Oxfam International has criticised the Uganda government’s decision to allocate just Shs 1.6 trillion to the agricultural sector in the 2024/25 financial year.
The allocation marked a 27 per cent decrease from the Shs 2.2 trillion allocated in the 2023/24 financial year. This decline comes after years of significant increases in the national budget, leaving many concerned about the impact on the sector.
As such, Oxfam urged the Ugandan government to allocate more resources to the ministry of Agriculture to boost production and improve market access. This call was made during the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Summit held recently at Speke Resort, Munyonyo.
According to Charles Opiyo, resilient livelihoods manager at Oxfam, Ugandan farmers are struggling with issues such as counterfeit seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers, which hinder the production chain and ultimately affect agricultural output. Opiyo emphasized that the CAADP is crucial for empowering people to produce food and feed their families.
“We remain committed to advocating for increased funding to agriculture. According to this framework, 10 per cent of the national budget should be allocated to the sector, but we’ve never reached even 5 per cent. At one point, we reached 4 per cent, but now it’s declined to just 3 per cent,” Opiyo stated.
Oxfam argues that with increased funding, farmers could be equipped with the necessary skills and tools to boost production and better adapt to climate-related challenges such as droughts and floods.
Opiyo also stressed the importance of collaboration among various government ministries, agencies, civil society organizations (CSOs), NGOs, and the private sector to ensure the delivery of safe, secure, and nutritious food to the population. He further advocated for the establishment of storage facilities and improved market access, particularly regionally.
Over the years, Oxfam has supported small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through grants and technical assistance aimed at value addition and improving market access. However, SMEs face challenges, including high taxes, which hinder their ability to access both regional and international markets.
“We train farmers to conduct their own market research so they can produce what is in local demand and later connect with exporters. For example, Kenya and South Sudan rejected Ugandan maize due to aflatoxin contamination, which occurs from poor storage practices. Proper storage facilities are essential to prevent such issues,” Opiyo explained.
He also emphasized the importance of training farmers to manage their produce at local storage facilities to preserve its quality. Uganda is known for producing organic food with fewer chemicals, which aligns with the global demand for healthier, organic products.
This shift in market preference could significantly benefit women, as more than 75 per cent of women in Uganda, and across the African continent, are involved in food production.
“We’ve fostered collaborations between farmers and researchers for participatory plant breeding, helping farmers produce high-quality seeds. This bridges the gap left by the limited range of products offered by the few existing seed companies,” Opiyo added.
Oxfam has also advocated against genetically modified (GM) foods, arguing that Uganda has vast potential to supply organically produced food, even in European Union (EU) markets.
For the past five years, Oxfam has been training grassroots communities to produce their own seeds, addressing the issue of access to quality seeds. Additionally, community seed banks have been established in six districts, primarily in northern Uganda (Soroti, Adjumani, Omoro, and Apac), where people are preserving their indigenous seeds.