Cotton Ginners Strive to End Middlemen Dilemma

Madi Okollo. Authorities in Madi-Okollo District in West Nile are working out a strategy to enhance financial benefits from cotton farming by eliminating middlemen.

The concerted strategy is being championed by Gulu Agricultural Development Company (GADC), a private entity running the cotton ginnery at Rhino Camp trading centre.

The development of the strategy follows an outcry from about 3,000 cotton farmers in the district. The farmers decried exploitation by the middlemen.

John Onenarach, the ginnery manager, said the firm recently recruited area coordinators who will work with field officers as buying agents to eliminate the middlemen.

“What we have done is to task all our coordinators and field officers to be our buying agents. We normally tell farmers that if they are ready, we can give them an option of organising themselves into a group, and we deliver the cotton directly to the ginnery at no extra cost,” Onenarach said.

The decision was taken after several farmers complained of middlemen buying their cotton at Shs1,200 per kilogram instead of the Shs1,500 offered at the ginnery.

Speaking to our reporter, Mustafa Aniku Ismail, a resident of Ndiova village in Rhino Camp sub-county, said it has become a habit for middlemen to flood villages yet their price offering is always an insult to the farmers.

“I planted two acres of cotton last season but later regretted why I sold my cotton to middlemen because they bought it at Sh1,300 per kilogram as opposed to Sh1,700 at the factory last season. My colleagues who sold their cotton directly to GADC made more money and this demoralised me so much,” said Aniku.

He said middlemen exploit farmers in need of quick money.

As middlemen hit and leave farmers feeling cheated, disillusionment sets in as they rue cotton farming for low returns. Most of them begin to look to other crops for hope.

“Most farmers have reduced their cotton acreage with others shifting to growing Simsim and cassava because they feel cheated. From the 1.5 acres of cotton I planted last season, I have come down to only one acre because I feel the money I’m getting from cotton alone will not be enough to pay my children’s school fees and also solve other problems,” Pius Lema, another farmer from Rigbo Sub County.

Alfred Mawa, the councilor representing Rhino Camp sub-county, said farmers have been grappling with the challenges for long, adding that time has come for the government to come in to regulate the operations of GADC and the middlemen.

Onenarach, the ginnery manager, said the middlemen quote their own price and come weighing scales. He said their move to train farmers and employ field coordinators as buying agents will remove the burden of the middlemen.

He said the field coordinators are currently visiting all the cotton-growing parishes in the WestNile region with the aim of talking to farmers’ cooperatives and groups.

“Through that channel, we are bringing services closer to farmers in terms of training. We are telling farmers through our area coordinators to try to avoid the middlemen who are luring them with quick cash and moving around with fake weighing scales,” said Onenarach.

Sale of seeds

Pius Lema, another farmer from Rigbo Sub County, said when GADC took over the ginnery in 2016, it gave farmers freed seeds and people worked hard to produce cotton.

However, the decision by the company to start selling seeds at Shs3,000 per kilogram has shocked farmers.

“At that time, GADC was giving cotton seeds for free and farmers were really making money but when they started selling the seeds, coupled with the coming of middlemen, things have turned bad for us,” Lema said.

GADC defended the decision to charge for the seeds, saying it is aimed at making farmers own cotton farming, pay more attention to their farms, and to encourage them to farm as a business.

Background

The Uganda Development Bank sold the ginnery to GADC in 2016, thus beginning a new lease of life for the Rhino Camp ginnery that had been dormant since early 2000.

Optimism has dramatically returned as the 40 gin machines have become operational once again, in the process providing over 120 direct job opportunities to the people during the cotton harvest and ginning period.

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She Is A Millionaire From Selling Eggs, A Humbling Testimony

Jeanne Nyirankurunziza, a mother of four in her forties, runs a poultry farm with over 700 chickens, some village in Gasabo District, an outskirt in Kigali City.

She also rears cows and grows cash crops such as maize and sorghum. She does a little bit of tubers as well, such as potatoes and cassava.

