The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s agriculture sector, which contributes roughly a quarter of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and employs over 70 percent of the population, is once again in sharp focus as financial institutions and development partners intensify efforts to turn farming into a competitive, wealth-generating industry.
In a bold push to accelerate this transition, dfcu Bank, together with Vision Group, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, de heus, Koudijs Nutrition BV and New Vision Foundation, has launched the 2026 Best Farmers Competition, positioning farming as a structured and profitable business.
Now in its 12th edition, the competition is being implemented under the Vision Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture (VISA) and will run under the theme Farming as a Business, Growth, Commercialization and Cooperatives.
The initiative comes at a time when Uganda’s agriculture sector, despite its economic weight, remains dominated by smallholder farmers producing mainly for subsistence, limiting productivity, value addition and export competitiveness.
Uganda’s farmers largely engage in staple and cash crop production, including coffee, maize, beans, bananas, cassava, tea and horticultural products. While the country remains one of Africa’s leading coffee exporters, much of its agricultural output is exported in raw form, exposing a persistent gap in value addition that continues to cost the country billions in lost export earnings.
The Best Farmers Competition is targeting this gap by focusing on farmers and cooperatives with strong commercial potential, emphasising productivity, record keeping, value addition, sustainability and market access. These pillars are increasingly seen as critical in repositioning Uganda’s agriculture from a survival activity into a competitive enterprise capable of meeting both domestic and international market demands.
Speaking at the launch in Njeru, Jinja on March 25, Mathias Jumba, head of integrated channels at dfcu Bank, said the lender is deliberately backing agriculture as a business frontier. “For over sixty years, dfcu Bank has walked alongside Ugandans building lives and businesses from the ground up, and nothing is more foundational to that mission than agriculture. This competition proves that farming is not subsistence, it is enterprise, the farmers we celebrate today are keeping records, adding value, branding their products and building businesses that can scale,” he said.
He added that the bank has matched its strategy with financing, noting that by the end of 2024, dfcu had supported over 1,200 agribusinesses, reached 59,000 beneficiaries, facilitated $22 million in business linkages and connected 5,000 enterprises to formal financial services, with 52 percent being women.
The 2026 edition introduces a more competitive structure, recognising small, medium and large- scale farmers alongside agricultural cooperatives, reflecting the growing importance of aggregation and scale in modern agriculture. Uganda has nearly 30,000 cooperatives, many of them agricultural, which play a decisive role in improving access to inputs, strengthening bargaining power and unlocking better markets for farmers.
“This year’s theme speaks directly to where Ugandan agriculture must go next. Individual excellence matters, but collective strength is what transforms sectors,” Jumba said, adding that dfcu injects slightly over Shs1billion annually into the initiative and remains committed to financing every link within the agricultural value chain.
The competition also comes against the backdrop of increased government intervention in agriculture through programmes such as the Parish Development Model, which aims to move households into the money economy by boosting production, storage, processing and marketing at parish level.
Government has also been increasing annual budget allocations to the agriculture sector, targeting irrigation, extension services, agro-industrialisation and access to affordable credit, although stakeholders argue more investment is still needed to match the sector’s economic importance.
A total of 13 winners will be selected, including 10 regional farmers and three cooperatives, with winners receiving financial awards and study trips to the Netherlands to gain exposure to advanced farming systems, technologies and global market standards.
Representing the Guest of Honour, Andrew Byaruhanga from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Uganda said the initiative is opening global pathways for Ugandan farmers.
He noted that exposure visits have already yielded partnerships and export opportunities, citing a farmer from Northern Uganda who is now exporting coffee to the Netherlands through connections built under the platform. He added that the embassy has committed funding support for the next four years to sustain farmer exposure and partnerships.
Don Wanyama, CEO of Vision Group, said the competition has so far recognised over 130 farmers nationwide and continues to drive investment and innovation. He revealed that Vision Group invests about Shs2 billion annually into the initiative to promote commercial agriculture over subsistence farming, emphasising that cooperatives are central to unlocking value, improving productivity and strengthening Uganda’s position in regional and global agricultural markets.
Industry experts also underscored the technical and structural gaps the competition seeks to address. Emma Naluyima, a judge who participated in the first cohort, said farmers must embrace professionalism, financial discipline and cooperation to compete effectively.
She noted that up to 80 percent of livestock farming costs go into feed, highlighting the role of De Heus in strengthening input systems. She urged farmers to adopt record keeping, formal banking and value addition, while leveraging platforms such as dfcu Foundation to bridge knowledge and technical gaps.
In a speech, Lukiya Otema, Country Manager of KLM, said partnerships within the initiative are designed to drive innovation and long-term sustainability, noting that collaboration is critical in building resilient agricultural enterprises capable of competing globally.
Since its inception in 2014, the Best Farmers Competition has evolved into one of Uganda’s most influential agricultural platforms, profiling over 115 farmers across the country and intensifying competition in a sector increasingly viewed as Uganda’s next frontier for industrial growth, export expansion and wealth creation.
