UCA DRIVES ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE FINANCING FOR FARMERS AND COOPERATIVES

Access to affordable finance is still a challenge to many agricultural enterprises and cooperatives across Uganda. This was revealed in UCA's 2026 National Cooperative Profiling Exercise, conducted in collaboration with Makerere University Business School (MUBS), which assessed 158 cooperatives across five regions of Uganda. The findings revealed that 82.9% of the cooperatives identified high interest rates as a major challenge in accessing credit, while 46.2% cited inadequate collateral. A further 32.3% reported limited awareness of available financing opportunities.

One of the solutions to this challenge is through government programmes such as emyooga, Parish Development Model (PDM), Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP), Uganda Women Entreprenuership Programme (UWEP), Operation Wealth Creation, Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF), Small Business Fund (SBF) among others.

However most of these programs remain elusive or unknown to many cooperatives, farmers and small business holders.

As part of its mandate to provide capacity building in areas of leadership, financial literacy, and business skilling management as well as resource mobilization, UCA has partnered with Bank of Uganda (BOU) to raise awareness and build financial literacy across the country on the ACF the Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF) and the Small Business Fund (SBF) which were established by the government through Bank of Uganda (BOU) to provide medium and long-term financing to farmers, cooperatives and small business holders at favorable terms.

On Tuesday, 3rd November 2026, over 300 cooperatives, farmers and small business holders met with the UCA team, BOU officials and local government leaders in Bukwo district – Eastern region (Elgon) to explore available financing opportunities.

Speaking during the engagement, Dorothy Muidina Namarome from the Publicity and Customer Support Section of the Administered Funds Department, Eastern Region, encouraged farmers to take advantage of the Agricultural Credit Facility to expand their agricultural enterprises.

She explained that the facility offers financing at an interest rate of 12% per annum, with a repayment period of up to eight years and a grace period of three years.

"Farmers need to take advantage of these financing opportunities to invest in productive agricultural activities and grow their enterprises. Cooperative leaders also have an important role to play in sharing this information with their members so that more people can benefit," Namarome emphasised.

She further highlighted the importance of the partnership between UCA and the Bank of Uganda in bringing financial information closer to rural communities and helping prospective beneficiaries understand how to access available facilities.

UCA Board Member representing Eastern Uganda, Mr Wakinya Samuel, challenged farmers to look beyond increasing production and pay greater attention to market access and value addition.

"Increasing production alone is not enough. Farmers must also think about where they will sell their produce, how they can add value to it and how they can earn better returns from their agricultural activities," Samuel said.

He also emphasised the importance of cooperative education in equipping farmers with the knowledge and skills required to manage their enterprises and strengthen their cooperatives.

Samuel further shared information about the National Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (NASACCO), an initiative aimed at laying the foundation for the revival of the National Cooperative Bank. He encouraged cooperative leaders to take the information back to their respective societies to ensure that members at the grassroots are equally informed.

The Acting Resident District Commissioner of Bukwo, Mr Kasonzi Martin, welcomed the initiative, commending UCA for taking financial information directly to communities.

"People need to understand the importance of organising themselves into cooperatives and the opportunities that come with belonging to such groups. Continuous sensitisation is important if more communities are to benefit from these opportunities," Kasonzi noted.

He expressed concern about the limited number of cooperative societies in Bukwo, attributing the situation partly to inadequate awareness and education about cooperatives.

Bukwo District Vice Chairman, Mr Nicholas Kamuchaki, also called for increased community mobilisation to encourage the formation of more SACCOs and organised financial groups.

"These government programmes present important opportunities for improving people's livelihoods. However, communities must be mobilised and equipped with the right information so that they can understand and utilise the opportunities available to them," Kamuchaki said.

For farmers and cooperatives in the Elgon Region, improved access to affordable financing could unlock opportunities to expand production, purchase agricultural inputs, invest in processing facilities, aggregate produce and access better markets.

UCA is working to ensure that cooperatives, farmers and rural enterprises are not held back by information gaps but are better equipped and connected to appropriate financing opportunities.

The initiative reinforces UCA's commitment to strengthening cooperatives as drivers of agricultural transformation, financial inclusion, enterprise development and sustainable economic growth in Uganda.