BUDGET REACTIONS: Agriculture should be supported across the value chain
Reviving co-operatives would also boost agricultural production and this falls in the docket of the Ministry of Trade and co-operatives.
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NATIONAL BUDGET READING 2026
Dr Aisha Biyinzika Kasolo: GROW Project Coordinator
I welcome government’s commitment to massively invest strategically across the entire agricultural value chain through support towards agro-industrialisation. I, however, would prefer more strategic interventions on how agriculture can be able to create more valuable employment. One can be employed, but earning a paltry $1 a day.
My question is how can we get more value through employment in agriculture? What more can we be able to get as a country by adding value to massively produced products, such as coffee, cocoa, tobacco, among others? Government should come up with more strategic ways to sustain production of valuable crops, sustain the markets, to sustain the interventions, to ensure that the quality of our agricultural products that reaches the export market meets the required value.
Reviving co-operatives would also boost agricultural production and this falls in the docket of the Ministry of Trade and co-operatives. They should promote co-operatives for production and marketing, which were the foundation of our history.
They should spearhead creation of big government silos that can be able to store agricultural produce in times of plenty to shield the farmers from making huge losses.
We need strict regulation to ensure that our neighbours don’t come and just buy things from the farm because our farmers don’t have money and they are stuck. We need to ensure that our markets across the borders, even internationally, are easily accessible by Ugandans. Realistically speaking, the ministry responsible for the private sector – the ministry of Trade, should be well funded.
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