A US$30 million loan agreement has been signed to improve food security and incomes for more than 120 000 smallholder households in Uganda.

The funds for the National Oil Seeds project will go towards developing infrastructure and supporting operations of approximately 200 oil-seed cultivation clusters across 53 districts in the country’s northern and north-eastern regions. The main focus will be on the production and marketing of oil-seed products such as groundnuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and soya beans.

Funded by the OPEC Fund and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the project will include the construction and rehabilitation of 2 500 km of roads in and around oil-seed cultivation clusters, and the installation of drainage structures and mechanisms to harvest rainwater run-off from roads for crop and livestock irrigation.

About 60% of the beneficiaries will be women. In addition, youths between the ages of 18 and 35 will be involved as producers, entrepreneurs and small-scale processors, with access to farm machinery and agricultural training.

17 August 2021
Image: Gallo/Getty Images