Her income accumulates every year. She now affords good schools for her children. They eat well and live a decent life.

This all began eight years ago when she chose to stop struggling with small investments from micro loans acquired from a village savings group.

The micro loans came in turns for each member after waiting for weeks. It was as small as Rwf100,000.

“I couldn’t invest in anything big with that money. I only stayed in a vicious cycle of poverty, and struggles,” she said.

She then thought of daring to apply for a bigger loan of Rwf1 million from a SACCO.

This was after several attempts to secure her husband’s blessings.

At first, her husband hesitated. He feared she would make losses and cause a disaster.

His fear hinged on an imagination of her failed business that would make the family plummet into poverty. Their house would be the collateral.

“I told my husband I wanted to do poultry farming, he first declined, saying “you might fail”

“As a mother who woke up at 4am every morning to go to the farm and plough while carrying a baby under the sun…you can’t do all that and prepare food for the children to eat on time,” she says.

“I wanted more for my family, so I had to convince my husband that joining a SACCO was the best thing for us as a family,” Nyirankurunziza adds.

He accepted. She applied and got the money.

She says today, after joining a SACOO, the difference is noticeable.

She has moved from Rwf1million to getting Rwf2 millions. It’s a better life she lives today.

“I have a caring maid who takes care of my children when am away. We get milk from the cows that the children drink…problems at home have reduced.”

Nyirankurunziza doesn’t have to wait for her husband to come home from work to provide.

It’s not necessary anymore.

Nyirankurunziza’s story mirrors Rwanda’s unique journey of financial inclusion.

Community savings and credit cooperatives have been a financial inclusion success story in the country.

These cooperatives, known as Umurenge SACCOs, have served millions of Rwandans particularly in the countryside.

More than 90% of Rwandans now live within a 5 km radius of a SACCO, according to John Rwangombwa, the Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda.

Rwangombwa said these are results of Rwanda’s deliberate efforts to deepen financial inclusion across the country.

In 2008, the Finscope survey indicated that only 48% of the Rwandan population was financially included, prompting the government to lay several strategies to fix the gap.

In 2009, a National Savings Mobilisation Strategy was launched with the goal to set up at least one SACCO at a the sector (village) level.

“Financial inclusion is a key channel for inclusive and sustainable growth,” he says.

“If you want to develop your population, the best thing to do is make sure they have access to financial services.”

During the just concluded global forum on financial inclusion held in Kigali, it was agreed that women and the static gender gap continues to be an important topic because countries are loosing out economically because of the untapped potential of women.

Dr Alfred Hannig, the Executive Director, Alliance for Financial Inclusion Management Unit, said that if countries continue ignoring the need to extend finacial service to women and youth, the world will continue experiencing economic burdens and poverty will remain rampant.

“Regulators need to actively include the needs of women in their work, if they are going to fulfil the commitment they made in the Denarau Action Plan and listen to the point made by the chair of the Gender Inclusive Finance Committee to ensure that no one is left behind,” he said.

In emphasis, Rwangombwa said that Rwanda has made a strong commitment and set a target of ensuring 100% financial inclusion by 2024.

“I assure you that gender inclusion will remain top on our agenda as we strive to bring all our citizens out of financial exclusion,” he said.

Nyirankurunziza is a living testimony of what comes out of putting money in the hands of a woman. Dividends. And more dividends.

Her smile as she collects eggs before sending them to clients is enough to explain the effects of financial inclusion. (Source/ Taarifa)

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Sebei Coop Farmers Frustrated by Erratic Weather

Kapchorwa: Extremely hot to rainy weather has meant prolonged delays of planting for farmers from the Sebei sub-region and yet the new season is already witnessing excessive rains.

In his 30 years of farming, William Chelengat says he has never been late planting maize like in the last three years.

“The farming communities no longer have enough compared to 15 years ago; these days when it rains, it sometimes falls too much, making the crops over-grow or not germinate,” says 75-year-old Chelengat.

