace the various villages with ease and hence this saved some of the time required for data collection.

Conclusion

The chapter highlighted on the research design, area of study, target population, sampling techniques, sampling size, data collection methods and instruments, quality control methods, data analysis techniques, ethical considerations and limitation of the study. The next chapter looks data analysis, presentation and analysis.

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

4.1. Introduction

4.2 Social demographic characteristics From the questionnaire, the first parts looked at the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. These were: sex of the VSLA member, age, relationship to the household head, religion, marital status, family size, literacy levels and level of education of the VSLA members.

4.2.1 Sex of the member

Table 2: showing the sex of the members

Sex of the Member

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Male 52 37.1 37.1 37.1 Female 88 62.9 62.9 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0 Source: Field survey

The 140 respondents, findings showed that women participated more than men in the VSLA activities. The findings clearly showed that 62.9% of the respondents were female whereas

37.1% were males.

This picture shows how women have now take a lead in socio-economic activities to sustain their households in the country side.

4.2.2 Age of respondents

Table 3: showing the age of the members

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Age of Member 140 26 70 41.96 10.298 Valid N (listwise) 140 Source: Field survey

From the descriptive statistics, it can be seen that majority of the VSLA members were between the age of 26 years to 70 years. This gives us a mean age of 41.96 years.

Therefore, these findings clearly show that majority of the youth and the elderly do not fully participate in the VSLA activities.

4.2.3 Relationship of the member to the head

Table 4: showing the relationship of the member to the household head

Relationship of the household head Member

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Parent 7 5.0 5.1 5.1 Spouse 63 45.0 46.0 51.1 Household head 67 47.9 48.9 100.0 Total 137 97.9 100.0 Missing System 3 2.1 Total 140 100.0

Source: Field survey

The findings show that 7 respondents were children of the household head i.e. the household head from their respective families was their parent. This gives us a percentage of 5%.

More so, the findings also showed us that 63% of the respondents were spouses to the household head hence giving a percentage of 45%. The findings showed that 67 respondents were actually household heads who engaged themselves in the VSLA. This gives us a percentage of 47.9%.

However, there was a missing system of 3 respondents who did not clearly show that they were household heads nor had any relationship to the household head.

The household head in many Africa families has a supreme authority when to spend the money and also questions the source of the money coming into his/her household.

4.2.4 Religion of the member

Table 5: showing the religion of the member

Religion of the Member

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Christian 115 82.1 82.1 82.1 Moslem 13 9.3 9.3 91.4 Saved 12 8.6 8.6 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0 Source: Field survey

The findings show that out of 140 respondents, 115 were Christians giving us a percentage of

82.1%. The Muslims were 13 out of 140 respondents hence giving a percentage of 9.3% which brings us to a cumulative percentage of 91.4. Many Muslim preachings are against Muslims borrowing money which comes with interest. Probably this could justify the low numbers of the

Muslims in the VSL groups. The saved were 12 respondents out of 140 respondents hence giving us a percentage of 8.6% and a cumulative percentage of 100.

4.2.5 Marital status of the member

Table 6: showing the marital status of the member

Marital status of the Member

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Single 17 12.1 12.1 12.1 Married 109 77.9 77.9 90.0 Separated 10 7.1 7.1 97.1 Widow/Widower 4 2.9 2.9 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0

Source: Field survey

The table above shows that 17 out of 140 respondents were single with a percentage of 12.1%.

The married were the highest with 109 out of 140 respondents acknowledging that indeed they were married. This gives us a percentage of 77.9% and a cumulative percentage of 90.

Those who acknowledged that they separated with their spouses were 10 with a percentage of 7.1 hence bringing a cumulative percentage of 97.1. The widows/widower were 4 out of 140 with a percentage of 2.9 and hence a cumulative percentage of 100. It can be seen that the above number of the married being 77.9% is quite high and it is also known that women do not have fully tenure rights, to their marital land. Hence it’s also a stumbling block to addressing food insecurity using the VSLA borrowed money to commercialize farming. So probably women don’t fully invest the borrowed money for fear of losing it incase they are chased away by their husbands, a common practice in the rural households. This is a blow to the idea of taking farming as a business.

4.2.6 Family size which the member belongs

Table 7: showing the family size from which the member belongs

Family size from which the member belong

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 1 7 5.0 5.0 5.0 2 21 15.0 15.0 20.0 3 9 6.4 6.4 26.4 4 11 7.9 7.9 34.3 5 7 5.0 5.0 39.3 6 9 6.4 6.4 45.7 7 37 26.4 26.4 72.1 8 7 5.0 5.0 77.1 9 7 5.0 5.0 82.1 10 21 15.0 15.0 97.1 11 4 2.9 2.9 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Family size from which 140 1 11 6.01 2.947 the member belong Valid N (listwise) 140

Source: Field survey

It can be seen from the above tables that the minimum members in the respondent’s household was 1 and the maximum was 11. So the mean family size was found out to be 6 members. This shows that the family sizes are quite big and probably could be one of the reasons that food insecurity challenges do persist in these households. The consumption rate of 6 family members

38 is quite high considering the tough economic challenges and climatic changes in Uganda and the world at large that have hit rain fed farming so hard.

4.2.7 Read or write

Table 8: showing the literacy levels of respondents

Read or Write

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 125 89.3 89.3 89.3 No 15 10.7 10.7 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0 Source: Field survey

Out of 140 respondents, it was established that 125 respondents could read and write and the 15 respondents could neither read nor write. Since education is quite important in modern agriculture, therefore the inability to read or write might also be affecting the families in planning to sustain themselves and hence plan to go through times of food shortages.

4.2.8 Highest level of education of the member

Table 9: showing the highest level of education of members)

Highest level of education of the Member

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Not Educated 19 13.6 13.6 13.6 Primary 55 39.3 39.3 52.9 Secondary 27 19.3 19.3 72.1 Tertiary 39 27.9 27.9 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0

Source: Field survey

The results as shown in the above table 9 showed that out of 140 respondents, 19 respondents never got any formal education hence giving us a percentage of 13.6.

Those who ever went through primary education were 55 actually the majority giving us a percentage of 39.3 and a cumulative percentage of 52.9. More so, 27 respondents went through secondary education giving us a percentage of 72.1. At least 39 respondents had tertiary education level with a percentage of 27.9 and a cumulative percentage of 100.

Therefore, like earlier highlighted, the majority only had primary education leaving alone those who never had any education, hence this has a negative effect on modernized farming that now requires a lot of record keeping and thorough planning. From that observation, it can be concluded that since there are education challenges amongst the VSLA members, this is why there are still some food insecurity challenges amongst them.

4.2.9 Main source of income of the members

Table 10: showing the main source of income of the member

Main source of income of the Member

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Farmer 98 70.0 70.0 70.0 Salaried 35 25.0 25.0 95.0 Employed 7 5.0 5.0 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0 Source: Field survey

The above table clearly shows that out of 140 respondents, 98 respondents (70%) derive their incomes from farming. Therefore with the challenges involved in farming i.e. unreliable rainfall, pests and diseases, droughts, any failure in agriculture production triggers off food shortages.

Most of the respondents by looking at that numbers seem not to diversify and secure their sources of income.

4.3.0 Extent at which the VSL model works and how the model addresses food insecurity.

4.3.1 Member information The information on members looks at the number of members in a VSLA group, time take in the group, number of cycles the member has completed with the group, total number of shares bought in each of the cycles, total amount of money received at each share-out in each of the cycles, the current shares in the running cycle and in case a member has any other forms of saving.

4.3.1.1 Members in VSLA groups

Table 11: showing the descriptive statistics of members in VSLA groups

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Members in your 134 14 79 43.32 19.470 current VSLA Valid N (listwise) 134 Source: Field survey

The table 11 above shows that the least membership in the VSLA group was 14 members and the highest membership was 79 members. Therefore, this gives us a mean membership of 43.3.

