ENGSOL offers 30% price cuts at Harvest Money Expo

It is not every day that a leading farm equipment company cuts prices for the sake of Ugandan farmers. However, during the 2024 expo, Engineering Solutions (ENGSOL) has decided to reduce prices by a whole 30%!

Medi Mwiri, the marketing manager for Engineering Solutions (ENGSOL), says that the Harvest Money expo changed the rationale of the expos from those where people used to just come and tour to people coming to learn and buy.

Medi Mwiri, the marketing manager for Engineering Solutions (ENGSOL), says that the Harvest Money expo changed the rationale of the expos. (Photo by Herbert Musoke)

“We now know that farmers hold buying things like seeds and tractors until the harvest money Expo. As ENGSOL, we will be ready for our customers with a range of machinery especially in smart agriculture with a 30% discount for the three days of the expo,” he says. This is the largest price reduction ever made by the company during the expo. Previously, they reduced by 15%.

The Harvest Money Expo is organised by Vision Group in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy with other sponsors being National Agricultural Advisory Services, Tunga Nutrition, Engineering Solutions, Techno Serve, Uganda Investment Authority, Uganda Ware House Receipt Systems, KOICA-K-BIC, dfcu Bank, Private Sector Foundation, AKVO International and Pepsi Cola.

Ian Walker, the Managing Director, ENGSOL says that one of the reasons for promoting mechanisation is to improve productivity.

Agriculture mechanisation is said to increase the level of cultivated land, promote industrialisation and strengthen the market for rural economic growth. Ultimately the goal is improving the livelihoods of farmers.

“It is about taking the hard work out of farming and making it efficient and expanding production. That one acre of land that a farmer can till manually for a month can be done in a day. Agriculture mechanisation is an opportunity to increase production and income,” Walker states.

Uganda’s fertile agricultural land has the potential to feed 200 million people, according to FAO. However, there is still a low number of smallholder farmers who are the majority embracing mechanisation.

Studies have proved that agriculture mechanisation has a major impact on the demand and supply of farm labour, labour efficiency, productivity and profitability.

A farmer using a tractor to till the land. (Photo by Hebert Musoke)

According to available data, Uganda has about 4,000 tractors which is not enough for the farming sector. Still, the majority of the 70% of Ugandans employed in the agriculture sector cannot afford agricultural machinery.

On the global scale, there is an average of 200 tractors per 100 square kilometres (km2) of arable land whereas in Sub-Sahara Africa the figure is as low as 27. Studies show that 50% of Africa’s yield gap is due to lack of equipment.

Direct purchases

Walker explains tractor financing or agriculture financing is over a long period. “With agricultural machineries, we pay for them in advance to the manufacturer, import and then sell.

“The ability to in-house finance is limited. There are a lot of people who don’t want to use banks, unfortunately, we the suppliers don’t have the capacity to do the financing at the moment.”

“But if a farmer wants to deposit the money that could be arranged however we need banks, we use the banks to help farmers mechanise. We do due diligence for banks on whether the farming mechanisation project is viable or whether the land is useful and the equipment, we work hand in hand; it’s a three-way partnership the farmer, the machine supplier and then bank. We all need to be successful,” Walker explains.

However, when it comes to after-sale maintenance of agriculture machinery it is difficult, but with the right spare parts and technical support it's manageable.

“Those in the business of supplying agricultural implements offer after-sales services, and have ensured there are spare parts and distributors through a regional network of partners around the country,” he reveals.

“They are within agriculture they know the farms and are there to also increase technical and financial skills of the farmers.”

“There is sustainable after-sale support to farmers. We minimise costs on support, we have a technical team that goes around the country to support farmers.  Training is done continuously with partners and it keeps tractors operating,” Walker disclosed.