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Since 2019, AFC is supporting the implementation of the GIZ project “Response to increased demand on government services and creation of economic opportunities in Uganda – RISE”, which is co-financed by the EU and aims to increase economic opportunities for Sudanese refugees and the population of the respective host communities in North-West Uganda. AFC supports small-scale agricultural producers to engage in market-oriented production, among others via contract farming in the sunflower sector.
For most rural farmers, engaging in farming as a business is a leap of faith. In cases where they obtain a market for their crop, the farm gate price is hardly fair in comparison to the costs the farmer incurred to boost production.
However, this is not Rose Jaguru Mogga's story. The 38-year-old mother of five is a first-time sunflower farmer originally from South Sudan. She picked interest in sunflower growing after attending a village sensitization meeting by the RISE-AFC field team. The assurance of the market for the produce appealed to her the most.
When Rose arrived in Uganda in 2017, she mostly remembered with nostalgia the life she left behind in South Sudan. “I was a cassava dealer; my children were well fed, and we had a good life,” says Rose.
After the village sensitization meeting, the farmers were encouraged to form farmer groups which would also double as village savings and loan associations. Rose joined a group and in addition to learning better financial practices, the group members provided counseling and words of encouragement. This enabled Rose to pick herself up and start over.
The RISE project and the Comboni Brother missionaries, a local producer of sunflower oil, entered into a partnership. Under this partnership, in addition to buying farmers produce directly, the Comboni Brothers provide technical backstopping to farmers to ensure that the quality of the harvest is up to standard.
“I learned how to plant my crop in lines, so it was easier for me to weed and manage quantities. Just looking at my sunflower garden, I see money!” exclaims Rose. With seed input from the RISE project, she planted an acre of sunflower. Rose expects to harvest more than 600 kilograms. With a guaranteed market from the Comboni brothers, she will sell her sunflower at 1,200 Uganda shillings per kilogram. “I will buy extra seed and increase my acreage to two acres; my big goal is to buy iron sheets to roof my house”, says Rose.
If you would like to learn more about this project and our activities in Uganda, please contact our project manager Matthias Webendörfer: matthias.webendoerfer [at] afci.de.