4.3.1.2 Period taken in the VSLA group

Table 12: shows the period taken by the member in the VSLA group

How long have you been a member of VSLA

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Less than a year 20 14.3 14.3 14.3 1-2 years 31 22.1 22.1 36.4 2-5 years 85 60.7 60.7 97.1 More than 5 years 4 2.9 2.9 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0 Source: Field survey

It was established as seen from table 12 above that 85 out of 140 respondents have spent more than two years in the VSLA groups. This is a clear indication that the VSLA groups are adding something to the well being of the members otherwise the groups would have disintegrated.

More so, those joining are also many i.e. 20 out of 140 have just joined the groups less than a year ago, so perhaps they have seen the value the VSLA adds to the household’s livelihood.

4.3.2 Cycles completed, Shares bought in each of the cycles, amount received at share-out in each of the cycles and current shares in the running cycle.

Table 13: showing the descriptive statistics of cycles, shares bought in each of the cycles, amount received at each share-out in each of the cycles and current shares in the cycle running

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Cycles of the VSLA you have completed 120 1 6 2.50 .961 Shares you buy in each of the cycles 112 17 50 31.41 8.535 Shares you buy in each of the cycles 100 26 55 39.48 6.916 Shares you buy in each of the cycles 40 30 55 40.95 7.493 Shares you buy in each of the cycles 12 19 50 36.33 13.493 How much you receive at share-out in each cycles 105 45000 1500000 289461.33 269638.299 How much you receive at share-out in each cycles 96 80000 1394000 367323.96 329985.884 How much you receive at share-out in each cycles 36 30000 1596500 435483.33 435747.310 How much you receive at share-out in each cycles 4 1700000 1700000 1700000 .000 Shares you currently have in the running cycle 128 1 31 15.41 7.469 Valid N (listwise) 4 Source: Field survey

Given the above statistics, it can be seen that majority of the VSLA respondents had completed at least a cycle (1 year). This means that on average the VSLA respondents had at least completed 2 cycles. On shares bought in each of the cycles, in the first cycle, 112 respondents had a mean share purchase of 31.4 shares (31 shares) and 39.5, 40.95 and 36.3 was the mean share purchase for 100, 40 and 12 respondents respectively in the 2nd , 3rd and 4th cycles.

The above statistics also highlight the mean amount of money received in the share-out. In the first share-out, 105 respondents had a mean share-out value of 289, 461 and 367,323, 435483 and 1,700,000 was the mean share out value for 96, 36 and 4 respondents respectively in the 2nd,

3rd and 4th share-out events. On the current running cycle, the least has 1 share bought and the highest has 31 shares, therefore, the mean share purchase for the current running cycle is 15

43 shares. Therefore it can be seen that, most of the respondents had fully participated in share purchases and indeed yielded a lot from the share-out event.

4.3.3 Other forms of saving

Table 14a : showing other forms of saving

Any other form of saving

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 93 66.4 66.4 66.4 No 47 33.6 33.6 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0

Table 14b

Other forms of saving

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Bank 20 14.3 20.8 20.8 SACCOs/MFI 27 19.3 28.1 49.0 In the house 49 35.0 51.0 100.0 Total 96 68.6 100.0 Missing System 44 31.4 Total 140 100.0 Source: Field survey

Out of 140 respondents as shown in Table 14a, 93 respondents (66.4%) said that they have other forms of saving besides saving in the respective VSLA while 47 respondents (33.6%) said that they rely only on their VSLA for saving services. Besides VSLA, some VSLA members do save in banks, SACCOs/MFLs and in their houses. These forms of saving are shown above in table

14b and how the respondents responded to them (forms of saving).

4.3.4.0 Access and utilization of credit 4.3.4.1 Of the 140 respondents, 137 respondents acknowledged borrowing from the VSLA

This gives a percentage of 97.9 and its only 3 respondents who had never received a loan from the association giving a percentage of 2.1%

Table 15: showing access and utilization of credit

Have you received a loan from VSLA

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 137 97.9 97.9 97.9 No 3 2.1 2.1 100.0 Total 140 100.0 100.0 Source: Field survey

4.3.5 No. of times borrowed and amount

Table 16: showing the No. of times borrowed and amount borrowed

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Times you have borrowed from the VSLA 132 1 6 1.98 1.248 Amount received at each time of borrowing 134 30000 800000 177895.52 145901.464 Amount received at each time of borrowing 76 21000 800000 205947.37 179186.748 Amount received at each time of borrowing 26 36000 800000 308615.38 274434.266 Amount received at each time of borrowing 14 90000 800000 432857.14 351839.749 Valid N (listwise) 14 Source: Field survey

Those members who had borrowed from the VSLA had indeed borrowed between 1-6 times hence they had a mean borrowing of 2 times. The above table 16 shows the ranges at each time of borrowing. For example in the first borrowing, the minimum amount of money borrowed was

UGX 30,000 and a maximum of UGX 800,000. This was acknowledged by 134 respondents.

For each of the 14 respondents, the value of the fourth loan was between UGX 90,000 to UGX

800,000 hence giving a mean value of borrowing of UGX 432,857.

From the descriptive statistics in table 17 below, it can be seen that 59 respondents acknowledged borrowing from the VSLA for buying farm inputs while 62 respondents used the borrowed money from VSLA to directly buy food. Therefore the 59 and 62 respondents all had their efforts of borrowing towards sustaining their households by having enough food in homes either by buying good farm inputs to raise yields or directly buying food stuffs to sustain their families. The other 65 and 18 respondents had actually borrowed the money for paying school fees for their children and buying household assets respectively.

These figures clearly demonstrate the usefulness of the VSLA model in addressing food security challenges amongst the VSLA members.

Table 17: showing the descriptive statistics on what the money was used for.

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Sum Mean Std. Deviation What was the money used for 59 10000 300000 5440000 92203.39 81548.966 What was the money used for 62 10000 120000 4028000 64967.74 34614.016 What was the money used for 4 20000 20000 80000 20000.00 .000 What was the money used for 0 What was the money used for 65 20000 1000000 14624000 224984.62 316517.796 What was the money used for 18 20000 270000 1870000 103888.89 82472.019 What was the money used for 0 What was the money used for 0 What was the money used for 0 Valid N (listwise) 0 Source: Field survey

4.3.6.0 Saving utilization

4.3.6.1 The 101 respondents acknowledge that the money received at any of the share-out events was between UGX 63,000 to UGX 3,000,000 giving a mean share-out of UGX 457,286 as shown in table 18 below. More so, 87 respondents never anticipated receiving the money they received at the share-out event and only 22 respondents had actually anticipated as shown in table 19 below.

Of those 87 who never anticipated receiving that amount of money at share-out, 19 respondents

(56.4%) were excited to receive that amount of money as shown in table 20 below. This is an indication that the members trust the model and have hope in it in providing them with wonderful results.

Table 18: showing the highest amount of money received at any share out event.

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Highest amount of money at any of the share out events 101 63000 3000000 457286.14 638170.241 Valid N (listwise) 101 Source: Field survey

Table 19: showing the anticipation of the members in receiving the money at share-out.

Do you anticipate receiving that much money

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 22 15.7 20.2 20.2 No 87 62.1 79.8 100.0 Total 109 77.9 100.0 Missing System 31 22.1 Total 140 100.0 Source: Field survey

Twenty two respondents (15.7%) as shown in table 19 above indeed anticipated receiving the amount of money at any share out event while 87 respondents (62.1) never anticipated receiving

47 that amount of money during share-out. This shows the lack of planning for the available

Table 20: showing the excitement of the members on receiving the money at share out.

