Uganda banks on FAO’s initiative to boost economy

Uganda is also banking on the Hand-in-Hand (HIH) initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to boost the economy that was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Hand-in-Hand initiative will support Uganda’s Vision 2040 to transform the economy into a competitive upper middle-income country,” animal industry state minister Bright Rwamirama, said on October 15, 2024.

Rwamirama, who is also the Isingiro North MP, is currently participating in the HIH Investment Forum and World Food Forum 2024 at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

He took to X, formerly Twitter, and said at the three-day forum, he presented the four priority investment opportunities in Uganda: Dairy/milk processing, animal feeds manufacturing, foot and mouth disease vaccine production as well as maize processing.

“I also highlighted the key incentives availed by the Government of Uganda to interested investors,” the minister said.

The forum was officially opened by FAO director-general Dr Qu Dongyu who said their shared value is providing the platform for countries to present their enabling policies to attract investments.

“The investment forum has grown to become a key pillar of the World Food Forum, because finance and investment are critical to achieving agrifood systems transformation to unlock their potential to sustainably deliver good food for all, for today and tomorrow,” he said.

Dongyu also noted that it is a new business model to transform from donations, which reflects the classic format, to investments with win-win implications for a shared future because they live in a shared economy and the world, with digital tools.

Far from ending hunger

“This year’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report confirms that we are far from reaching our objective of eliminating hunger and malnutrition,” he told the participants.

This year’s SOFI’s report estimates that 582 million people will be chronically undernourished at the end of the decade, more than half of them in Africa, and in South Asia.

“But among these negative statistics, there is some cause for hope,” the FAO boss said.

About HIH initiative

Launched in 2019, the HIH initiative is a flagship of FAO and one of its core priority programme areas.

It supports the implementation of nationally led, ambitious programmes to accelerate agrifood systems transformations by eradicating poverty (SDG1), ending hunger and malnutrition (SDG2), and reducing inequalities (SDG10).

According to FAO, the HIH uses advanced geospatial modelling and analytics, as well as a robust partnership-building approach to accelerate the market-based transformation of agrifood systems — to raise incomes, improve the nutritional status and well-being of poor and vulnerable populations and strengthen resilience to climate change.

It prioritises countries and territories where poverty and hunger are highest, national capacities are limited, or operational difficulties are greatest due to natural or man-made crises.

Areas of intervention have included developing value chains for priority commodities, building agro-industries and efficient water management systems, introducing digital services and precision agriculture, reducing food losses and waste, and addressing climate challenges and weather risks.