Farmers launch agricultural website platform

Mark Mwanje was in despair. His entire plantation of maize had perished.

"What can I do now that my family has nothing to live on? I do not have food to take care of my family since my entire garden perished," Mwanje said.

He later found out fake fertilisers were to blame for his loss.

Mwanje is not alone. In Uganda, the sale of counterfeit agricultural inputs is a problem that affects mainly smallholder farming, which provides the critical lifeline for many rural Ugandans. Therefore, a threat to the integrity of agricultural input supplies deals a deathly blow to the heart of the country.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, substandard agro-inputs in the Ugandan market are high at 30% and Uganda loses $1.5b in revenue as a result of fake agricultural inputs each year.

Premised on this, a group of farmers and agro inputs suppliers have established an agricultural inputs web platform to facilitate farmers with information on genuine agro-inputs.

The platform is expected to revolutionize the agriculture sector

The online platform was launched recently at Sheraton Hotel Kampala. During the launch, Dr Rita Laker Ojok, the chief of party, USAID Feed the Future's Agricultural Inputs Activity, said the platform will help address farmers' challenges by providing information on inputs that have been approved, banned, rejected or flagged.

During the function, Moses Nangulu, the executive director, Uganda National Agro-inputs Dealers Association (UNADA), highlighted the issue of fake inputs.

"One of the biggest problems facing farmers is one of the fake seeds and agricultural inputs that have flooded the market. This platform will help us identify genuine inputs from fake ones," Nangulu said.

"The platform is also an important partnership between research, policy and regulatory entities on the public side and on the private side farmers, seed companies, agro chemical companies, agribusinesses, researchers and financial institutions, among others in the agro input market system in Uganda," she added.

Uganda Seed Trade Association (USTA), UNADA and crop life collaborated to form the agricultural inputs platform to support the growth, innovation and performance of the sector.

Information on the website is provided by 27 seed companies and co-operatives. It includes databases among other kinds of information that will be available to various stakeholders.

How it works

To access information on agro-inputs, one can log into www.agricinputsuganda.com on a computer or smartphone free-of-charge.

The platform was designed and developed by Agri Experience in Kenya.  Agri Experience is the same firm that designed Kenya's agricultural platform Kenya Seed sector platform in 2014.

Two years after its launch, Kenya seed sector platform has had a tremendous impact on the country's agriculture sector. According to Business Daily, a Kenyan news daily, the database has revolutionised the seed sector and contributed to ending food insecurity in the country.