If no,excited to receive the money

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 79 56.4 88.8 88.8 No 10 7.1 11.2 100.0 Total 89 63.6 100.0 Missing System 51 36.4 Total 140 100.0 resources amongst majority of our farmers which greatly affects farming activities hence a big blow to food production systems.

Source: Field survey

Seventy nine respondents (56.4%) were excited on receiving their annual accumulated savings with interest while 10 respondents (7.1%) were not excited with the amount of money received at the annual share out event.

4.3.6.2 The description statistics in Table 21 below on share-out money utilization clearly show that 58 respondents use their share-out money mostly in buying farm inputs all geared at a dressing household food security: This finding therefore is in line with the findings of the report of the second National

Agroforestry workshop which points out that, acceptance of subsistence farming is equal to the promotion of sustainable poverty. The growing of crops, rearing of animals and tending of trees can no longer be done simply as a traditional way of life. As the population increases and the demand for food and fiber rises, the farmer will have to constantly ask of each technology, ‘does this make profit? The overall aim of approaching farming as a business is to increase the incomes of the rural poor, putting more money in the farmer’s pockets and into the rural economy. This will enable them to improve their standards of living in terms of housing, food security and basic

48 household needs, while contributing to the larger goal of making the transition from subsistence to a cash economy, and the creation of wealth. The 73 respondents actually too acknowledge that they use their share-out money to directly buy food for their household members.

The other respondents i.e. UGX 47,32,15,4 and 4 besides buying food and farm inputs do also use their share-out money for buying household assets, paying school fees, giving to their spouses, paying other debts and settling medical bills respectively.

Table 21: showing the descriptive statistics on utilization of shared out money

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation How was the money utilized 58 10000 700000 146000.00 169105.386 How was the money utilized 73 20000 200000 98657.53 48375.906 How was the money utilized 4 10000 20000 12500.00 5000.000 How was the money utilized 4 20000 20000 20000.00 .000 How was the money utilized 32 50000 4000000 788437.50 1280723.358 How was the money utilized 47 13200 520000 130708.51 134327.966 How was the money utilized 0 How was the money utilized 15 13000 80000 40600.00 27879.332 Valid N (listwise) 0 Source: Field Survey

4.3.6.3 On who decides on the utilization of share-out money: Forty one (41.4%) of the respondents said it is they themselves while 35.7% said that the family sits and decides on how to utilize the money. The 22.9% did not fall in the previous categories which are key in decision making. This is shown in table 22 below.

Table 22: showing on who decides on how to utilize the shared out money

Who made decision of how to utilize the money

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Self 58 41.4 53.7 53.7 Family 50 35.7 46.3 100.0 Total 108 77.1 100.0 Missing System 32 22.9 Total 140 100.0

Source: Field Survey

Table 23: showing any plan to follow to guide utilization of shared out money

Any plan to follow to guide utilization

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid No 108 77.1 100.0 100.0 Missing System 32 22.9 Total 140 100.0

Source: Field Survey

On plans for utilization of the money as shown in Table 23 above, 108 respondents (77.1%) acknowledge not having any plan on utilization while only 32 respondents could neither deny nor admit having any plans as pertains utilization. This is a big problem in times like this where everyone expects farmers in this global village to have plans especially when taking on farming as business.

4.4.1 Improved food access since joining VSLA Out of a total of 140 respondents, 93 respondents (66.4%) said that their food access had indeed improved since joining VSLA. 31 respondents said that their food access had remained the

50 same while only 4 respondents (2.9%) said that their food access had worsened as shown in

Table 24 below.

Table 24: showing household food access improvement since joining VSLA

Household food access improved since you joined VSLA

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Improved 93 66.4 72.7 72.7 Stayed the same 31 22.1 24.2 96.9 Worsened 4 2.9 3.1 100.0 Total 128 91.4 100.0 Missing System 12 8.6 Total 140 100.0 Source: Field survey

Those who acknowledged improved food access gave the following major reasons as shown in

Table 25 below;

- 37 respondents (28%) said that with VSLA, there is enough food available at household

level.

- 19 respondents (14.4%) said that they are able to buy enough food which they can’t

produce themselves while the 15 respondents (11.4%) said that they borrow from the VSLA

and buy food directly.

The rest of the respondents as seen in the table above said that there is increased, same and worsened food access because of:

- Bought farm inputs that raised food access.

- Store and sell food to get money

- Barter food they produce for maize

- They have money to employ casual laborers hence raising acreage and yields.

- Poor lands that have worsened their food access, etc

Table 25 below: showing the reasons for food access status after joining VSLA

$FoodAccess Frequencies

Responses Percent of N Percent Cases Reasons VSLA borrow people money to buy food 15 11.4% 14.2% for food Bought farm inputs 12 9.1% 11.3% acess Never borrowed money from VSLA 4 3.0% 3.8% status Save money in VSLA 4 3.0% 3.8% after a VSLA Increased farm inputs thus enough food 7 5.3% 6.6% Increased diet 12 9.1% 11.3% Enough food 37 28.0% 34.9% Store and sell food 4 3.0% 3.8% Buy food which they can't produce 19 14.4% 17.9% Transport 3 2.3% 2.8% Batter trade food for maize 1 .8% .9% Little money 2 1.5% 1.9% Suppleant my salary though borrowing 3 2.3% 2.8% Have money use casual labour 3 2.3% 2.8% Poor land 3 2.3% 2.8% Increased yields 3 2.3% 2.8% Total 132 100.0% 124.5% a. Group Source: Field survey

4.4.2 Improved diet As shown in the table 26 below, 100 respondents indeed acknowledged that their diets had improved giving a percentage of 71.4. They gave the following reasons as shown in Table 27 below;

- There is now proper feeding for children because of presence of money.

- They save money from sales of produce which is later used for buying food to feed their

families.

- The VSLA members have diversified food varieties hence improved nutrition.

- They have increased their farming plots hence raising yields and land under production.

- By looking at the health of their children, that has improved, they conclude that the VSLA

has done a wonderful job unlike before.

- By looking at the large quantities of food produced, because of the VSLA borrowed funds

sank into farming, they further acknowledge dietary improvement.

Table 26: showing improvement in household diet since joining VSLA

Has household diet improved since you joined VSLA

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Improved 100 71.4 82.6 82.6 Stayed the same 21 15.0 17.4 100.0 Total 121 86.4 100.0 Missing System 19 13.6 Total 140 100.0 Source: Field Survey

Table 27 below: showing reasons for diet status

$Dietstatus Frequencies

Responses Percent of N Percent Cases Reasons Proper feeding for children 58 56.3% 65.9% for dieta Save money from sales 6 5.8% 6.8% status Food varieties 16 15.5% 18.2% Increased plot 7 6.8% 8.0% Health for the children 12 11.7% 13.6% Enough food fo the family 4 3.9% 4.5% Total 103 100.0% 117.0% a. Group Source Field Survey

4.4.3 Increase in number of meals Respondents amounting to 68 out of 140 (48.6%) have indeed acknowledged increase in number of meals per day since joining VSLA. This is clearly shown by the mean meals that are standing at 3.2 per day which is not a bad number at all. However the number of meals for most respondents ranges between 2 meals to 5 meals per day.

More so, 54 respondents (38.6%) said that they have never had any problems meeting their food needs while 74 respondents (52.9%) acknowledged having challenges in meeting their family food needs sometimes. Some of the reasons as shown below in the table for fully meeting their family food needs are briefly illustrated below:

- There are little cases of prolonged dry spells which sometimes bring about cases of food

shortage. This was acknowledged by 37.3% of the respondents.

- They improved their farms by modernizing farming hence no cases of food shortage.

- By saving, they are able to use their savings to meet food requirements during times when

they have food shortages.

