Livestock, Liberalization, and Democracy: Constraints and Opportunities for Rural Livestock Producers in Reforming Uganda

This paper explores the policy environment surrounding livestock policy improvements in Uganda, a country that has undergone substantial reforms in the last 15 years. It aims to identify opportunities for pro-poor interventions—reforms that would improve the livelihoods of poor rural livestock producers. Towards this end, the paper reviews challenges facing for livestock producers and analyzes the broad political economic context in which livestock sector dynamics are situated. The adoption and implementation of pro-poor livestock sector interventions are in some ways constrained and, in others, enabled by civil conflict in several parts of the country, the semi-authoritarian nature of the Museveni regime, and the reform alliance between the Ugandan national government and its international development partners. Ugandans face an uneasy trade-off between political stability and democracy that inhibits participation.