DSpace@MIT

This analysis is based on interviews conducted in June-July 2018 with selected seed companies, input dealers, industry representatives, USAID personnel, private sector participants, and a few additional stakeholders. Though not intended to be a fully rigorous analysis, these interviews shed some light on the recent experience with e-Verification programs in Uganda and the challenges that these programs faced. This debrief reflects the opinions expressed by select industry stakeholders. If desired, a more thorough post-mortem would require a formal survey of all input companies participating in e-Verification (including both seed and agricultural chemicals), as well as conversations with government officials and additional private sector participants. A broad survey of farmers and input dealers who were impacted by the programs would also be recommended. Our conversations focused specifically on maize seed, as maize was one of the priority crops for Feed the Future Uganda and given that e-verification faced some of its biggest challenges with maize seed. Indeed, the e-verification labels are still being used for vegetable seed in Uganda, which is almost exclusively imported, and certain agricultural chemicals, but are no longer widely used on maize seed packages.