- With increased yields, there is now enough food and improved diets hence no major

problems of food.

- Sometimes the severe dry spells affect their harvests. This was highlighted by 12.7% of the

respondents who said that sometimes have problems meeting their food needs.

- Pests and diseases also contributes to crop failure hence brings problems of meeting food

requirements. This was acknowledged by 6.3%. This finding therefore is in line with the

findings of IIRR (1998) that methods of controlling pests and diseases in sustainable

agriculture are sometimes very different from conventional measures. In many cases, our

knowledge of natural pest control has been handed down in the form of old farming

traditions whose value is no longer recognized. Sustainable agriculture aims to reduce the

incidence of pests and diseases to such a degree that they do not seriously damage the

farmer’s crops-but without upsetting the balance of nature.

- In addition, some 6.3% also said that they have problems of meeting food needs resulting

from the general crop failure leading to poor harvests.

Table 28: showing increases in the number of meals since joining VSLA

Has number of meals increased in a day since joining VSLA

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Increased 68 48.6 54.4 54.4 Stayed the same 57 40.7 45.6 100.0 Total 125 89.3 100.0 Missing System 15 10.7 Total 140 100.0

Table 29: showing reasons for meal status in the VSLA members households

$Mealstatus Frequencies

Responses Percent of N Percent Cases Reasons Meals have increased to 2 meals and break fast (2-4) 86 78.2% 87.8% for meala Diet changed 13 11.8% 13.3% status Store and sell same food 8 7.3% 8.2% Little money in VSLA 3 2.7% 3.1% Total 110 100.0% 112.2% a. Group Table 30: showing the descriptive statistics of meals got in a day by VSLA members

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Meals you get in a day 128 2 5 3.20 .619 Valid N (listwise) 128 Source: Field Survey

Table 31: showing responses of the members if they problems meeting their family food needs since joining VSLA

Had problems meeting your family food needs since joining VSLA

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Never 54 38.6 42.2 42.2 Sometimes 74 52.9 57.8 100.0 Total 128 91.4 100.0 Missing System 12 8.6 Total 140 100.0

Table 32: showing reasons for meeting/not meeting family food needs since joining VSLA

$Foodneeds Frequencies

Responses Percent of N Percent Cases Reasons Little cases of food shortage.e.g dry and planting seasons 53 37.3% 47.7% for meeting Paying major expanses 9 6.3% 8.1% family food a Improved farm 4 2.8% 3.6% needs Save 8 5.6% 7.2% Meet family needs 12 8.5% 10.8% Enough food 16 11.3% 14.4% Improved diet 4 2.8% 3.6% Dry seasons 18 12.7% 16.2% Pests and Diseases 9 6.3% 8.1% Poor harvests 9 6.3% 8.1% Total 142 100.0% 127.9% a. Group Source: Field Survey

4.5.1 Increment of land under crop/animal production The descriptive statistics showed that most respondent’s land for cultivation/animal production ranges between 1-9 acres giving a mean of 4.3 acres. Most of the respondents acknowledged that their land had not increased since joining VSLA i.e. 74 respondents (52.9%) while 32 respondents 22.9%) said that their land indeed increases since joining VSLA. So this is a clear indication that some members are expanding farm lands so that they raise yields to become food secure.

Table 33: showing average land sizes of members

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation How much land your household have for crop/animal production 117 1 9 4.28 2.370 Valid N (listwise) 117

Table 34: showing increment of land under crop/animal production

Land under crop/animal production increased since u joined VSLA

Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Increased 32 22.9 27.4 27.4 Stayed the same 74 52.9 63.2 90.6 Reduced 3 2.1 2.6 93.2 I do not know 8 5.7 6.8 100.0 Total 117 83.6 100.0 Missing System 23 16.4 Total 140 100.0 Source: Field Survey

The following were the reasons for the state of the land under crop/animal as shown in table 35 below; - Some 36 respondents (33.3%) said that it’s their husbands who buy land so it’s not their

obligation to buy land hence remaining the same.

This finding therefore is in line with the findings of IIRR (2002) that as in most countries,

the women are generally in charge of the household: they cook, wash, fetch water and take

care of the children. They are also often responsible for crops: they plant, weed and harvest.

Although women have the responsibility for many tasks, it is the men who control these

activities. For example, women produce many of the things that families sell, such as crops

dairy products and handicrafts, while the men may handle selling and control the money.

The women may control only the chicken or other minor sources of income. Men also make

most major decisions affecting the family, such as buying and selling land or livestock.

Women and children have little say in these decisions.

- Some said that they only expanded prime business land not crop/animal land. These were 33

respondents (30.6%).

- Some said that they can produce enough food from the available land hence they are

satisfied with the land they own currently.

- Some said that they do hire land from other people hence they have not been compelled to

buy.

- Others said that their savings are still small hence they are still increasing on their savings

that they will use to expand the farmland. More so, others said that land is expensive hence

they have been unable to buy more.

- Others have said that since their household diet has changed, they see no need of expanding

their farmlands.

Those who had increased their land said that initially they had small pieces of land which forced them to expand on what they previously had. However the few whose land had reduced since joining VSLA said that they sold their land to pay school fees for their children. These were only 3 respondents (2.1%). More so, those who further increased their land, wanted to have enough food at home, to raise their diets and so on.

Table 35: showing reasons for state of land under crop/animal

$landcrop Frequencies

Responses Percent of N Percent Cases Reasons Expand my husbadry 36 33.3% 36.0% for state Business (land) (expended) 33 30.6% 33.0% of land Enough food 4 3.7% 4.0% under a Diet changed crop etc 8 7.4% 8.0% Satified 3 2.8% 3.0% Sold it to pay school fees 3 2.8% 3.0% Land from other people 1 .9% 1.0% Save money to buy land 5 4.6% 5.0% Savings still small 3 2.8% 3.0% Enough land 3 2.8% 3.0% Small piece of land 3 2.8% 3.0% Expensive land 6 5.6% 6.0% Total 108 100.0% 108.0% a. Group Source: Field survey

4.5.2 General food security amongst members As shown in table 36 below, at least 89 respondents (73.6%) acknowledged that VSLA members are food secure because they do grow enough food while 16 respondents (13.2%) said that most of the VSLA members have increased on income generating activities that produce money hence allowing members to save more. Other respondents said that generally there is improved food security amongst VSLS members, members store and sometimes sell surplus food, and members do borrow and buy food during times of shortage despite the fact that Sembabule is a dry area as acknowledged by 2.5% of the respondents.

According to FAO (1997), throughout the world, women are the principal guarantors of nutrition, food safety and quality at household and community levels. They produce a wide range of local foods which are sold at competitive prices in the market.

Table 36: showing comments on general food security amongst members

$Comment Frequencies

Responses Percent of N Percent Cases Comment Grow enough food 89 73.6% 80.9% on general a Increase on income generation for members to save more 16 13.2% 14.5% food security Improved food security 4 3.3% 3.6% Store and sell food 4 3.3% 3.6% Borrow and buy food 5 4.1% 4.5% Sanbubule is a dry area 3 2.5% 2.7% Total 121 100.0% 110.0% a. Group Source: Field Survey

VSLA kit used by the group in monthly saving meetings. (The kit consists of; money counting bowl, fines bowl, stamp, ink pot, ink pad, ruler, pen, pencil, social fund bag, loan fund bag, pass books, padlocks and safe box).

Source: Allen, H., and M. Staehle., VS&L Programme Guide, Field operations Manual.

