The priority for public spending on agriculture should be goods and services which clearly have the characteristics of public goods, in that they cannot be supplied by the market in an optimal manner. In addition, these goods should benefit the smallholder farmers who constitute the vast majority of farmers in Uganda.
Examples of these goods and services are agricultural extension services and research and development. The modernisation of agriculture requires comprehensive, country wide, agricultural extension services. Such a service will have to be funded predominantly with public resources. In addition, budget resources are needed to ensure that the rural infrastructure, such as rural feeder roads, is adequate to support commercial agriculture throughout the country.