Uganda implements an agriculture digitalisation program to pique the interest of the youth

By Nana Ama Oforiwaa Antwi

The Digital Economy Programme has made a lot of progress in the agricultural sector by understanding the plight and value chain of most farmers to provide support through creating market-driven technology to provide solutions that suit young growers and to also enhance access to essential services, funding, markets, products, and employment for 3.4 million people living in far-flung areas across Uganda.

Thus, the government of Uganda, in collaboration with Innovation and Mastercard Foundation has come up with an agriculture digitalization programme to encourage more young ones to enter the farming and other aspects of agriculture.

Last week, the National Planning Authority in Uganda, the unit in charge of piloting this agenda, launched several digital platforms which bring multiple service providers, ranging from financial service providers to insurance companies and input sellers among others, to serve young farmers.

The platforms will also ensure that, its end users enjoy reduced costs of production and also enable service providers to reach far- away users in the rural communities who do not often benefit from such programs.

According to the Deputy Executive of NPA, Mr. Charles Olweny Ojok,  advocating for these platforms will not only help the economy but will also serve as an avenue for creating job opportunities for young people.

He also added that, “last year, the  programme studied the needs of 370 farm producing organisations and out of 650,000 farmers that featured in the program 250,000 were young farmers.”

He therefore urged farmers, technology entrepreneurs and organizations to embrace the shared platforms.