A VSLA monthly group meeting conducting saving and credit (a three padlock safe box in the front)

Source: SCC-Vi Village Saving and Loaning Photo bank

4.6.0Challenges hindering the VSLA model in addressing food insecurity problems:

4.6.1 Poor record keeping: The respondents all acknowledged that the records that they use are in a poor state and more so need to be trained on better record keeping methods. Quite often some money is lost because of poor record keeping methods. Some of the common records used in the VSLA groups include

Ledger books, social fund records, share purchase records, loans books, fine books, member register book. All these records are used mainly by the secretary and the treasurer. Therefore because of the low levels of education of the members, they are not able to fully utilize those books to the required standards.

4.6.2 Drought: This has lead to low yields and in turn affects both the savings and food availability at household level. Many farmers rely on surplus food that they sell and hence get money to save in their groups. However because of the dry spells, many crops are affected hence reducing anticipated yields. The finding of this research is in line with previous research findings of

Rocheleau et al (1988) that most of the people throughout the continent are living through a period of rapid and dramatic changes in land-use patterns, economic conditions and the natural environment. The pace of change often exceeds the capacity of local organizations and national institutions to develop new land use practices that support both the natural resources and the welfare of the people. This is especially true in the drier, more fragile zones where drought and famine have become increasingly common. Savannahs and grasslands cover approximately two thirds of sub-Saharan Africa and support a large part of the population. Crop and livestock production in this zone is increasingly limited by erratic and insufficient rainfall and by the deterioration of soil, water and plant resources, a process often referred to as desertification.

Desertification takes many forms and affects the lives of rural people in immediate, practical

63 ways. The disappearance of vegetation, erosion of soils by wind and water and decreasing soil productivity-all these affect the livelihoods of herders, farmers, gatherers, artisans and traders.

4.6.3 Poverty amongst the VSLA members: Many VSLA members are too poor to manage the monthly saving schedules in their groups.

This brings very little money in the safe box hence reducing loanable funds in the group. Hence it becomes difficult to lend out a reasonable amount of money that can transform the livelihoods of the member let alone ensure food security. This is in line with SCC-Vi seminar report (2005) that the Millennium Development Goals, are globally accepted targets intended for use as measures of how well a country or region can achieve the world focus of reducing extreme poverty, hunger, disease, lack of education, infrastructure and shelter, gender exclusion and environment. It is indeed necessary that a focus on production-value addition market-money cycle in the financial service delivery is called is called for if the MDGs have to be met. All resources that are necessary to create an institutional framework which creates potential for the achievement of this perspective should not be spared.

4.6.4 Illiteracy amongst the VSLA members: Some VSLA members have illiteracy challenges in that they cannot read and also write when need arises. More so, the leaders of these groups cannot fully interpret the records that are used in the VSLA i.e. social fund records, shares records, fine records, loans records and cash book.

With the current trends of taking farming as business, it becomes difficult for the farmer to attain this cause if he/she cannot read or write.

4.6.5 Some farmers don’t save aggressively for fear of being cheated like they were cheated: An example one briefcase organization (Nkusibo) that stole their money some 3 years ago.

Therefore this reduces the total VSLA savings and hence affecting loanable funds too. Nkusibo was a brief case organization that mobilized a lot of money from groups around Masaka, Rakai,

Sembabule, Lyantonde, Kalungu, Lwengo and Bukomansimbi districts promising to in turn donate 10 million shillings to each and every group that paid subscription fees. After collecting the “subscription” fees from each group the organization disappeared.

4.6.6 Security of the safe box: There is still a problem of security of the safe box since it is kept in the treasurer’s house. There was a case in Lujula village, Parish ward in Sembabule town council where a shamba boy stole the safe box from the treasurer’s house and ran away with member’s money. So this poses a big security challenge to the groups. Therefore this is a major challenge that has quite often affected the majority of the VSLA groups in sembabule.

4.6.7 Many VSLA members lack good investment opportunities: Some members don’t borrow with a purpose and hence end up wasting the money in unprofitable enterprises that don’t pay off hence end up defaulting. Some members on defaulting run away from their homes leaving behind children and hence aggravating food insecurity problems. Many male VSLA members borrow money to marry new wives instead of investing the money into farming. This is a big blow in the proper functioning of the model as funds are tied up in defaulting members. More so, others borrow to drive and go for betting especially the youth.

4.6.8 Poor time management amongst VSLA members: By the fact that most VSLA sit in the evenings, members come late for the meetings (5:00pm) and hence the meeting is conducted hurriedly and this brings about performance of haphazard work which in the long run affect the monies of the group usually during loaning out and share- out.

4.6.9 Short loan period: Most of the VSLA have loan periods ranging from 1-3 months. Many VSLA members complained of the short loan period and yet their farming enterprises rotate around seasons of 4-

5 months. So the money is always needed prior to harvest making it difficult to pay the VSLA money. Members proposed a loan period of at least 6 months.

4.6.10 High interest rates The interest rate is too high making some members to pay back the money on time difficult. For most of the groups, the interest rates were between 5-10% per month. So members were proposing a reduction of the interest rates so that it ranges between 2-4% per month.

4.6.11 Little loanable funds This happens especially during the first three months at the start of the new cycle. So by the time the monies are enough for lending out, the cycle comes to the end. Some members indeed said that the cycle should run for 24 months instead of the 12 months so that the groups accumulate enough loanable funds. The findings of this research is in conformity with previous research findings of FAO (1997) that financial services must be made available if small farmers are to improve their agricultural productivity and enhance their household income and food supplies.

They need credit to purchase agricultural inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides, or to hire paid labour. They need long-term credit to purchase appropriate technology such as labour-saving tools and implements, or to establish small-scale dairy or poultry enterprises. Women, however, face additional obstacles in obtaining credit. This problem has become more acute as women become increasingly responsible for overall farm management, especially in circumstances of male migration. Although women may be better credit risks than men (generally higher rates of repayment), banks and other formal lending institutions are reluctant to extend credit to them since the loans are usually small and women

66 tend to be inexperienced borrowers often unable to meet collateral requirements such as land title or cattle.

4.6.12 Lack of transparency amongst the leaders of the VSLA groups: Some VSLA group leaders are not transparent enough and hence end up swindling the member’s money by using corrupt tendencies especially when it comes to management of member’s funds and records. This lack of trust has led to some members ceasing membership in their groups for fear of losing their money. One of the group treasurer in Kandi Nanseko connived with the three key custodians to open the safe box so that he uses the money prior to the sitting date. Fortunately enough one of the key custodians refused. The information leaked and the treasurer was relieved of his duties.

4.6.13 Some group members don’t respect the rules governing the VSLA model Social fund is supposed to be paid back in only one (1) month but some members don’t respect the deadline hence affecting the modus operandi of the VSLA financial system. More so, members are mandated to buy between 1-5 shares but there are members who deliberately don’t buy even the minimum 1 share hence affecting the VSLA fund base. Some members refuse to pay fines when they go against the VSLA rules and procedures. Some of the offences that one is penalized to pay a fine are late coming, rumor mongering, murmuring in the meeting and showing signs of disrespect to the group leaders.

4.6.14 Some respondents complained of lack of market for their produce and hence they are exploited by the scrupulous middle men: They are offered low prices which in turn affect the money they receive from farm harvests and yet they borrow and sink the VSLA borrowed money in the farming enterprises which raises the production cost. In many areas of Uganda since the liberalization of the economy, many farmers are at the mercy of scrupulous middle men who on several occasions offer very poor prices. And

67 some instances farmers are unable to break even because of the cheating tendencies of these middlemen. This has left many farmers in the vicious cycle of poverty. This finding is also in line with the view of Coulter and Poulton (2001) that crop marketing systems in many developing countries are inefficient and small-scale farmers have been exposed to even greater uncertainty regarding the marketing of their output as a result of the liberalisation of agricultural markets since the 1990s. Most small-scale farmers sell the bulk of their output at harvest when prices are low, and household income in rural areas is, consequently, usually low and variable.

