Vision Group set to crown best farmers

Nov 28, 2014

The search for Uganda’s leading farmers is over. Winners of the Vision Group’s Best Farmers competition will be revealed today at Kampala Serena Hotel.

By Innocent Anguyo

The search for Uganda’s leading farmers is over. Winners of the Vision Group’s Best Farmers competition will be revealed today at Kampala Serena Hotel.

The contest dubbed Uganda’s Best Farmers, initiated by Vision Group attracted partner institutions to develop agriculture in Uganda.

These were dfcu Bank, the Netherlands embassy and KLM Airlines.

The competition, which ran from January to September, attracted 1,890 farmers who were nominated by the public following a call through Vision Group’s newspapers, radios, TVs, online and SMS platforms.

The top 10 farmers will share sh150m and a sponsored study tour to the Netherlands. Netherlands is the second largest exporter of agricultural produce in the world, which offers the visiting farmers a chance to learn value addition processes.

Among key agricultural areas where Netherlands has established a global edge include horticulture, dairy, piggery and production of quality seeds.

Out of the top 10, the best three will have access to a sh150m asset acquisition prize of which the winner will get sh50m, first and second runners up will take sh30m and sh20m respectively.

The other seven farmers will share sh50m.

Some other 40 farmers who were rated as good performers will get certificates.

According to David Mukholi, Vision Group’s Managing Editor (Editorial), under the theme impact and productivity, the 10 best farmers are chosen on the basis of their innovation, employment creation, managerial competencies, diversification, thirst for knowledge, produce-handling, social impact and commercial orientation.

Over 380 farmers were profiled and assessed by the panel of judges headed by Victoria Sekitoleko, a former minister of agriculture.

Other judges included Prof. Ogenga Latigo, former MP, Augustine Mwendya, the executive secretary of Uganda Farmers Federation, Steven Kakonge, the agribusiness manager at dfcu Bank, Josephat Byaruhanga and a senior officer at the Netherlands Embassy.

New Vision Editor-in-Chief Barbara Kaija said the major goal of the initiative is to offer role models to Ugandans in light of encouraging the populace to pay more attention to agriculture as a source of livelihood.

Noting that agriculture is the spine of Uganda’s economy. Kaija said interventions such as this one championed by Vision Group would contribute to the lives of Ugandans.

“Of Uganda’s 34 milion people, 78% are under 30 years. This is the most productive age group and yet there is 83% unemployment therein. Therefore, if we do not promote agriculture, the bulk of the population will not have a livelihood,” stated Kaija.

Vision Group, as the leading media house in Uganda, Kaija said, would continue laying emphasis on agricultural entrepreneurship and other related initiatives to facilitate development of Uganda in tandem with the company’s vision.

Counting the benefits of the initiative, Kaija said other media houses in the country and the East African region have since borrowed a leaf from Vision Group to introduce development journalism projects.