Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories | AFP | In his Bethlehem cellar, distiller Nader Muaddi made fewer than 500 bottles of his liquor last year but has won international accolades and now aims to help revive interest at home in the traditional drink. On the outskirts of the city famed for Jesus’s …
Read More »Let us look beyond financing if we are to understand agriculture problems
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In debating just access to loans to farmers alone, the country is missing key ingredients that make the agriculture sector unattractive to financiers. This was the key message at the annual bankers’ conference at Serena hotel on Tuesday where banking executives discussed how they can …
Read More »Ghana farmers sweet on cocoa minimum price drive
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Kwame Boadu was forced to abandon his cocoa plantation to work in Ghana’s capital Accra, but when the government announced plans for a price floor he began dreaming of a return to his fields. A higher guaranteed price for the crop means a cocoa farmer “can afford …
Read More »BOU defends performance of Agriculture Credit Facility
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Bank of Uganda Deputy Governor Dr Louis Kasekende has dispelled claims that the Agriculture Credit Facility (ACF) administered by the central bank was nonfunctional, saying there are success stories to speak for it. Kasekende was speaking at the ten-year anniversary of the facility …
Read More »Ugandan farmers set to benefit from Dutch funded ICT project
Kampala, Uganda | Julius Businge | A total of 250, 000 smallholder farmers have been digitally profiled by a development organisation – The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) – in a bid to support their use of information communication technology tools to trade. The profiling was done under …
Read More »Farmer’s Group stuck with rice huller
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A group of 300 small holder farmers in Gulu district is stuck with a rice huller despite the bumper harvest due to lack of electricity. It is now three months since Latyeng Farmer Group in Laliya Sub County, about 10 Kilometers North of Gulu Town …
Read More »Farmers lift ban on supplying sugarcane to Kinyara
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Sugarcane farmers in Masindi have resolved to lift their ban to supply cane to Kinyara Sugar Limited. The farmers slapped a ban on supplying cane to Kinyara Sugar Limited on October 18th, 2018 following their failure to agree with the company on the final payment …
Read More »Low vanilla prices worry farmers
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The low prices of Vanilla has left farmers and exporters worried. In 2004, vanilla prices fell from about 150,000 shillings a kilogram to 1,000 shillings. This was the worst in the history of vanilla growing, forcing many farmers to cut down the plants and abandon …
Read More »Water rights for African farmers threatened by law rooted in colonial times: study
Researchers at Africa Water Week call for efforts to “decolonize” and improve water permit systems, so more farmers are encouraged to invest in much-needed irrigation Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Millions of African farmers still face legal restrictions on water access, dating back to colonial times, according to a study …
Read More »Agriculture: digital tools supporting rural farmers
Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Experts in agriculture and information technology want farming communities to be supported through digital tools such as phones as a mechanism of encouraging them not to leave agriculture. The tools such as phones are popularly being used as avenues to facilitate communication and payments to …
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