Small-scale farmers usually cannot defer sale of outputs as they lack storage facilities.

4.6.15 Some officials and members from existing SACCOs are decampaigning the VSLA model: Hence this discourages the existing members from saving let alone those who want to join the groups. This is so because the SACCOs are losing a lot of their members to the VSLA groups.

4.7.0 What needs to be done to improve the VSLA model in order to address food insecurity challenges?

Table 37: showing suggestions on what needs to be done to improve the VSLA model in order to address food insecurity challenges.

$Suggest Frequencies

Responses Percent of N Percent Cases Suggestion Laws in VSLA should be clear 8 2.9% 6.9% on what Members start sharing out dividals 7 2.5% 6.0% needs to be a Government consider VSLA in budget 13 4.7% 11.2% done to i Tram and grain enough expeniance (record keeping) 51 18.5% 44.0% Few members in groups 5 1.8% 4.3% Little capital in VSLA 9 3.3% 7.8% Members don't want to borrow only want to share out 18 6.5% 15.5% Mobilize more farmers to join 11 4.0% 9.5% Supervision 17 6.2% 14.7% Visitation in groups 7 2.5% 6.0% Raise share value 34 12.3% 29.3% Reduce interest rate 16 5.8% 13.8% Support from the government 48 17.4% 41.4% Security of the box 21 7.6% 18.1% Encourage husbands to join 11 4.0% 9.5% Total 276 100.0% 237.9% a. Group Source: Field Survey

4.7.1 Train on record keeping: The research found out that 18.5% of the respondents said that there is need for a record keeping training so that the leaders are able to handle financial records in a fair manner.

Because of the literacy challenges amongst majority of the farming communities in Uganda, it is important that all leaders of VSLAs are given the basic record keeping skills so that they don’t easily lose the members savings. This can be done by the NGO field workers, government extension workers, and the financial institution’s staff like the loan officers. This will somehow

69 improve on the book keeping skills of the group leaders especially the group secretaries and treasurers who are directly in charge of handling the group member’s money.

4.7.2 Support from government: At least 17.4% of the respondents indeed said that there is need to lobby the government to come in and support this model. The local governments (Sembabule local government) should come in through the office of district community development to support this model. This finding is also in line with the view of ACODE (2000) that availability and access to affordable finance is an important aspect of any business activity. It is even more pertinent to agriculture because most of the farmers are smallholder and poor peasants, who have traditionally produced for subsistence.

To re-orient this nature of production towards specialization for the market requires a “big push” in financial terms. Overall, government interventions by way of financing are a useful tool to boost production and secure pricing by reducing vulnerability of the farmers.

4.7.3 Raise share value: The research established that 12.3% of the respondents said that there is need to raise the share value to at least a minimum of 10,000 instead of the 2000 to 5000. The share value that is used by most VSLA groups is too low to bring out a substantial loanable fund. This means that at every sitting the least saver will buy 1 share (10,000) while the highest buys 5 shares (50,000) which are reasonable enough. So this means that on a good saving day if say a group of 35 members each bought 5 shares at 10,000 per share, this will total to 1,750,000 as per that sitting.

Therefore after a period of 2-4 months, the group will have a substantial amount of money from where the members can borrow and invest into their farming enterprises. Therefore it would be wise to raise the share value so that the increasing savings also translate into much loanale fees hence high funds invested into farming which in the long run raise yields thereby a food security community.

4.7.4 Security of the safe box: The research revealed that 7.6% of the respondents all acknowledged that there is need to improve on the security of the safe box for the safety of the member’s money. Some members proposed that the money safe box needs to be taken to police for safe custody until the subsequent meetings. By the fact that the safe box is kept at the treasurer’s home, and since it is evident that many of the farmer’s houses are not constructed in such a way that they are strong enough, it is easy for the thieves to break into and take off with the member’s savings.

4.7.5 The research also established that there are members who don’t want to borrow from the VSLA: They only buy shares and hence don’t borrow and yet the principle is that, ‘save and borrow’. So a lot of money sometimes remains in the safe box. These members reduce on the interest that would be got from loaned out money. This was revealed by 6.5% of the respondents.

More so, failure to borrow puts the security of the safe box at risk because a lot of money is left unloaned out to the members. Therefore there is need to further sensitise the members the benefits of saving and credit instead of only looking at saving and leaving out the credit aspect.

4.7.6 Supervision: The research also established that there is need for close supervision since they (farmers) are new in matters of financial management. So they requested the SCC-Vi staff to always preside over monthly meetings and the annual share-out events.

They said that the monthly supervision helps put the secretaries and treasurers of the group on track in case they make mistakes. This was revealed by 6.2% of the respondents. Some farmers further said that with the presence of the supervisors, there are few chances of members losing their money into the hands of the inexperienced group secretaries and treasurers. Many times money is lost during the saving exercise in the hands of the treasurers and secretaries.

4.7.7 Reduce interest rate:

At least 5.8% of the respondents all admitted that to fully make the model affective, there is need to reduce on the interest rates from 10% to at least 3% or 4%. This will entice members to fully borrow because they know that the money is easily repayable.

The findings of this research is in conformity with previous research findings of Environment

Alert Policy brief No.2, (2005) that, access to favourable rural finance schemes with affordable interest rates and grace period for the borrowed funds will facilitate farmer’s investment in appropriate technologies to maintain and increase soil and crop productivity.

4.7.8 Need to extend the repayments period from a maximum of 3 months to at least 6 months.

This will make repayments easy for all classes of members. Most of the groups have a repayment period not exceeding 3 months which is very difficult for members that borrow large sums of money to pay back. More so, those farmers who invest the money in farming whose seasons are between 4-5 months find it hard to repay since they look at farming proceeds to cater for all the repayment obligations. There is also a limitation of farmers borrowing reasonable amount of money because of the short repayment period. It for example becomes difficult for the farmer to borrow UGX 1,000,000 and then pay back in a period of only three months. So the farmers borrow little amounts of money which cannot bring a lot of substantial changes in their households.

4.7.9 Prolong the saving cycle from 1-2 years:

A number of respondents said that there is need to prolong the saving cycle from 1-2 years so that members can accumulate enough savings that carries meaning at the end of the cycle. More

72 so, the prolonged cycle of at least 2 years enables accumulation of loanable money that has been a problem all along. Most of the VSLA cycles run on a period of one year and then the cycle is dissolved. Thereafter willing members continue with the new cycle. This means that because the money was shared out, at the beginning of every cycle, there is almost very little money for borrowing hence affecting the investment funds into farming. This also affects the acrage under cultivation and in turn affects the yields thereby aggravating the food insecurity challenges in the areas.

4.7.10 Trainings on financial management, time management and agriculture trainings:

Many farmers identified the above training gaps that would help if provided in bridging the challenges that the model is facing. Those trainings will also provide the knowledge that will in the long run give financial mitigation independence and food insecurity mitigation. On many occasions farmers don’t have the financial management techniques hence during share out it is discovered that some member’s money go missing. There is also need for NAADS to work hand in hand with these VSLA so that the shared objectives are fully addressed. This research finding is also in line with NARO (2001) report that NAADS is one of the core programmes under Plan for modernization of Agriculture (PMA) that focuses on the delivery of agricultural advisory services. The fundamental aim of NAADS is to develop a demand-driven, client oriented and farmer-led agricultural service delivery system, in particular targeting the poor. More so building institutional capacity at all levels to implement interventions that support poverty eradication through agricultural transformation and increasing access of rural financial services by poor farmers.

4.7.11 Need to encourage husbands to join the groups;

Many group members acknowledged the need for the VSLA trainers and local leaders to encourage the husbands of the majority of the women to join the groups so that when the wife and husband borrow, there is a meaningful amount of money that can substantially change the lives of the households. On many occasions, some husbands confiscate the money borrowed by their wives from the groups and this in turn affects the investment capacity of these women leave alone making repayment so difficult.

