The Embassy of the Netherlands, KLM Airlines, and Koudjis Nutrition BV have launched the 9th edition of the Best Farmers Competition. The launch took place at Sight Farm in Namulonge, which is run by one of the past winners of the competition.
2024 marks 10 years since the competition started, and so far, it has produced 111 winners, with 97 of them participating in the extensive weeklong training in the Netherlands.
The competition over the years has seen an increase in production on farms across the country. This year, the competition will put emphasis on value addition, and all the winners from the different subregions will be required to demonstrate how they add value to their products. The competition hopes to encourage proper post-harvest handling to maximize value from farm outputs.
Annette Kiconco, the Chief Retail Banking Officer at Dfcu Bank, stated that the bank is very deliberate about driving positive change in the agriculture sector in Uganda and has been part of the Best Farmers Competition since 2014.
She stated that dfcu has designed agribusiness financing facilities and solutions for farmers in specific niches such as perennial or annual crops, poultry, or beef, as well as distribution.
Kiconco stated that Dfcu Bank, through a partnership with the Rabo Foundation established the Agribusiness Development Center with the aim of transforming the way agriculture is practiced in Uganda.
“Through our Agribusiness Development Center, we have so far trained 885 enterprises, we have had 17, 574 female beneficiaries in different programs; 3,935 smallholder farmers linked to financiers; and $17.2 million worth of credit linkages. We also launched an online platform called Soma-Online, where we are equipping over 5,000 learners,” she said.
Kiconco also thanked the partners for continuing to support the Best Farmers Competition, and reaffirmed Dfcu’s commitment to transforming lives and businesses in Uganda by supporting the agriculture sector.
Don Wanyama, the Vision Group CEO, expressed his gratitude to the partners for their continued support of the Best Farmers Competition. He encouraged the farmers to embrace the spirit of working together through cooperatives.
Wanyama said that cooperatives make it easier for farmers to access services such as training, affordable inputs, and better bargaining power for their produce.
