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2nd Annual Farmers’ Expo
On 29th June-01st July, Agro-Tourism Association hosted the second Annual Farmers’ Expo with Nama Balunzi Cooperative Society.
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Agro-Tourism Association staff and interns from Makerere University and Princeton University at their 2018 Annual Farmers’ Expo.
by Christie Chong and Amital Haas on July 11
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On 29th June-01st July, Agro-Tourism Association hosted the 2nd Annual Farmers’ Expo with Nama Balunzi Cooperative Society in Mukono, Uganda. This year’s theme was titled “Improving Farmers’ Incomes Through Access to Genuine Agro-Inputs, Value Addition, and Makers”, and acted as an open platform for farmers to market their local agricultural products and services, learn advanced agribusiness strategies, and interact with policymakers and district officials as well as fellow farmers and potential partners. This year’s expo was an overall success, attracting vendors and participants from Nama subcounty and beyond, totalling about 250 participants. Participants including agrispecialists, environmentalists, farmers, donors, training institutions, governmental officials, and non-governmental organizations.
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Hon. Minister Christopher M.T Kibanzanga (right, white shirt), state minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries with Ruhakana J. Taremwa, CEO of Agro-Tourism Association, listening to Grace Kyarimpa, a former intern of Agro-Tourism Association and a current incubatee explaining about Vermi-liquid, an organic fertilizer and pesticide. Also seen on the table are a variety of health products and beverages manufactured by intern students and incubatees of Agro-Tourism Association.
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The Annual Farmers’ Expo was originally created to address concerns related to farming in East Africa. While the agricultural industry continues to employ the majority of Ugandans, Uganda remains a net importer of food, and most farmers struggle to earn sufficient profits using traditional farming practices. This has led to current issues such as food insecurity, poor productivity, unemployment, and adoption of environmentally unsustainable farming practices. The expo was designed to address these problems by providing local farmers access to knowledge and products to improve their livelihoods, such as agricultural inputs, value addition and processing, environmentally friendly practices, and improved marketing strategies. It also hosts training meetings, presentations, and vendor exhibitions to provide learning opportunities to farmers, especially women and youth, in practical and relevant knowledge and skills for transforming their farm into a profitable business.
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While the expo was primarily aimed at providing agribusiness assistance, Agro-Tourism Association also invited partners who would benefit farmers in alternative ways. For example, ATA’s partnership with the College of Health Services at Makerere University brought in medical students to provide all attending farmers with free health services. Medical students under the Pedon Project measured farmers’ BMI and blood pressure and tested for diabetes and HIV. “Anyone from the village can come to get free health services,” explained medical student Mukisa Samson Kisekka. Farmers could also learn how they could make any lifestyle changes based on their test results, such as improving their BMI through diet improvement. The doctors could then suggest eating more organic fruits and vegetables, and direct their client to the neighboring organic produce vendor, promoting other exhibitors at the Expo. Several other partners at the Expo also provided farmers similar opportunities to improve their lifestyle.
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In addition to co-hosting the event, Agro-Tourism Association was proud to exhibit some of its own agricultural products, services, and trainings. This year’s interns from Makerere University were able to exhibit and sell organic products they had researched and produced themselves. These products included organic, eco-friendly, and locally sourced animal feeds, pesticides, fertilizers, foods, and medicines, some of which caught the eye of the Honorable Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fishery (MAAIF) and the Commissioner of Agribusiness at MAAIF. Del Youth trainer Mr. Ahikirize Remah Gubare and ATA CEO Mr. Ruhakana Joseph Taremwa also hosted training meetings on market chain leakage solutions and the importance of farming as a business, respectively. These trainings provided invaluable expert knowledge to attending farmers in how to improve and maintain their incomes.
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Agro-Tourism Association CEO Mr. Ruhakana Joseph Taremwa holding a training meeting on the importance of farming as a business.
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Next year, Agro-Tourism Association will be officially partnered with MAAIF for the 3rd annual farmers’ expo, which will be held in Mukono from 28 June - 30 June*. This new partnership will give Agro-Tourism a valuable opportunity to lengthen the duration of the Expo, provide more trainings on varied topics, invite new partners to attend, and improve the livelihood of a greater number of farmers. In addition, following the success of the 2018 expo, Agro-Tourism Association has confirmed that it will partner in organizing the 1st Karamoja Farmers Expo and The 1st Ntungamo Farmers Expo in the coming year*. Through these new partnerships, Agro-Tourism Association is committed to improving the lives of farmers across Uganda.
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*Note: Date and location for 2019 Annual Farmers’ Expos may be subject to change. Please visit our website at https://agro-tourism.wixsite.com/uganda to learn more.
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About the Authors:
Christie Chong is a junior at Princeton University, studying Environmental Policy. Amital Haas is a sophomore at Princeton University, studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. They are current interns at Agro-Tourism Association.
About Agro-Tourism
Agro-Tourism Association is an agricultural company that offers a wide range of services in agribusiness value chain analysis and development, agricultural marketing, agronomic principles and practices, agribusiness research, and agribusiness development services. All of its services are designed to enhance the capacity farmers to engage in farming as a profitable business.
Started in 2010, the company has been a leader in practical agribusiness entrepreneurship and has trained over 90,000 farmers, both inside and outside of Uganda, especially youth and women, in farming as a business. The organisation focuses on five major areas: agrotourism development, trainings in farming as a business, agribusiness demonstration, business incubation, and climate change mitigation.
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To learn more about Agro-Tourism Association’s services, to schedule a training or visit, or to make any inquiries, please visit Agro-Tourism’s website.