4.7.12 There is need for more sensitization so that its coverage is wider in the district and the country at large. This can be done by local leaders, NGO staff, government extension workers and staff of other financial institutions like banks, micro finances and SACCOs. There is also need for partnership between these VSLA and banks/micro finances so that they can provide funds with low interest rates. There are many banks now days but their services are not tailored at helping the farmers because of the complexities of the farming business. So there is a great need for the financial institutions to come up with services that can be friendly and in line with the farming households so as to pull the farmers out of poverty.

Finally there is also need for the micro finance support centre to consider lending VSLAs instead of only lending only SACCOs whose recovery rated is also wanting. The microfinance support centre gives SACCOs money but the problems currently affecting the SACCOs are too many among which corruption and poor repayment by the SACCO members. Many SACCOs have been forced to close because of these challenges. So it is imperative that the microfinance support centre starts considering the VSLAs so that they equally benefit from these financial services from the government.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDANTION

5.0 Introduction:

This final chapter highlights key recommendation and conclusions derived from the findings of the study. Summary and conclusions involve the most important issues arising out of the study while on the other hand, recommendations are proposed mainly for enhancing food security in

Mijwala sub county, Ssembabule town council, Ssembabule district in particular and Uganda in general.

5.1 Summary of findings:

The research was conducted on the assessment of the VSL model in enhancing food security in

Ssembabule district. A case study of selected SCC-Vi groups of Mijwala and sembabule town council. The VSL model is being implemented by an NGO (SCC-Vi Project).

The study found out that there are 18 groups (each with members ranging from 25-79 members).

These groups were formed by SCC-Vi project field officers though some were found existing and hence the field officers just introduced the model to the members of the group.

The study also established that majority of the members who are in VSL groups have witnessed a reduction in food insecurity challenges among their households. This is due to the fact that when it comes to share out, many members receive a lot of money at the end of the cycle which is then invested into farming enterprises. More so there is reasonable amount of money that members borrow and pay after a maximum period of 3 months. This is also used to finance the farming enterprises.

According to specific objective number one , there are many members acknowledging increase in number of meals, nutrition diets and general food access at household level.

Furthermore, by the fact that the model has a higher potential of reducing food insecurity challenges, there is need to scale up the model so that it covers the entire district in order to yield more results and bring about significant impact. Some of the challenges that were given by the farmers were; the high interest rates, poor record keeping, poverty amongst several households, illiteracy, security concerns of the safe box and many others.

More so Ssembabule being in the cattle corridor, most of the farmers are severely affected by draught that brings about drying of crops sometimes. This in turn affects the yield of crops.

Because of this, farmers sometimes find it difficult to reserve produce for sale. This also affects their saving power in their respective groups. Most groups have as low as 2000 share value per month, hence affecting loanable funds that can bring about a significant change in household food access/malnutrition diets.

5.2 Conclusion

Slow increases in world food production and declining rates of yield growth in main food crops threaten world food security. Land and water constraints, under investment in rural infrastructure and agricultural innovation, lack of access to agricultural inputs and weather disruptions are impairing productivity, growth and the needed production response. These factors, combined with sharp increase in food prices in recent years, have added to concerns about the food and nutritional situation of people around the world, especially the poor in developing countries (Von

Braun et al 2008).

Therefore meeting the complex challenge of reducing poverty and ending hunger and malnutrition in a sustainable manner in light of these needs approaches among which the VSL model falls.

With the current defaulting rates in commercial banks, SACCOS and MFI’s, the way to go is to promote this informal financial model because majority of people in the country side are running businesses in the informal way. The research has established that by the fact that the money is self generated and brought in a pool, defaulting rates are not common in this model. This is also due to the fact that before one becomes a member of the VSL, he/she must be a resident within the parish with a permanent home. This means that members screen the financial discipline of each other because they have lived together for years.

More so, there is a guaranteed labour force because in some groups members agree to farm on individual member’s farms as a team. This reduces the cost of ploughing and also guarantees a wider acrage under cultivation which assures increased yields hence food security amongst the members.

The research has shown that the VSL model has changed lives of many people right from businessmen/women to farmers in sembabule town council and Mijwala subcounty. Therefore government, NGO’s need to give this model a second thought so that it is scaled up to other parts of the district and also to other districts of Uganda. This will transform lives of many Ugandans hence making Uganda a food basket and poverty free Nation.

5.3 Recommendations:

Basing on the study findings, there is need for more sensitization so that the VSL coverage is widened right from Lwemiyaga, Ntuusi, Lugusulu, Matete, Lwebitakuli, Mijwala and Sembabule

Town council. This will bring about significant changes in the social economic stands of the people in the entire district. All this can be done by NGOs in the area, CBOs and the government extension workers.

There is need for trainings on micro-finance management amongst these VSL groups. More so time management is a bigger factor that the farmers must be told to take seriously. It was established that many VSL members do not report for the saving scheduled times promptly hence affecting the proper flow of the saving session since their bye-laws mandate the honour of quorum before proceeding with any activity.

All these trainings can be cross-cutting in the normal agricultural trainings conducted by the field staff in the locality. By building the capacity of these micro institutions, Uganda will realize the address of food insecurity and poverty challenges amongst its people.

The researcher also recommends that the saving cycle be prolonged from a period of 1yr to 2yrs.

This will enable members to accumulate a lot of savings that will be quite significant at share-out and also raise the loanable funds (a major problem at the on-set of every cycle).

There is also need to extend the loan repayment period from 3 months to 6 months. This period makes it easy for members to pay without a bigger burden. More so after six months, the seasonal crops are due for sale and hence making pay back easy.

There is also need for the groups to reduce on the interest rates. Most groups charge between 5% to 10% per month. The study findings showed that members were paying a lot of money in

78 interest rates though they share this very interest at the end of the cycle. Therefore there is need to revise the interest rates to at least 2% per month so that it is easy to borrow and pay back.

There is also need for the police/security agencies in the areas to beef up security in those areas so that safe boxes are not stolen by robbers since they are mostly kept by the treasurers of the groups whose security in the remote areas is wanting.

There is need for the government to at least support these groups with loanable interest free loans which they can always borrow all year round. There is always a big challenge at the start of every cycle due to limited loanable funds. This affects the investments opportunities of the borrowers. This role can be taken up by the microfinance support centre of Uganda by providing very micro interest free credits to these informal associations.

There is also need for providing a simplified package on record keeping for all the VSLA groups. Because of illiteracy challenges, most group secretaries end up losing members money through inconsistent systems of book keeping. This brings about loss of members money and hence brews conflicts amongst group members.

There is also a need for the government to regulate the market players so that they do not cheat farmers during market periods. Many members borrow money from their VSL groups and sink the money into farming expecting to get good prices at marketing periods. This is not the case because most of them are cheated by scrupulous produce dealers.

Therefore there is need for the government to create a good agriculture value chain system so that farmers are not demoralized with the farming business.

SCC–Vi should work closely with the government so that this model is scaled up throughout the entire country. The VSL model has been proven from the research findings to reduce food insecurity challenges since farmers borrow and invest the money into farming hence making farming a business. This in the long run will also address poverty, a big development challenge of Uganda today. More so by working together, it will ensure the sustainability of the model even after the winding up of the project.

There is also need for the government to take on farming seriously through its agencies like

NAADS. NAADS should look at providing farmers with subsidies so that the cost of farming is reduced. This will in turn mean that the farmers using the VSL model will borrow and supplement the subsidized farming. Hence at harvesting and marketing, because of reduced cost of production, the farmer will earn a lot despite any price fluctuations.