“Yet when it shines, sometimes it goes on for a long time, withering the crops,” a demoralised Yusuf Muhamud Mudondo, the general manager at Kaserem Area Cooperative – KACE, said in an interview with theCooperator.

At KACE alone, Mudondo says farmers only managed 500 metric tonnes (MTs) of maize in the first season, far below the expected 700MTs, while those growing beans could only produce 140MTs instead of the usual 200MTs last year.

Coffee farmers were also not spared by the erratic weather and managed to harvest only 250MTs instead of the 300MTs in the same season last year.

There have been quite a few rainy weeks in Sebei since the second planting season started in August and it is getting in the way of farmers’ work.

The farmers and their leaders are wary of the erratic weather, which they fear could leave many struggling to make ends meet if the pattern continues.

Saida Chemongesi, a soya bean farmer, also a member of KACE farmers’ cooperative located in Kaserem, say the weather is delaying their second season planting, so even though some crops are in, they can’t do anything with them.

“I had prepared for harvesting this month but I am unable to do so because water has submerged most parts of my farm,” Chemonges said.

In 2016, heavy rains in the first quarter and prolonged sunshine also left several farmers counting losses, undermining food security in the country.

The Sebei sub-region, comprising savannah grassland and mountainous landform, is potentially very productive for growing crops such as coffee, beans, soybeans, maize, tomatoes, and Irish potatoes.

Meteorological Authority Speaks Out
The Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) says the situation might even get a little worse in the near future.

Festus Luboyera, the executive director of UNMA, told theCooperator that Sebei is one of the eight agricultural zones in Uganda which will experience above-normal rainfall in the months of September to December.

Luboyera added that those predicted to receive above-normal rainfall, exceeding the average amount received over the last 30 years, are Busoga, Bugisu, Teso, Lango, Bukedi, and Acholi, and Karamoja zones being the others

The meteorological agency is urging farmers to start early field preparations for early planting. He advised farmers to plant long maturing crops such as maize, cassava, coffee, and sweet potatoes at the start of the rainfall season this month – September.

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West Nile Vegetable Growers Reap big from Irrigation Schemes

Pakwach. A section of farmers in the West Nile region is already reaping from small scale irrigation schemes set up by the government to improve agricultural production and productivity.

Olama Farmers Group comprised of ten farmers is one such beneficiary. The group is growing vegetables and fruits under the Andibo irrigation scheme in Panyango Sub-County, Nebbi District.

Last season, the group planted watermelon on half an acre and fetched Shs4 million. After saving 30 percent for sustainability, operations and maintenance costs, the Olama Farmer Group members shared the balance among themselves. Each took home Shs300,000.

Group members attribute the bumper harvest to good agronomic practices and constant supply of water from the irrigation system constructed early this year by the Department of Water for Production under the Ministry of Water and Environment.

“In the first season, we planted tomatoes on a quarter of an acre at Andibo and it fetched us Shs2.3 million. I received Shs185,000 from the dividend and this money helped me to pay fees for my two children in secondary school,” Norbert Jamondo, a member of Dikre En Etego Saving and Credit Cooperative Group said.

The government adopted an irrigation policy last year. One of the strategies of implementation is the construction of small scale irrigation schemes. Under this program, the government plans to construct 70,000 small scale irrigation schemes countrywide to improve agricultural production.

The department of Water for Production says it has so far constructed 13 small scale irrigation systems in West Nile, Lango, and Acholi sub-regions.

Another 12 sites are currently under different stages of construction and additional funding of Shs12 billion has been allocated to construct 30 small scale irrigation systems in the north and west Nile region due to the overwhelming demand for irrigation expansion.

Henry Kizito, the principal engineer in charge of planning and quality assurance at the Ministry of Water and Environment, explained that the project’s overall objective is to provide water for agricultural production services.
“The community can use these services to transform their livelihood by getting more income from the farming activities they undertake using the water from the schemes,” Kizito said.

