Uganda Coffee Authority Participates in Workshop on Zipping Agricutural Finance in Africa

Tuesday July 19, 2011

Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) participated in a one-day workshop organized by Bank of Uganda and AU’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) at Speke Resort Munyonyo on 28th June 2011 as a precursor for the African workshop entitled "Zipping Finance and Farming in Africa-harnessing the Continent’s potential" held on 29-30th June 2011.

The one-day workshop with emphasis on agricultural financing in Uganda attracted a number of both local and international participants with zeal to harness agricultural productivity through affordable agricultural finance.

In order to make the workshop more interactive, four parallel panels: agribusiness; banking; farmers; and policy deliberated on key policy and structural issues affecting access to finance in order to enhance agricultural productivity.

The UCDA Board Secretary, Mr. Fred Luzinda-Mukasa made a captivating presentation in the agribusiness forum chaired by Mr. Paul Mayanja, MD abiTrust in which a number of issues were highlighted and discussed.

The key issues were:
(i) factors impacting on agricultural financing especially of agribusinesses

(ii) specific constraints to agribusinesses such as poor rural infrastructure, low investments in water and environment, access to credit, land tenure system, numeracy and financial illiteracy among other constraints

(iii) policy implications-allocate more resources to market development and value added products; invest in industrial research in partnership with academia; well-regulated rural financial institutions; build capacity of institutions providing agricultural finance; promote access to market information; have an effective monitoring system which entails working hand in hand with SMEs, among others.

During the panel discussions, a number of issues were raised and agreed on.

The workshop was closed by the Hon. Minister of Agriculture, Tress Bucyanayandi who expressed gratitude that agricultural finance was being given due attention and promised to ensure that the farmers do access affordable credit.

He assured participants that he will ensure that extension service delivery is efficient and effective to enhance agricultural productivity. Thereafter, he launched Uganda’s Agricultural Finance Year Book 2010.