Uganda’s food surplus must start paying its farmers

Great food harvests for family, but Ugandan farmers need to start earning more from their sweat When Farmers Prosper Africa Prospers COMMENT | DAVID WOZEMBA WATAKA | Uganda undoubtedly grows more food than it eats. While several of our neighbours still import grain to feed their people, our farmers continue to send maize, beans and rice across the borders into regional markets. That is a genuine strength of our agri-food systems, and it points to where our next opportunity lies.

What needs to be resolved is how we can uplift millions of farmers, who depend on agriculture for livelihoods, to earn a fair return on their investment. Adding value closer to the farm and opening up better markets at home and across the region can potentially increase incomes of farmers. When done well, farm harvests have the potential to move millions of rural households into the money economy.

Government has set a clear direction. The agro-industrialisation pillar of the National Development Plan, the six presidential directives on agriculture, and the Parish Development Model (PDM) all push towards adding value and building markets closer to where farmers live. In January 2025, Uganda hosted the Kampala CAADP Summit and produced the Kampala Declaration, the ten-year plan that now guides agricultural policy across Africa.

Hosting that summit was no small thing for a country that, two decades ago, was still putting the basics of its farm economy in place. There has been real progress since. Uganda reviewed its fertiliser policy to make room for blended products and soil health.

It drew up a seed sector investment plan and tightened seed inspection and certification. Private lending to agriculture has risen as banks such as the Uganda Development Bank strengthen products that support agriculture financing. Aggregation centres have spread across the countryside, giving farmers somewhere to store and bulk their harvest before they sell.

These gains belong to Ugandan institutions and the farmers who use them. However, productivity remains low because few farmers use improved seed or apply limited quantities of fertiliser or no fertilizer at all, and extension services reach too few of those who do. Floods and droughts are becoming more severe.