The Uganda Farmers Common Voice Platform was established in June, 2012 as an indigenous, non-profit Platform; with the main focus of advocating for critical issues affecting Small Holder Farmers in Uganda.  UFCVP was set up at the national level to act as a common voice that speaks on behalf of civil society and Farmer organizations implementing agriculture programmes. The platform was also established to engage in policy research on issues affecting small-holder farmers with the aim of improving and influencing policy formulation and review processes, identify significant gaps in policies (with special bias) on agriculture sector. In addition to the above, the Platform was also put in place to create awareness and raise agricultural advocacy issues to the decision/policy makers for redress, based on the grass root evidence and to monitor policies developed by government to ensure that they are Small Holder Farmers and strive for poverty reduction in Uganda.

 

At the regional level, the platform participates in informing and influencing Local Government planning processes, monitoring implementation of Government programmes on Agriculture, networking, sharing information, experiences as well as documenting best practices and success stories,  raises advocacy issues on key policies and plans prepared by the GoU or its development partners and provide recommendations to that effect. As the Ugandan society evolves, there is increasing need for all stakeholders to get involved in efforts aimed at tackling challenges such as corruption, unemployment, conflicts, poverty and inequality. To tackle these challenges requires the concerted efforts of all public and civil society stakeholders. The UFCVP therefore brings together Ugandan Civil Society organisations in a shared fight to reduce poverty and advocate for the rights of Small Holder Farmers in Uganda. UFCVP believes that speaking with one voice for and on behalf of Small Holder Farmers will be effective in tackling the above challenges.

 

The specific challenges facing Small Holder Farmers that UFCVP aims at addressing are; inadequate financing for agriculture, food insecurity, adverse effects of climate change, bad governance, lack of markets for agriculture produce, inadequate water for production, inadequate extension service delivery, and weak /and or absence of regulation on agro-inputs among others. UFCVP is also inspired by the need to respond to other constraints that affect the agriculture sector; which include among others, a complex land tenure system that denies farmers security of tenure and the increasing population with its resultant pressure on natural resources and the gradually worsening problem of land fragmentation.