Andibo is one the pioneer irrigation system completed early this year and Ms. Agnes Akumu, just like Jamondo, cannot hide her happiness after a good harvest. “I used to get less than Shs30,000 as an individual but last month I earned Shs52,000 for the first time after our group harvested onions and sold it. I used the money to pay fees for my two children who are studying at Oluku Parents’ Primary School here in Atyak Sub-county,” said Akumu.

The former LC3 chairman of Atyak Sub-county, Nestorie Aberka, testifies that several rural households in the area are celebrating the bumper harvest of vegetables as a result of a stable source of water supply from the irrigation scheme.

“Our people have benefited a lot from this modern farming, and at least now they are sure of sustainable income because they can plant crops throughout the year and reap from it,” said Aberka.

Challenges
The number and size of the schemes in their current state cannot support all the farmers that require irrigation services for their crops. For instance, the Andibo scheme, which sits on 8.3 acres of land under irrigation, has only 16 plots. The scheme is benefiting 86 farmers yet there are over 30,000 farmers in Panyango Sub-county in need of irrigation systems.

The Ministry of Water and Environment has, however, downplayed this stressing challenge. Mr. Kizito said the projects were being extended not only in the region but the whole country.

“We cannot serve the farmers at once but we are doing it slowly. But also we know since this is serving as a demonstration, some farmers can learn from the schemes and have something to do at their respective areas,” Mr. Kizito said.

Mr. Edmond Okurmu, an agricultural officer for Panyango Sub-county in Pakwach says the project offers continuous training by experts. The training involves demonstrating irrigation technologies to farmers for adoption and water harvesting technologies.

The irrigation schemes target areas prone to prolonged drought due to climatic changes and human activities like tree cutting and overgrazing.

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Sembabule’s Taala Ya Mawogola plots comeback, 4 years after collapse

SEMBABULE: Plans are underway to revive Taala Ya Mawogola Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Ltd, four years after the SACCO collapsed, theCooperator has learned.

Simon Peter Ddungu, the Sembabule District Commercial Officer told theCooperator that the district leadership had resolved to mobilize widely for the revival of the SACCO, owing to the significant role the SACCO was playing in shoring up the economic fortunes of the district’s residents.

Tracing back the SACCO’s roots.

For close to ten years, Taala Ya Mawongola SACCO was the oldest community-based Microfinance institution in Sembabule district, growing to rank among the leading SACCOs in Masaka sub region.

Headquartered in present-day Mateete Town council, the SACCO had been founded in 2005, one of the very first financial institutions in the district, to safeguard people’s savings and provide soft loans to shore up mushrooming SMEs in the region.

Godfrey Mutamba, one of the founder members of the defunct SACCO revealed that the SACCO was a joint idea of thirteen prominent farmers in Mateete Sub county, whose interest was to pull together resources through a savings scheme and eventually lend it to people that needed pushup capital at affordable interest rates.

“People gradually embraced the idea because it was being advanced by people of repute in the area. And the SACCO was opened to people from all walks of life who began saving with it, leading to its expansion,” he told theCooperator.

To qualify for a loan of say Shs.1million, SACCO members were required to pay a registration fee of 10,000 shillings and buy ten shares at Shs.12,000.

According to available records, by 2011, Taala Ya Mawogola SACCO had accumulated a loan book of more than shs.1.3 billion, comprising of members’ savings, share capital and Interest accumulated on loans.

The Microfinance had also opened two other branches in Sembabule Town Council and Bukomansimbi district, expanding its membership to over 5,000 direct clients.

By then, Mutamba told theCooperator, the SACCO had supported several successful local enterprise groups which they hoped would later merge into a union and later transform the SACCO into a cooperative bank.

Trouble knocks.

All the SACCO’s plans were however dashed when in 2011, the General manager disappeared with members’ savings, setting in motion a slow and gradual collapse of the SACCO.

Benon Ssebyanzi, one of the affected members recounted to theCooperator that in May 2011, rumors of financial mismanagement at the SACCO started emerging, prompting members to demands for a special audit and investigation of the General Manager, Ibrahim Were.

