By Namutebi Sumayiya
With more than two-thirds of Uganda’s population dependent on agriculture for a livelihood and a rapidly expanding population, investing in agriculture does not only boost food security but can also be a pathway to job creation.
A majority of Ugandan farmers are smallholders producing primarily to meet their immediate food needs, with a small surplus going to the market. Improving the productivity of small-scale food producers through secure and equal access to land and inputs, knowledge, financial services and markets, holds immense promise for socio-economic transformation.
For our agricultural lending, we started by focusing on smallholder farmers with loans as low as UGX 100,000. While this might seem modest, these funds have significantly impacted the farmers’ operations. Currently, our total lending to this sector exceeds UGX 20 billion said Francis Nsansa, Manager Agri-business at Equity Bank Uganda.
Equity Bank has not only managed to support farmers but also other value chain players such as suppliers of inputs, processors, and aggregators. Through several products, Equity Bank has been supporting agricultural commercialization by funding agro-processing and better access to markets by farmers. Improved incomes for rural households can reduce poverty and have positive knock-on effects on social indicators such as health and education.
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