dfcu has launched the dfcu Foundation, a rebrand of its Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC), in a move, the bank says, is aimed at bringing financial resources, markets, and capacity-building programmes closer to Uganda’s farmers.
Agriculture remains Uganda’s largest employer, engaging over 70% of the population and contributing more than 24% to the national GDP. Yet many farmers continue to face persistent challenges such as limited access to credit, market volatility, poor farming practices, and inadequate business skills.
Speaking during the foundation’s launch at Rwenjuru Agro-Tourism Demonstration and Training Farm in Mbarara, Kate K Kiiza, executive director dfcu bank, said the transition to the dfcu Foundation is a strategic move to scale impact and bring the bank closer to rural communities.
She said the foundation will facilitate access to finance, expand market opportunities, and offer tailored financial solutions and training through platforms like the SOMA eLearning Platform. Kiiza said the foundation will help farmers transition from small to sustainable enterprises, tapping into wider markets while promoting eco-friendly technologies for long-term productivity and conservation.
She said the foundation will not only offer financial literacy but also equip farmers to embrace environmentally sound practices, innovation, and financial inclusion.
“The launch of dfcu Foundation marks a new era of empowerment for Ugandan farmers. Our goal is to ensure that every farmer, agribusiness owner and rural entrepreneur has the knowledge, resources and financial tools needed to succeed. We believe that by promoting agricultural growth, we strengthen Uganda’s economy and create long-term benefits and prosperity,” she said.
The rebrand, Kiiza noted, reflects the bank’s response to the increasing urgency to support Uganda’s agricultural sector which remains the backbone of the economy.
As of December 31, 2024, the former ADC had supported 1,281 agribusiness enterprises with debt financing and capacity-building, with 490 of these benefiting from tailored acceleration programmes.
Mabel Ndawula, executive director of the new foundation, said the change is not a shift away from dfcu’s core mission but rather an expansion of its reach. “Our goal is to double the impact of our past initiatives,” she said.
“ADC reached over 59,000 beneficiaries. Under the dfcu Foundation, we’re targeting an additional 100,000 people over the next five years 60 per cent of whom will be women and 40 per cent youth.”
She added that this aligns with Uganda’s youth demographics, where close to 78 per cent of the population are young people grappling with high unemployment and limited job opportunities.
Agriculture minister Bright Rwamirama, who officiated at the launch, said the foundation’s focus fits squarely within the government’s Vision 2040 framework, which seeks smarter, sustainable agriculture.
He said while the government may provide extension services, disease control, and infrastructure, the private sector, like dfcu, plays a critical role in areas such as climate resilience, irrigation, and access to affordable credit.
With only 10% of smallholder farmers accessing financial credit, and youth unemployment hovering at 13.3%, Rwamirama said government interventions like the Parish Development Model (PDM) alone cannot bridge the gaps.
He praised dfcu for aligning with government strategies such as agro-industrialisation, value addition, and the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2023–2028, which aims to reduce financial exclusion from 26 per cent to below 15 per cent.
Rwamirama also called for greater focus on neglected farming practices such as sub-soiling, especially for farmers who do free range grazing, because the animals compact the soil, leading to the washing away of soil nutrients whenever it rains.
Sub-soiling, he said, improves water retention and soil nutrition as well as the critical role of fertilisers in replenishing nutrients lost to increasing food production.
“The other one is fertilisers. ‘Uganda’s fertile soils, good climate’, forget about it. The population of the world is surging, we have to use scientific means to increase production. Therefore, all the food nutrients that are sucked by the food we eat, need to be replenished. So we have to do fertilization to make sure the soil is healthy,” he said.