GULU CITY-SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2024
By Stephen Langole
Photos: Livingstone Okumu Langol
Photo#1: Some of the farm produce and products from Eden Farm in Amuria in Teso at the agricultural trade show at Gulu University, July 20, 2024.
Photo#2: A sample of the tractors on offer at Agrishare APP in Nwoya District that is supporting both commercial and local farmers at the agricultural trade show at Gulu University July 20, 2024.
Uganda Development Bank (UDB) is geared toward revitalization of the agricultural economy, but decried that there is overwhelming retardation in the business sectors, this, due to lack of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. This despite vast land suitable for commercial farming that could attract investors both from within and without.
Sam Ongom, Uganda Development Bank Regional Manager for the Greater North, based in Gulu City, remarked that UDB deals with cooperative societies to give loans to group farmers but not with individual farmers.
The regional manager says the minimum offer of UDB is UGX 50 million, but that a corporate body can get up to UGX 50 billion.
Ongom says UDB supports value addition projects, construction of warehouses, silos for maize, beans and sunflower storage and other agricultural produce processing facilities.
The Black Star News Correspondent asked him to give the success stories of UDB since its inception in the 1960s.
Sam Ongom, reiterates that UDB has created business opportunities for Ugandans, and has helped to promote local industries, and to generate foreign exchange and also helped Uganda to reduce on imports.
“We are inspiring to promote local content,” Mr. Ongom says.
Asked about the challenges that UDB is facing, Ongom reiterates that there is lack of business formalization, poor record keeping, poor financial management, and lack of management skills for business.
Igard Omony, 25 years old, is a farm manager Agrishare APP based in Nwoya District, Northern Uganda, one of the beneficiaries of UDB facility says for the last two years they have been offering three tractors towards and running advertisements to the effect towards community outreach.
Omony says they plough 30 acres each day for the community who hire them, but at the moment because famers are harvesting their product from the gardens, they have limited work to do.
“By now our tractors are down due to the harvest period in Northern Uganda, however, our company had served for six years in Kampala. When we came to Nwoya District, for the first one year, our activity was low because we did not have enough clients. Now we have more than 1,000 clients,” Omony says.
Omony says they also inspect individual farms, monitor the yield of crops, and offer services such as maize hullers.
“Our company inspects land soil fertility, and also carry door to door mobilization on marketing in the rural areas of Nwoya District,” Omony said.
Agrishare App also helps Victoria Seed Company and Harmathion which are big corporate companies in Nwoya district plough their land and also support small farmers such as Pit Ber maize farmers and Nge Coni cassava growers in Purongo Sub- County in Nwoya District.
“We helped to get the cassava and maize markets in Bukona Factory, we transported 5 metric tons of cassava and 7 metric tons of maize last year in 2023. We have also helped Harmathion to transport fruits such as mangoes and oranges,” Omony says.
