Entebbe/UGANDA: The Ugandan Minister of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries, Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, has unveiled a new move to equip 10,000 farmers with tractors.
He revealed this on January 11 at the ministry headquarters in Entebbe during a flag-off ceremony marking a working partnership with the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE), which is expected to become a regular avenue for farmers to get timely farming advisories and a more interactive extension platform.
“The Memorandum of Understanding which was entered into in 2021 is to set grounds for the future of the agriculture sector, as it lays a foundation for the participation of the farmers in the implementation of activities meant for them,” a press release quoting the minister and signed the ministry’s publicist, Charlotte Kemigyisha, reads.
Talking about the tractors, Mr. Tumwebaze challenged the farmers’ federation to profile 10,000 farmers each with 100 acres to benefit from the machinery.
“We will give them tractors, support them with inputs and they will give us a very good number of coffee bags,” he said.
He realized them further: “Entice the people with idle land to each plant 100 acres of coffee and at the end of the season we will have a very good number of coffee bags thus making use of the idle land. “
Hon. Tumwebaze promised the meeting that the data picked by the farmers’ federation would be used to come up with interventions in the agriculture sector.
Thus, the Farmers’ Federation will be expected to come up with farming profiles of the different sub-regions and put together the dominant enterprises in the sub-regions across the country.
“This partnership is tandem with Government’s initiatives of promoting both the Parish Development Model and the Agro Industrialization program which targets both the smallholder farmers and the commercial farmers who will be considered as lead farmers,” the presser adds.
Accordingly, the Farmers Federation will work with the Ministry in the rollout of the Farmers Barazas which will be structured to discuss the real issues on the ground in the sector.
Mr. Tumwebaze also noted that the partnership had created two major channels of reaching out to the farmers and these are; Extension and the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE).
Why the Partnership:
Limited farmer education and involvement in government initiatives have forced the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF), to enter a partnership with the Ugandan National Farmers Federation (UNFFA).
The president of the farmers’ federation, Mr. Dick N. Kamuganga thanked the ministry for making a decision to work with the farmer’s leadership citing that this will help bridge the gap between the farmers and the main leadership of the ministry.
“It’s on this basis that this historical occasion is important for the transformation and achievement of the vision of the president of the Republic of Uganda,” Dr. Kamuganga said.
Welcoming the partnership, the Permanent Secretary, Maj. Gen. David Kasura-Kyomukama said that this would be the first of many such partnerships that would enable the Ministry to reach its grass-root customers, the farmers. He reiterated that the goal of the ministry would be to transform more farmers from subsistence to commercial agriculture by educating them, farmers.
On his part, the Minister of State for Animal Industry, Hon. Rwamirama Bright congratulated the Ministry on the milestone of the partnership between the two entities saying that it was long overdue.
“Now that we have a framework for working together with the farmers’ federation. We should make sure that as a ministry, we are working with the farmer’s leadership to make agriculture work for us all as a nation”.
Facts on Uganda’s Agriculture Potential
According to data from the International Trade Association, Uganda’s agricultural potential is immense.
Eighty percent of Uganda’s land is arable but only 35% is being cultivated. And during the Financial Year 2021/22 for instance, agriculture accounted for about 24.1% of the GDP, and 33% of the country’s export earnings.
According to statistics from the country’s numbers body, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), it is estimated that about 70% of Uganda’s working population is employed in agriculture.
Besides, investors consider Uganda’s agricultural potential to be among the best in Africa, with low-temperature variability, fertile soils, and two rainy seasons over much of the country - leading to multiple crop harvests per year.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Uganda’s fertile agricultural land has the potential to feed 200 million people.
Uganda produces a wide range of agricultural products including coffee, tea, sugar, livestock, fish, edible oils, cotton, tobacco, plantains, corn, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, millet, sorghum, and groundnuts.
However, Uganda’s Commercialization of the sector is impeded by farmers’ limited use of fertilizer and quality seeds, and a lack of irrigation infrastructure – rendering production vulnerable to climatic extremes and pest infestations.
Nonetheless, the country’s coffee sector is growing and there is space to increase coffee production and the number of coffee exports. Uganda is Africa’s leading coffee exporter and second-largest producer.
The Uganda Coffee Development Authority reported total exports of 6.75 million, 60-kilo bags valued at $719 million in 2021, up from 548 million 60-kilo bags valued at $520 million in 2020. The government has developed an ambitious, yet detailed, plan to increase its current production of 402,000 tons of coffee to 1.2 million tons annually by 2025.
Is a longtime journalist in Uganda who has served as a cab reporter, Bureau Chief, Managing Editor, and Digital Media Editor at the country's prominent publications such as Daily Monitor, Red Pepper, and now, Research Finds News since 1999.
Rugyendo is currently a Ph.D. Fellow in Journalism and Communication at Makerere University, a Desmond Tutu Fellow, Crans Montana New Leader, and Chairman of Young Engineers Uganda and Uganda Premier League.
