Agribusiness forum exposes opportunities

Wilberforce Kisamba-Mugerwa is an agricultural economist and board chairman of the Microfinance Support Centre. He also served as the Chairman of the National Planning Authority from 2008 to 2018. Victoria Sekitoleko is the current chairperson of Uganda Agribusiness Alliance (UAA) and former minister of agriculture.

Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | These two individuals speak with authority on matters agriculture and the economy which is why their counsel is taken seriously both at individual and policy level.

On Oct.28, they took part in the agribusiness meeting that was organized by UAA and its partners at Golf Course Hotel in Kampala, mainly targeting the youth.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Mugerwa told The Independent that Uganda being a purely agricultural country, and having the fastest growing number of the youth population, the latter have to be put at the centre of this economic activity.

“What is important now is increasing productivity, production and ensuring high quality standards,” he said. For that to happen, he said the youth must have good ideas about where to invest.

Mugerwa said that youth should not be obsessed with getting capital from financial institutions because it is expensive. Instead, he said, they should explore other sources like families and other savings groups to be able to invest in the agricultural value chain to improve their livelihood.

“Don’t rush for credit unless you know the exact interest rate and the purpose for which you are borrowing that money for,” he said.

Mugerwa said that as the population grows, more business opportunities will come for those engaged in trading bee keeping and processing, shea butter, fishing, beans, maize, coffee, bananas, vanilla, horticulture and more. He said agribusiness is thriving partly because the government has greatly improved the supply of infrastructure – electricity and roads – which facilitate trade.

Sekitoleko (Chairperson for UAA), said Uganda is an agricultural country and therefore Ugandans are agriculturalists.

“We need to educate farmers and children about agriculture,” she said. She said that the country needs to take advantage of the 67% of the children that drop out of school by primary seven level. “We need to prepare them for the inevitable…agriculture,” she said.  Sekitoleko also urged the youth in agriculture to form associations to boost their ability to consistently supply to the market. She also urged the youth to use simple manual machines and mobile phones to access market and other opportunities.

The Chief Executive Officer of UAA, Edward Katende said that by empowering the youth to be active in Uganda’s agricultural value chains, the unemployment problem would partly be solved. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics data for 2013, the share of the unemployed youth as a percentage of the total unemployed persons in the country is 64%, one of the highest in the world.

Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija says in the current budget speech (2019/20) that value addition in agriculture is one strategic pillar being fronted to achieve social economic transformation. “We  have  already  successfully established  a  few  product  value  chains  in  agro-industry  in  citrus  fruit, vegetable oil and dairy industries,” he said, “the next move is to expand product value chains to other commodities across the country,” he added.

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