According to Ssebyanzi, during the members’ Annual General Meeting that year, Were asked for time to prepare a report before he could leave office, but would instead disappear with over Shs.600 million of members’ savings a few days later.

When an external audit was eventually done by the Uganda Microfinance Support Center (MSC), it was found that the SACCO had suffered an even bigger financial loss of Shs.83o million in syndicate fraud.

The report showed that the money had been swindled while in transit to the SACCO’s account in a commercial bank in Masaka. It (the report) faulted the SACCO’s board for accepting to be manipulated into signing blank cheques, which allowed the general manager an opportunity to fill in any figures he wished, before withdrawing the money that could not be accounted for.

Eventual collapse

Yudaya Namirembe, another member of the SACCO says the fraud become the precursor to the eventual collapse of the institution, whose public trust had been severely eroded.

“We tried to retrieve our deposits in vain, despite having our deposit books indicating account balances,” she says, adding that even creditors chose to default on their loans.

Frank Lubowa, the Chairperson of the new board which was constituted to try and keep the SACCO afloat in 2014 says their efforts did not yield any results.

“We had secured another loan of Sh.70million from the Micro-Finance Support Center to recapitalize the SACCO, but all the money was eventually spent clearing members whom the SACCO owed money,” he explained.

The SACCO finally closed shop in 2015.

Attempting a comeback.

The SACCO’s collapse left a significant void in the economic life of the district’s residents, affecting the overall productivity in the district.

Ddungu assured theCooperator that the district leadership is determined to bring the SACCO back to life. “We cannot afford to lose that SACCO completely,” he told us.

“We are exploiting all public spaces like churches, Mosques and social gatherings to mobilize these people to rebuild the SACCO after all their assets are still intact,” he added.

In March this year, the Micro-Finance Support Center attempted to attach the SACCO buildings to recover its loan debt, but according to Ddungu, the government intervened and secured the SACCO’s assets.

He is also optimistic that going forward, with the new Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority, irregularities such as the ones that led to Taala Ya Mawogola’s collapse will be detected in time to prevent the fate that befell their SACCO.

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FRONASA Cooperative Members Appeal to Museveni for support

OMORO: Relatives and children of fallen Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) members are crying out to President Museveni for support to boost their Cooperative, which is struggling with insufficient capital.

Based in Awere Sub-County in Omoro district, Awere FRONASA Cooperative Society was formed in 2017 to help maintain unity among all households with FRONASA roots in the area and to supplement their household incomes through viable enterprises.

The cooperative now has 3000 members, and its chairperson, Mr. Biligraham Olanya says they run a loan scheme, where members get loans at an interest rate of 2.5%, to be returned in 3-6months. “Most of our members are peasant farmers who only earn incomes after harvest and selling,” Olanya told us.

Olanya however told thecooperator that despite the loan scheme, their SACCO has failed to grow to attain the capacity necessary to meaningfully improve the conditions of their growing membership, prompting them to appeal to President Museveni for support.

“We charge a membership fee of 50,000, but many of our members still think that is on a high end, and they’re unable to raise it. Even now, we have over 2000 members who have shown interest in joining (the cooperative), but they’ve failed to raise the money,” Olanya said.

Francis Okello Odoki, a member and advisor to the cooperative says they now need a financial boost of Shs.500 million to prop up the SACCO’s capacity to be able to impact more members.

Asked why they’re particularly appealing to President Museveni for support, Odoki said they had appealed to other offices for support, in vain. “Personally I have tried to reach out to several offices but little has been achieved,” he said.

But Olanya said that as descendants of FRONASA, Awere cooperative members also have a strong attachment to the President, which had motivated them to appeal to him directly.

“We still consider President Museveni our leader, and that’s why we’re reaching out to him for support. Most of these people (Awere Cooperative members) are his supporters,” he said

FRONASA is a former military movement established by President Museveni in the 1970s to fight Idi Amin’s regime, and was later one of the many Ugandan exilee groups that merged to form the umbrella Uganda National Liberation Movement which ruled Uganda between 1979 and 1980.

