Low tea prices, missing markets dominate Nandala campaign in Kabarole

___________

Tea farmers in Kabarole and Kibaale districts have told Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate James Nathan Nandala Mafabi that low prices, unreliable markets and the collapse of farmer cooperatives are pushing farming households deeper into poverty, despite years of agricultural production.

The outcry was made yesterday, Friday, December 2, as Nandala campaigned in Kakumiro, Kibaale, Kabarole district and Fort Portal city with just 12 days for Uganda to choose the next five-year electoral government.

Peter Tumuhimbise, a small-scale farmer from Karangura Sub-county, said farmers are often forced to sell their produce cheaply due to the absence of organised markets.

“We produce food and tea, but buyers control everything,” Tumuhimbise said. “Without cooperatives or guaranteed markets, you sell at whatever price is offered because the produce will spoil.”

Tea farmers also raised concerns about persistently low payments, saying current earnings no longer match the rising cost of production.

Margaret Nyamwija, a tea picker from Busoro Sub-county, said incomes from tea have steadily declined.

“We are paid about Shs1,200 per day, yet the work is heavy and continuous,” Nyamwija said. “By the time you pay labour and buy fertilisers, nothing remains for school fees or medical care.”

Although Nandala’s engagements followed earlier campaign stops in Kakumiro and Kibale, it was in Kabarole and Kibaale, one of Uganda’s key tea-growing belts that farmers’ frustrations took centre stage, laying bare the widening gap between agricultural labour and household wellbeing.

Welcomed by a local cultural troupe, Nandala addressed supporters near Mpanga Central Market in Fort Portal City, where he acknowledged that agriculture in the Rwenzori sub-region has failed to translate into prosperity for the majority of farmers.

He attributed the situation to poor planning, limited value addition and the collapse of farmer cooperatives that once helped producers bargain for better prices.

“Tea should be transforming lives here, but instead farmers remain poor,” Nandala said. “That tells you something is fundamentally wrong and that’s why we came into this election, to fix the economy and make you have some money in your pockets.”

The FDC presidential candidate pledged that an FDC-led government would allocate 10% of the national budget to agriculture, with tea prioritised through fertiliser subsidies, improved seedlings, storage facilities and small processing plants located within Kabarole and neighbouring districts.

“We must process tea here, not just sell raw leaves,” he said. “When there is value addition in this region, farmers will earn more, and communities will grow richer.

Many farmers in Kabarole however said that access to reliable markets remains a daily struggle, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.

In response, Nandala said low payments were a result of weak regulation and the exclusion of farmers from ownership of processing facilities. He argued that restoring farmer-owned cooperatives and factories would protect growers from exploitation by middlemen and large companies. “When farmers own the process, they control the price,” he said. “That is how tea can truly become a money magnet.”

Beyond agriculture, residents also raised concerns about unreliable electricity supply, saying frequent power outages have frustrated agro-processing initiatives and small enterprises in Fort Portal City and surrounding rural areas.

Nandala concluded his Kabarole engagements by pledging to stabilise power supply and strengthen rural infrastructure as part of broader economic reforms anchored in agriculture.

He is expected to proceed to Kasese district today, continuing his campaign across the Rwenzori region as he popularises the FDC manifesto ahead of Uganda’s general elections, now less than two weeks away.