The overall goal of the Area-Based Agricultural Modernization Programme in Uganda was to increase the incomes and food security of poor rural households in the programme areas and to modernize agriculture in the targeted districts. According to the project performance assessment, the programme’s support for and training of local farmer groups enabled them to expand their production and become more commercially oriented at a time when they were shifting from subsistence to market-based farming.

The programme also improved rural infrastructure, thus facilitating the commercialization of agriculture. Better rural roads improved access to other services, such as input and produce markets and financial services. There were concerns with the sustainability of some of these activities, but these concerns are relatively minor compared with the programme’s achievements. The assessment recommends to reinvigorate the infrastructure management committees as well as ensure the financial sustainability of the savings and credit cooperatives supported by safeguarding their nature as member-based and savings-first institutions.