The Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) has signed a partnership with the Innovation Village to support the digitisation efforts of farmers under the Digital Doors Program.
In partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, the Innovation Village is implementing the Digital Doors Program to provide the right digital tools to local entrepreneurs, companies, start-ups, and Micro, Small, and Medium (MSMEs) to access the digital economy and the skills to sustain it in the sectors of agriculture, education and MSMEs.
While speaking at the press briefing, Mr. Kenneth Katungisa, UNFFE’s Chief Executive Officer, noted that the partnership is in alignment with the organisation’s aspirations to onboard and support millions of farmers including over 400 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) with a focus on the youth and women to adopt the use of technology. He said, “Digitisation is one of the pillars we seek to transform the agriculture sector to become lucrative, attractive, and inclusive for farmers to be able to scale and compete favourably within the sector. The result for farmers is to provide increased access to essential services, products, market, funding, and employment opportunities.”
An assessment conducted by UNFFE of FPOs highlighted that small scale farmers face several challenges, including a lack of digital tools, digital skills, access to reliable markets, financial services, and accessibility to reliable and affordable inputs. To address these challenges, Innovation Village and UNFFE will work together through the Digital Doors Program to support the digitization efforts of FPOs and help farmers reap the benefits of the digital economy.
Saul Weikama, the Lead Digital Economy Practice at Innovation Village noted the Digital Doors Program is a subset of The Village’s Digital Economy Practice that seeks to transform our communities using information technology. He said, “The development of the digital economy is a critical steppingstone to job creation in the new “Future of Work” which requires access to the right skills and education for dignified jobs, connection to employers and marketplaces among the youth and women. For it to be viable, solutioning for the last mile user is critical to be able to make it not only inclusive but sustainable across the value chain.”
Adding, “We are thrilled to partner with UNFFE to support the digitization efforts of FPOs and farmers in Uganda. The partnership gives us the opportunity to digitize the agriculture sector but most importantly reach the last mile user in adopting the use of technology to operate in the digital economy. With UNFFE, we will work to address the challenges including digital literacy and lack of digital skills among farmers and provide access to reliable markets and financial services.”
According to a 2022 report on the ‘Status of digital agriculture in 47 Sub-Saharan African countries’ published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Digital Uganda Vision that guides the country’s ICT development and implementation aims at empowering citizens and achieving “Universal inclusion, sustainable development, economic progress and poverty eradication through digital innovation” (Ministry of ICT & National Guidance). The Uganda National Development Plan III (NDP III) is currently under development and continues to increase ICT penetration and services within the country through the Digital Transformation Programme, as well as leveraging advancements in the ICT sector.
This agenda is directly in line with the “Digital Doors” program that seeks to provide digital infrastructure, skills and tools to digitalize a number of sectors including the agricultural sector across its value-chain right from the data collection process to exportation. Launched in 2022, the program has so far engaged the agriculture sector, onboarded two technology partners solutioning
To date the program has profiled 400 Farmer Producer Organizations with a total of 1,000,000 individual farmers. A developer baseline survey has been executed that has given critical insights into the intervention areas for the developer community and registered key partnerships with technology solution providers who are solutioning for the last mile user.
To be part of the program farmers can engage through their farmer groups or extension workers to reach out to the Uganda National Farmers Federation.
Read more on the Digital Doors Program via: LINK
Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE).
The Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) is the largest (Private sector) Non-Governmental Farmer Organization in Uganda. Founded in Jan 1992, it is now home to over four and a half million (4,500,000) Small holder farmers across Uganda, congregated under 146 member organizations that call UNFFE Home. we have a physical presence in 3⁄4 of all districts in Uganda, though our work covers the whole country including newly established districts.
For more information contact
Sharon Kakai Marketing and Communications Lead The Innovation Village on [email protected]
Nelson Tukundane Communications Officer UNFFE on [email protected] [email protected]