Odoki says that as local farmers, they’re determined to improve their livelihoods and that the cooperative is one of the means to that end. “We opted for the Cooperative so that we can speak with a stronger voice when requesting for any support from government and other development partners,’’ he says.

He said President Museveni had pledged to support cooperatives in the area, and that it was now time to take him on that pledge.

Omoro district commercial officer Bernard Okumu, however, argued that while such support would be a big boost, cooperators should not lose sight of the bigger vision that motivated their cooperative’s founding.

“They(cooperatives) are supposed to be vehicles to bring together people to address the most pressing issues among them and better their circumstances,’’ he said.

When contacted, NRM Communications officer Rogers Mulindwa noted that FRONASA still means a lot to President Museveni, and assured the cooperators that he would come through with his pledged support. “They should just be patient,” he said.

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Government to step-up extension support for farmers

Government has committed to step up the reach and diversity of extension services available to smallholder farmers and cooperatives, in a bid to promote agricultural mechanization and increase the productivity of the Agricultural sector.

Presiding over the 9th Joint Agricultural Sector Annual Review (JASAR) held at Speke Resort Munyonyo on Thursday, Vincent Ssempijja, the Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries(MAAIF) noted that extension services were critical to government’s plan to transform the 68% largely subsistence households in the country into commercial production, as part of the governments agro-industrialization strategy.

Currently, Ssempijja said, MAAIF, with support from development partners like the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the United States Agency for International Development(USAID) and the Kingdom of Netherlands, are promoting four different models of service delivery to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the extension services.

“The models include the farmer field schools, village agent model, nucleus farmer model, and the four-acre model,” he said, affirming that “the models have been developed to support commercialization of smallholder farmers and are being integrated in the extension services system.”

Currently, the ratio of extension workers to farmers is 1:1800, way above the internationally recommended 1:500. But Ssempijja argued that there has been a significant improvement over the last two years, noting that in 2015/16, the ratio of extension worker: farmer stood at a staggering 1:5000.

“Following the adoption of the Single Spine Extension System, Government embarked on a recruitment drive of Agricultural Extension Staff, which has seen 3,872 extension workers recruited over the last two years,” he said.

Ssempijja said that with support from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), MAAIF has been able to procure and facilitate the extension staff with 113 Double Cabin vehicles and 1,034 motorcycles, to increase their efficiency and mobility.

Despite the inroads made, the ministry was still 1,128 extension staff-short of the targeted 5000 for the 2018/19 financial year, and way below the required 12,000 extension workers by local governments nationally in the medium term.

Ssempijja blamed the shortfall on what he called an “insufficient resource envelope,” noting that MAAIF submitted a budget of Shs.50bn for extension staff wages and Shs.56bn for non-wage expenses to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in the last financial year, which was not honored.

“More resources are required to step up recruitment and procure more transport equipment for extension workers,” he said, before adding: “More money is needed to increase the operational funds from the current Shs.39.6 billion and to support continuous capacity building of the workers.”

Towards agriculture mechanization, the ministry revealed that it had procured 284 tractors and two sets of earthmoving equipment, which would be hired out to farmers and cooperatives at subsidized costs. Ssempijja said that MAAIF would procure and distribute 162 additional tractors 200 lower level mechanization equipment like ox-plows, and 130 solar water pumping systems. “These efforts will unlock systemic constraints that affect the livelihood of smallholder farmers,” he emphasized.

Re-echoing the minister’s remarks, MAAIF Permanent Secretary Pius Wakabi Kasajja however urged farmers to register and work in organized groups like cooperatives, arguing that it would be easier and cheaper that way for them to access the vast range of agricultural services on offer, from credit to agricultural Insurance and agro-inputs.

“This (farmer cooperatives) will also help us link them to agro-processing facilities being coordinated by the extension service network in the country,” Wakabi Argued.