This means that the farmers will save aggressively in their respective VSL groups and therefore at the end of the cycle (share-out), they will go home with substantial amounts of money.

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Appendix I: INDIVIDUAL QUESTIONNAIRE

Introduction

My name is Matthias Masiga, MA Development Studies student of Uganda Martyrs University.

Am conducting a research on the role of the Village Saving & Loaning Association (VSL) model in enhancing food security in sembabule district. A case study of selected SCC-Vi groups. I would like to have a short discussion with you and the information provided is only for academic purposes and will be treated as confidential. Please feel at ease and I kindly request you to provide frank and honest answers without fearing any persecution or disclosure. My interest is in the general picture and not your personal status.

Section 1: Background Information

1. Date of Interview______

2. Village______

3. Name of VSL Group______

Section 2: Demographic Information

1. What is the sex of the member

1. Male 2. Female

2. What is the age of the member: ______

3. What is the relationship of the member to the household head?

1. Parent 2. Spouse 3. Household head 4. Other Relative 5. Child

4. What is the religion of the member?

1. Christian 2. Moslem 3. Pagan 4. Saved 5. Other (specify)

5. What is the marital status of the member?

1. Single 2. Married 3. Separated 4. Widow/Widower

6. What is the family size from which the member belongs?

Total _____ Adults above 18 years_____ Children Below 18 Years______

7. Can you read or write?

1. Yes 2. No

8. What is the highest level of education of the member?

1. Not Educated 2. Primary 3. Secondary 4. Tertiary

9. What is the main source of income of the member?

1. Farmer 2. Salaried 2. Employed

Section 3: Member Information

1. How many members are in your current VSLA? ______

2. For How long have you been a member of the VSLA?

1. Less than a year 2. 1-2 years 3. 2-5 years 4. More than 5 years

3. How many cycles of the VSLA have you completed?______

4. How many shares did you buy in each of the cycles?

Cycle 1: ______

Cycle 2: ______

Cycle 3: ______

Cycle 4: ______

5. How much did you receive at share-out in each of the cycles above?

Cycle 1: ______

Cycle 2: ______

Cycle 3: ______

Cycle 4: ______

6. How Many Shares do you currently have in the running cycle?______

7. Do you have any other form of saving?

1. Yes 2. No

8. If yes, which are other forms of saving?

1. Bank 2. SACCOs/MFI 3. In the house

Section 4: Credit Access and Utilization

1. Have you ever received a loan from VSLA?

1.Yes 2. No

2. How many times have you borrowed from the VSLA?______

3. What was the amount received at each time of borrowing?

1. Value of First Loan: ______

2. Value of Second Loan: ______

3. Value of Third Loan: ______

4. Value of fourth Loan: ______

TOTAL ______

4. What were the reasons for applying for the loans?

Loan 1:

______

Loan 2:

______

Loan 3:

______

Loan 4:

______

5. Looking at the last loan value, what was the money used for?

Use Amount

1. Buy Farm Inputs ______

2. Pay for Food ______

3. Pay for medical bills ______

4. Pay other debts ______

5. Pay school fees ______

6. Buy Household assets ______

7. Leisure/ entertainment ______

8. Gave to spouse ______

9. Others (______) ______

Section 5: Saving Utilization

1. What was the highest amount of money at any of the share out events?______

2. Did you anticipate receiving that much money?

1. Yes 2. No

3. If No, were you excited to receive the money?

1. Yes 2. No

4. How was the money utilized?

Use Amount

1. Buy Farm Inputs ______

2. Pay for Food ______

3. Pay for medical bills ______

4. Pay other debts ______

5. Pay school fees ______

6. Buy Household assets ______

7. Leisure/ entertainment ______

8. Gave to spouse ______

9. Others (______) ______

3. Who made the decision of how to utilize the money?

1. Self 2. Spouse 3. Family 4. VSLA 5. Others ______

4. Was there any plan to follow to guide utilization?

2. Yes 2. No

Section 6: Household Diet

1. Has your household food access improved since you joined VSLA?

1. Improved 2. Stayed the same 3. Worsened 4. I do not know

2. Please give reasons to your response in Question 1

1. ______

2. ______

3. Has your household diet improved since you joined VSLA?

1. Improved 2. Stayed the same 3. Worsened 4. I do not know

4. Please give reasons to your response in Question 3

1. ______

2. ______

5. Has the number of meals your family receive in a day increased since joining VSLA?

1. Increased 2. Stayed the same 3. Reduced 4. I do not know

6. Please give reasons to your response in Question 5

1. ______

2. ______

7. How many meals do you get in a day? ______

8. Have you had problems meeting your family food needs since joining VSLA?

1. Never 2. Sometimes 3. Always

9. Please give reasons to your response in Question 8

1. ______

2. ______

10. How much land does your household have for crop/animal production?______

11. Has land under crop/animal production increased ever since you joined VSLA?

1. Increased 2. Stayed the same 3. Reduced 4. I do not know

12. Please give reasons to your response in Question 11

1. ______

2. ______

13. Please comment on general food security among the VSLA members.

1. ______

2. ______

14. What do you think needs to be done to improve this VSL model?

1…………………………………………………………………………………………………

2…………………………………………………………………………………………………

THANK YOU

Appendix II Interview guide for key informants (SCC-Vi staff)

a) In your own understanding what is food security?

......

What have you done in your area of operation to reduce food insecurity?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

How has the VS&LA model worked towards reducing food insecurity

………………………………………………………………………………………………

b) What do you think are the challenges hindering this VS&LA model in addressing food

insecurity problems in your area of operation?

......

c) What should be done to improve this model so that it fully addresses food insecurity

challenges amongst the groups using this model?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

THANK YOU

Appendix III Interview guide for key informants (Local leaders/Focus group discussions)

My name is Matthias Masiga, MA Development Studies student of Uganda Martyrs University.

Am conducting a research on the role of the Village Saving & Loaning Association (VSL) model in enhancing food security in sembabule district.A case study of selected SCC-Vi groups. I would like to have a short discussion with you and the information provided is only for academic purposes and will be treated as confidential. Please feel at ease and I kindly request you to provide frank and honest answers without fearing any persecution or disclosure. My interest is in the general picture and not your personal status.

a) Most of you were sensitized about VS&LA model; do you think this model has addressed

food insecurity in your area?

......

b) How have people embraced this model?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

c) What could be some of the challenges facing this model in addressing food insecurity

amongst the members using this mode?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

d) In your view what do you think needs to be done to improve this model in order to

address food insecurity amongst the people using this model?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

THANK YOU

Appendix IV

SEMBABULE TC

MARKET WARD

PARISH WARD

SEMBABULE TC Major River Minor River Stream

County Boundary District Boundary Parish Boundary Subcounty Boundary Murram Road (All weather) Murram Road (Dry weather) Tarmac Road DISPENSARY WARD Barren land/rocks Built Area Bushland Commercial farmland Forest Plantation (Coniferous) Forest Plantation (deciduous) Grassland Miscellaneous Open Water Subsistence farmland Swamp Tropical Forest (Encroached) Tropical Forest (Well stocked) Woodland

5 0 5 Kilometers

Appendix V

N MIJWALA

Major River Minor River Stream SEMBABULE TC.

County Boundary District Boundary Parish Boundary Subcounty Boundary MABINDO Murram Road (All weather) Murram Road (Dry weather) KIDOKOLO NSOGA Tarmac Road Barren land/rocks Built Area Bushland Commercial farmland Forest Plantation (Coniferous) MIJWALA Forest Plantation (deciduous) Grassland Miscellaneous Open Water Subsistence farmland Swamp Tropical Forest (Encroached) Tropical Forest (Well stocked) Woodland

5 0 5 10 Kilometers