KAMPALA – The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries has given Shs12 billion to 64 farmer groups to improve post harvest handling and value addition.
The money, which was given under the Agriculture Cluster Development Project (ACPD) is meant for setting up warehouses, improving grading, storage and processing in 32 districts.
Poor post-harvest handling is one of the leading causes of huge loses for farmers across the country.
The 64 beneficiary farmer groups are part of the 118 that were selected from l 550 submissions that were made to the Ministry in the last two quarters of the 2019/2020 financial year.
“So far, a total disbursement of 12.61 billion Uganda shillings (54%) has been made to 64 grantees out of the 23.4 billion Uganda shillings awarded to the 118 farmer organisations,” a statement from ACDP states.
300 farmer organisations are also being supported across 32 districts to develop business plans.
ACPD was launched in 2017 to ensure continued food production. The project supports farmers with subsidised in puts like pesticides, fertilizers, farm equipment among others to increase on farm production and productivity.
“We are taking necessary steps to ensure that our farmers sustain production and have access to inputs, processing and storage facilities,” Pius Wakabi Kasaija, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries said.
After three years of implementation, a mid-term review is expected to be conducted in May 2020 to assess the progress of the project. The project runs for six years.