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Sembabule farmers tipped on Cooperatives

Sembabule: Coffee and dairy farmers’ groups in Sembabule district have been urged to embrace cooperatives as a way of generating sustainable wealth.

Addressing at least 80 leaders from different farmers’ groups across the district on Thursday, Leonard Okello, the Chief Executive Officer at Uhuru Institute for Social Development asked the participants to faithfully contribute to the growth of their respective cooperatives, by embracing individual and collective responsibility.

“Don’t allow these cooperatives to be managed as properties of the leaders. Each of the members should be ready to devotedly participate in the affairs of his or her cooperative and make a direct contribution to its growth,” he challenged them.

Speaking ahead of Mr. Okello, Simon Peter Ddundu, the Sembabule District Commercial Officer had noted that despite the formation of several cooperative societies in the area, many of them were still lacking in proper management competencies, necessitating the outsourcing of trainers to orient them through cooperatives best practices.

According to Ddungu, Sembabule has at least 58 registered farmers’ cooperatives. “But the numbers are not translating into empowered farmers or significant benefits for them,” he said.

Okello called upon the cooperators to refrain from the habit of running the cooperatives as begging associations, arguing that that makes them more susceptible to manipulation by selfish donors or politicians, precipitating their collapse.

He challenged the participants to be resilient and generate business-minded ideas which they can integrate into their cooperatives for purposes of expanding them.

“One way of building and growing your cooperative is for you to religiously contribute your share of its essential capital. Don’t expect miracles from these cooperatives. But when you build and nurture them, you can be sure of reaping big from its honest values and efficient services,” he added.

Okello implored the cooperators to be foresighted and envision a strong network of cooperatives in the area, through which they can negotiate for better markets for their produce.

Among other aspects, the farmers were trained in the modalities of establishing clear loan and accounts management systems, democratic members’ controls, as best practices that can propel cooperatives’ growth.

Richard Ssempijja, the Programs Coordinator at the Uganda Cooperative Alliance coffee project, noted that the training has come at an opportune time when farmers need to get better organized to generate substantial wealth from their enterprises.

Moving a vote of thanks, Nathan Mwesigye, the chairperson Kyeera Dairy Farmers Cooperative appreciated the breadth of the training, saying it had awakened the members’ awareness on the need to cooperate deliberately, and take their cooperatives’ responsibilities seriously.

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Uganda lacks a coherent agro-industrialization policy – EPRC’s Guloba

Piecemeal interventions and poor coordination among institutional actors in the Agriculture sector have been blamed for the lack of a robust agro-industrialization policy to achieve Uganda’s development targets.

Speaking at the 9th Joint Agricultural Sector Annual Review held at Speke Resort Munyonyo, Dr. Madina Guloba, a senior research fellow at the Makerere -based Economic Policy Research Centre noted that the dis-jointed interventions by the numerous state and non-state actors in the Agri–industrial sector were making it difficult to execute a systematic, nationally transformative policy agenda, in line with Uganda’s development needs.

“Poor coordination of (sector) actors complicates the consolidation of institutional efforts towards the development of a common agro-industrial goal, further undermining the ability of already meager resources to deliver needed interventions,” she said.

Presently, Uganda has several agencies involved at various stages of the agri-business value chain. These include; the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute(UIRI) at research level, the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADs) and Operation Wealth Creation for inputs supply and implementation, the Uganda Development Cooperation and Export Promotions Board at investment and marketing level respectively, not to mention the parent ministries of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries, and that of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, who’re charged with overall policy formulation and oversight.

There are also crop-specific agencies like the Uganda Coffee Development Authority and the Cotton Development Organization, whose mandates cut across the regulation of the coffee and cotton sectors respectively, and the promotion of coffee and cotton exports.

Highlighting the government’s economic growth strategy for the financial year 2019/2020, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija noted that the government would “aggressively” pursue agro-processing and the development of product value chains to create high-value jobs and expand the industrial base of the economy.

