Contract farming goes to the north
ENGINEERING Solutions (ENGSOL), a dealer in farm machinery, will pioneer a farm management project which will enable large land owners with underutilised farmlands engage in commercial agricultural schemes.
By David Mugabe
ENGINEERING Solutions (ENGSOL), a dealer in farm machinery, will pioneer a farm management project which will enable large land owners with underutilised farmlands engage in commercial agricultural schemes.
Jim Middleton, the managing director, said in an interview, that the scheme will begin with the establishment of a demonstration farm in the middle of this year.
It will be undertaken under Agriserv, a subsidiary company of ENGSOL.
Middleton disclosed that they are at advanced stages of negotiating with some land owners in Amuru district for over 1500 acres of land where the demonstration plot will be established.
Under contract farming, Agriserv will undertake full management of the farm for which they will charge an agreed fixed fee. The land owner and Agriserv will split the profits after harvest.
“This reduces the risks to the landowner as the inputs costs and risks are also shared,†said Middleton.
The scheme comes after a preliminary research done by ENGSOL which showed that most peasants do not have the skills, equipment and financial resources to undertake commercial agriculture. Yet most have large tracts of unutilised land in many cases.
Under the arrangement, the contractor also handles the post harvest responsibilities like storage, if the land owner agrees.
This is an advantage to the farmer as it safeguards them from price fluctuations. They can store their produce until a time when prices are stable and profitable.
“When the crop is sold, we will take out the cost of doing the work and the profits will be shared,†said Middleton.
The northern districts have land that was for over two decades unexploited due to the unrest under the Lords Resistance Army rebellion.
The relative calm that has prevailed will open up new opportunities to explore commercial agriculture through this new partnership.
This is a model that even the Government can adopt in partnership with manufacturers and distributors of farm machinery like ENGSOL.
This would help individual farmers who have inadequate access to credit that would enable them to purchase these equipment.
“We will be able to show the people what is possible on a large scale,†said Middleton.
Meanwhile, ENGSOL have snubbed recent claims by Ugiran, another dealer in tractors and farm machinery, that they (Ugiran) are the local distributors of Massey Ferguson tractors in Uganda.
“They have a poor copy of an old tractor that Massey used to make. They are also not assembling at all,†said Middleton.
ENGINEERING Solutions (ENGSOL), a dealer in farm machinery, will pioneer a farm management project which will enable large land owners with underutilised farmlands engage in commercial agricultural schemes.
Jim Middleton, the managing director, said in an interview, that the scheme will begin with the establishment of a demonstration farm in the middle of this year.
It will be undertaken under Agriserv, a subsidiary company of ENGSOL.
Middleton disclosed that they are at advanced stages of negotiating with some land owners in Amuru district for over 1500 acres of land where the demonstration plot will be established.
Under contract farming, Agriserv will undertake full management of the farm for which they will charge an agreed fixed fee. The land owner and Agriserv will split the profits after harvest.
“This reduces the risks to the landowner as the inputs costs and risks are also shared,†said Middleton.
The scheme comes after a preliminary research done by ENGSOL which showed that most peasants do not have the skills, equipment and financial resources to undertake commercial agriculture. Yet most have large tracts of unutilised land in many cases.
Under the arrangement, the contractor also handles the post harvest responsibilities like storage, if the land owner agrees.
This is an advantage to the farmer as it safeguards them from price fluctuations. They can store their produce until a time when prices are stable and profitable.
“When the crop is sold, we will take out the cost of doing the work and the profits will be shared,†said Middleton.
The northern districts have land that was for over two decades unexploited due to the unrest under the Lords Resistance Army rebellion.
The relative calm that has prevailed will open up new opportunities to explore commercial agriculture through this new partnership.
This is a model that even the Government can adopt in partnership with manufacturers and distributors of farm machinery like ENGSOL.
This would help individual farmers who have inadequate access to credit that would enable them to purchase these equipment.
“We will be able to show the people what is possible on a large scale,†said Middleton.
Meanwhile, ENGSOL have snubbed recent claims by Ugiran, another dealer in tractors and farm machinery, that they (Ugiran) are the local distributors of Massey Ferguson tractors in Uganda.
“They have a poor copy of an old tractor that Massey used to make. They are also not assembling at all,†said Middleton.