The Korea Agribusiness Innovation Centre (K-BIC) aims to attract 4,000 young people to agriculture as a business, with the goal of having at least 100 agribusinesses owned and managed by young people.

K-ABIC is among the companies sponsoring the Harvest Money Expo scheduled to take place from February 23 to 25 at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.

The Harvest Money Expo is organized by Vision Group in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy with other sponsors including National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Tunga Nutrition, Engineering Solutions (ENGSOL), Techno Serve, dfcu bank, Warehouse Receipting Systems and Uganda Investment Authority.

Sooyoung Choi, the head of K-ABIC says that the five-year project called, Strengthening Capacity for Youth Agribusiness Development in Uganda (SCADU), aims at training 4,000 youths in agricultural-related businesses both those who have started businesses already and ones who wish to start.

“To implement this project, we are to establish four regional offices each with a focal person who will be responsible for coordinating and mobilizing communities to the project. The offices will be in the Central, Eastern, Northern and Western regions,” she says.

She explains that although the project will be all-inclusive where they will be receiving applications from across the country, each region will have 3-4 districts of focus, mainly those with the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) activities.

The Central region will include Mukono, Kampala, Mpigi, Mityana and Wakiso. The Eastern region will have Bulambuli, Mbale and Soroti; the Northern region will include Oyam, Gulu and Lira, while the Western region will have Kasese, Kyegegwa and Kabarole. The West Nile sub-region will have Arua, Moyo and Obongi districts.

The training will be held at the Zonal Agriculture Research and Development Institutes under the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARO) in the respective regions since the project is in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).

Throughout these regions, 4,000 youths, including those with disabilities and refugees, will be selected and be taken through basic training in agribusiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

“After the training, those who will have completed the training, we will ask from them business proposals from which we will select the top 100 proposals. Also, we will verify the ability of applicants to repay the loans. We will avail to them $10,000 each, which can be less or more according to the enterprise selected,” she says.

In addition, they will have continuous consultation and support through the K-ABIC system and connection with academia and financial institutions, among others, to ensure that they can sustain their businesses even after the five years of the project.

She says that the youths between 18 and 35 years make up the biggest portion of Uganda’s population yet unfortunate with the employment opportunities. “We believe that if the youths are given proper support, they will perform well which will foster national development.”

She stresses that the main goal of the project is to increase sustainable youth employment in various agricultural value chains, adding that “We wish to enhance youths’ farming capacity and expand agribusiness activities.”

Youths should not miss the Expo

Choi explains that because the Harvest Money Expo is the biggest in Uganda and the region, K-ABIC was interested in taking part in the Expo because it attracts all players in the agriculture sector ranging from input dealers, machinery and technology, government institutions and ministries, financial institutions among others where partnerships can be made.

“We thus invite youths interested in farming as a business to come in large numbers at the Harvest Money Expo and visit our stall, where we will give them all the information and also register those interested to apply to be part of the project,” she says.