Uganda Food and Nutrition Policy, 2003.

The overall objective of the Policy is to promote the nutritional status of all the people of Uganda through multi-sectoral and co-coordinated interventions that focus on food security, improved nutrition and increased incomes.Chapter 2, the core of the Policy, lists the key specific objectives as follows: i) to ensure availability, accessibility, affordability of food in the quantities and qualities sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals sustainable; ii) to promote good nutrition of all the population; iii) to incorporate food and nutrition issues in the national, district, sub-county and sectoral development plans; iv) to ensure that nutrition education and training is incorporated in formal and informal training in order to improve the knowledge and attitudes for behavioural change of communities in food and nutrition-related matters; v) to ensure food and income security at household, sub-county, district and national levels for improving the nutrition as well as the socio-economic status of the population; vi) to monitor the food and nutrition situation in the country; vii) to create an effective mechanism for multi-sectoral co-ordination and advocacy for food and nutrition; viii) to promote the formulation and/or review of appropriate policies, laws and standards for food security and nutrition; ix) to ensure a healthy environment and good sanitation in the entire food chain system; x) to safeguard the health of personnel associated with agricultural chemicals, food processing inputs and products, consumers; xi) to promote gender-sensitive technologies and programmes; xii) to achieve maximum production with minimum effort; and xiii) to promote technologies that are user-friendly to people with disability.
The Policy is based on the following guiding principles that: 1) adequate food and nutrition is a human right; 2) food is treated as a national strategic resource; 3) the policy on food and nutrition is part and parcel of the overall national development policy; 4) the policy emphasises the cross-cutting nature of food and nutrition as they affect men, women and children; 5) the policy further seeks to provide a legal basis for the existing food and nutrition structures, sectoral policies and action plans; 6) the policy details strategies for responding to food and nutrition concerns at all levels; 7) gender considerations and the needs of all vulnerable groups are integral to all components of the policy; 8) Uganda meets its national and international obligations as set out in national laws and international conventions, treaties and resolutions on the right to food; and 9) in the planning, budgeting and implementation of the policy, a Rights-Based Approach, will be adopted to promote and protect the right to adequate food and nutrition and ensure participation of the rights’ holders and accountability of duty bearers.
The Government is committed to realising the above goals and objectives through the following strategies: 1) creating a mechanism to ensure that the entire food chain, from food production to consumption, is efficiently managed within the overall development strategy; through building capacities at all levels (households, communities, local councils, sub-counties, district levels) for adequate action to improve household food security; 2) establishing the Uganda Food and Nutrition Council (UFNC) as a statutory body that will co-ordinate food and nutrition programmes at the national level; 3) integrating food and nutrition issues at local governments and lower administrative units; 4) applying the life-cycle of poverty and malnutrition approach in developing nutrition and health strategies and action plans; 5) developing appropriate nutrition curricula and training materials for the education and training of different development workers in formal institutions and at the local level; 6) mobilising resources to support food and nutrition programmes at the national and local levels; 7) enforcing regulations that safeguard the health of personnel handling agricultural inputs and by-products; 8) enforcing environmental protection regulations that apply to the food chain; 9) supporting, promoting and guiding the establishment of national food reserves; 10) formulating and/or reviewing policies, guidelines, legislation, regulations and standards relating to food and nutrition; 11) establishing a national food and nutrition training centre; 12) developing human resources that will provide professional guidance in food and nutrition at the centre and throughout the districts; and 13) collaborating with line ministries and government departments, local and international Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and the private sector in the implementation of the policy.
The Main Areas of focus are: Food Supply and Accessibility; Food Processing and Preservation; Food Storage, Marketing and Distribution; External Food Trade; Food Aid; Food Standards and Quality Control; Nutrition; Health; Information, Education and Communication; Gender, Food and Nutrition; Food, Nutrition and Surveillance; Research. With a view to gender issues the overall goal is to ensure that both men and women achieve optimal nutrition status through improved food security and nutrition, taking into account their reproductive and productive roles in the food chain and in nutrition. In view of food supply and food accessibility it is underlined that although the country as a whole is generally self-sufficient in food supplies, food shortages still occur. This is the result of the limited use of appropriate agricultural technology, over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture, lack of markets and market information, inadequate rural financial services, poor feeder roads, poor and inadequate storage and processing facilities, stress food sales and inadequate buffer stocks. These factors are exacerbated by civil strife, low incomes and poverty. Some specific objectives are: to ensure that water, soil and other agricultural resources are well managed so as to improve and maintain the productivity of the land; to promote technologies that are appropriate to the farming systems in different agro-ecological zones.
Chapter 4 dealing with Implementation Mechanism specifies that the Policy has a multi-sectoral dimension and, therefore, its implementation shall be undertaken in a multi-sectoral way. For this reason, there is a need for a co-ordinating body at the national level. This body shall be the “Uganda Food and Nutrition Council” (UFNC), which shall be established as a legal entity. This Council shall be linked with the relevant multi-sectoral committees dealing with food and nutrition at the local government level. The text consists of 5 Chapters as follows: Introduction (1); Food and Nutrition Policy (2); Main Areas of Focus (3); Implementation Mechanism for the Uganda Food and Nutrition Policy (4); Legal Framework for Implementation of the Uganda Food and Nutrition Policy (5).