2025 Best Farmers to be awarded today

The wait is over! After months of anticipation and rigorous vetting, Uganda’s top farmers will take centre stage today (December 10), as the 2025 Best Farmers Competition crowns its champions.

Thirteen winners will be unveiled at a high-profile, glamorous, invite-only ceremony at Vision Group headquarters in Kampala at 3:00pm, with live coverage on Bukedde TV and Wan Luo TV from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.

Chief Judge Victoria Ssekitoleko called the selection process “a tough task”, citing the exceptional quality of entries, especially from the central, western, and mid-eastern regions.

Organised by Vision Group in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, dfcu Bank, and Koudjis Nutrition BV, the competition has become a flagship event on Uganda’s agricultural calendar.

Since its launch in 2014, it has crowned 121 farmers, all of whom have toured the Netherlands for training and knowledge exchange. Today, that number will rise to 134 farmers.

Prizes at stake

Altogether, the top 10 farmers stand to win cash prizes of sh150m as follows:

First place: sh50m

Second place: sh30m

Third place: sh20m

The remaining seven will share out sh50m collectively

Cooperatives that account for three of the winners will not get a cash prize, but will earn an all-expenses-paid study trip to the Netherlands.

So far, sh1.5 billion has been awarded, courtesy of dfcu Bank, which has helped farmers invest in machinery, improve infrastructure, and scale operations.

Meet the judges

Judging excellence takes expertise. Here’s the team that made the tough calls:

• Victoria Ssekitoleko (Chief Judge) is a former minister of agriculture in Uganda, former Food and Agriculture international employee and sits on several agri-value chain bodies.
• Josephat Byaruhanga, Agriculture Policy Officer, Embassy of the Netherlands as well as a veteran national and community agriculturalist
• Augustine Mwendya, veteran farmer leader, who previously worked with the Uganda National Farmers Federation
• Dr Emma Naluyima, 2014 & 2022 competition winner and a practising veterinary officer and educationist.
• Prof. Ogenga Latigo, returning judge and seasoned farmer, he brings to the panel many years of experience in the agriculture.
• Alex Madolo, an agribusiness specialist who worked as an agriculture loans officer for several years, before joining dfcu Bank.