FAO Chief Urges Uganda to Embed Physical & Spatial Planning in Parish Development Model

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Dr. Qu Dongyu, has urged Uganda to hard-wire physical and spatial planning into the rollout of the Parish Development Model (PDM), warning that without clear land-use designs, infrastructure layouts and zoning, long-term rural transformation will remain elusive.

Addressing a multi-agency meeting led by the Office of the Prime Minister, MAAIF, and the Ministry of Local Government, Dr. Dongyu applauded the government for championing a grassroots-led model but insisted that “you cannot have effective agriculture, markets, or food systems without planned space.”

Drawing on global rural development experience, he said countries that succeed marry community empowerment with spatial design that enables productivity, market access and environmental sustainability. He praised Uganda’s governance approach — which he called the “village model” — as “cohesive and unusually collaborative… You work together, think together, and debate together. That harmony is rare and should be harnessed for structured development.”

Dr. Dongyu advised that as the PDM scales nationwide, each parish should receive technical planning support to demarcate land for housing, production, storage, marketplaces, irrigation systems and social services, especially in the face of climate change and rapid population growth. Planned parishes, he added, are better positioned to deploy smart irrigation, renewable energy hubs and climate-resilient housing, and to withstand floods, droughts and market shocks. “If space is chaotic, systems collapse. If space is planned, systems thrive,” he said.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja welcomed FAO’s guidance, reaffirming the government’s commitment to scaling the PDM “in a structured and sustainable manner.” She highlighted priority areas for deeper collaboration with FAO, including climate-resilient food production hubs in refugee-hosting districts, women’s agro-industrial skilling, youth agri-enterprises, and urban resilience under the Green Cities Initiative.

Offering FAO’s technical backing, Dr. Dongyu encouraged Uganda to pilot model parish layouts that balance food production, environmental protection and economic opportunity, and to draw lessons from regions that have successfully implemented integrated rural planning.

Comments

comments