“Uganda’s industrialization in future has accordingly been designed on two strategic pillars; the setting up of fully serviced industrial parks across the country to house medium and large-scale industries, and two, the development of product value-chains which link nucleus entrepreneurs to out-grower farmers to promote agro-processing for value addition,” Kasaija said, at the budget reading in June.

But Madina says, there has yet to be a specific major policy shift especially in the direction of developing product value chains. According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Uganda enjoys a positive balance of $420million in agro-products’ trade, importing $1.07billion worth of good, while exporting $1.5billion in 2017. But Madina insists, Uganda can do much better if it prioritizes a few specific commodities and products.

She pointed out that while for example Milk, coffee, Tea and Fisheries have the potential to become high-impact export products, dairy, cotton, vegetable oil, and beef by-products should be the target of an import substitution policy, calling for increased public investment in high-value agro-manufacturing. “There’s, for example, no reason why 95% of our lint should still be exported, when we import millions of dollars- worth of cotton by-products,” she said.

She said that achieving such targets required a deliberate policy from government to protect domestic industries especially at infancy, and availing them affordable and patient credit, noting that Uganda remained a poor performer on this aspect (credit access). According to UNIDO, by 2016, only 6.3% of small-scale industries had loans or lines of credit in Uganda compared to 44.1 % in Kenya and 11.1% Tanzania.

“But it also requires building strong traceability systems and linkages between producers and manufacturers to guarantee product quality and standards, to secure and safeguard local and international markets,” she said.

The Joint Agricultural Sector Review is an annual event organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries in collaboration with development actors in the Agriculture sector, to review the sector’s performance against set targets and suggest corrective proposals going forward. The event has been organized since 2011, and this year’s Review took place from 28th-30th August 2019, at the Common Wealth Resort, Munyonyo.

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Government Launches Call Center to Report Fake Agro-input Dealers

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries have launched a toll-free call centre for farmers to report suppliers selling or distributing fake agricultural inputs on the market.

Agriculture Minister Vincent Bamulangaki said the Kilimo Call Centre will go along way in helping the government curb the sale and distribution of fake agro-inputs.

He noted that several crops and animal farmers have failed to reap from agriculture due to fake agro-products sold freely on the market.

“… many people are engaged in agriculture for a living but many cannot gain from their efforts because of these fake business people who sell fake products. The government cannot allow this practice to go on,” said Bamulangaki.

Studies and surveys conducted in Uganda show that poor or fake agricultural inputs in particular seeds for planting are costing farmers up to 40 percent in crop failure.

The government last year recertified and re-accredited importers and dealers of agrochemicals and other inputs to fight their distribution to farmers. The exercise followed a countrywide outcry by farmers over fake agro-inputs.

However, efforts to crack down on input dealers who sell counterfeit products on the market is hampered by the shortage of agro-input inspectors. The government has so far employed only 17 input inspectors.

Studies by government and other private investigators such as International Growth Centre show that the vast majority of fertilizer samples in the country are substandard.

Additionally, very few of the allegedly improved seeds show success in producing large crops. International Growth Centre points out in its report that agricultural inputs sold at the retail level in Uganda are often fake or of very poor quality, as such the return on investment from these technologies is much lower than expected.

The toll-free call centre has been set-up by Cabral Tech Limited, an agricultural software company working with the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Chief Executive Officer Cabral Tech Limited, Uhuru Selubiri, said they are working with village extension officers, religious leaders and people selling agricultural inputs to distribute the toll-free number to farmers and make inquiries about agricultural services.

Cabral Tech Limited also announced it has invented web and mobile applications to help farmers get access to information on different products. The crop production management software application allows farmers to keep crop records and all farming data in a centralised place, generating instant report insights on the daily progress of their crops based on seasons and cropping years.

The agri-wallet application allows farmers to save and also access credit services based on their credit score and find better insurance packages.

while the livestock management application that has been designed for large scale commercial livestock enterprises that need detailed livestock management records and data. It helps livestock farms manage herds, breeding, and financial records. It has feed formulation tools and returns in investment estimation tools.

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