The Introduction of Mobile Plant Clinics to Uganda. First Results and Lessons Learned 2005 – 2010.

Lessons from 4 mobile (or community-based) plant health clinics started in Uganda on a pilot basis

Abstract

Four mobile (or community-based) plant health clinics were started in Uganda on a pilot basis in 2005-2006. This new way of delivering primary plant healthcare to farmers has attracted wider interest and several countries are now seeking ways to implement plant clinics on a wider scale to improve the delivery of plant health services to farmers. Moving from a pilot scheme to a larger intervention requires knowledge about how plant clinics operate, what the outcomes and limitations are, and what interventions are needed to ensure effective, well-connected and accountable services. Linking plant clinics to effective networks of diagnostic labs, research institutions and input suppliers under a ‘plant health systems’ framework is a new and largely unexplored challenge that needs to be addressed.

The main purpose of this study was to gather results and lessons learned from the existing plant clinic initiative to inform future interventions. A second purpose was to validate the applied methods and analyses to establish a common framework for clinic assessment, which allows comparing plant clinic performance and outcomes.

Citation

University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 34 pp.

The Introduction of Mobile Plant Clinics to Uganda. First Results and Lessons Learned 2005 – 2010.

Published 1 January 2010