Entertainment Africa
Kampala — For the first time since the introduction of the Agriculture Insurance Consortium (AIC), farmers who were affected by drought will be compensated for their losses.
With such a development, farmers will escape the undue pressure exerted on them by unscrupulous middlemen.
Drought in Uganda and most parts of the continent has hit farmers hard.
A middleman is person who buys goods (normally at a cheaper price) from producers and sells them to either wholesalers or retailers or consumers.
Furthermore, since the technology to link farmers directly to the market is available, middlemen are becoming unnecessary.
According to Ms Carol Kyazze Kakooza, the chief of party of MUIIS, an organisation that provides services such as accurate weather alerts, market information and an insurance product for farmers, it is time players in the agricultural sector got rid of middlemen.
Speaking to leaders of farmers’ organisations across the country last week, Ms Kakooza said: “With market linkage, timely agronomic tips and a cover in case of yield loss due to drought, then I am afraid we will have to get rid of middlemen from the chain.”
Ms Kakooza who, disclosed that the Shs5 billion government has introduced under the Uganda Insurance Agriculture Scheme (UAIS) will be used to compensate farmers whose crops were ravaged by drought, said middlemen rush farmers into planting, only to rip them off.
The insurance also known as the index-based insurance will benefit part of nearly 64,000 farmers profiled under the MUIIS, a satellite data-enabled extension and advisory services programme that uses ICT to address the current agricultural information gap in the country.
Farmer’s voice
Ms Hellen Aanyu, who is part of about 150 farmers and leaders who attended a five-day training at Kawanda Agricultural Research Centre, funded by the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs and being implemented by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, said farmers in Ngora District, where she is based, largely depend on information from the middlemen.
Most of such information, she said, is skewed in favour of the middleman who uses it to exploit them (farmers). She said: “We get all our farming information from middlemen who also promise to compensate us in case of anything but they rarely fulfil their promises. They get so much from us and in return we get so little from them.”
Expert opinion
Dr Dick Nuwamanya Kamuganga, an agricultural economist, in an interview with Daily Monitor, said: “For long, the middlemen have been a menace to farmers. The more the farmers are in control of the value chain – from farm to folk, the better they will get.”
He continued: “Farmers need concise information and not complicated jargons that even the elite like us struggle to comprehend. So there is need for MUISS to trickle the grassroots for their programme has huge potential to get rid of middlemen and boost household income.”
Important titbits
– There 3.95 million agricultural households in Uganda
– 80 per cent of Uganda’s workforce is employed in the agricultural sector
– 63,865 farmers have been profiled under MUISS programme
-To be part of the programme and compensation you a farmer will have to subscribe
– The UAIS is managed by the Agriculture Insurance Consortium which is housed under the Uganda Insurers Association.
