By Joshua Kato
Eight years of the Harvest Money expo, over 200,000 visitors, over 2,000 exhibitors and hundreds of agriculture businesses built along the way! And this is all thanks to an idea that was developed by Vision Group as a way of bridging the gap between farmers, inputs dealers and consumers.
The event started at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole, before moving to Kololo Independence Grounds.
“When we ran the best farmers competition for two years, we realized that farmers had so many challenges related to their operations. These could only be solved if we brought stakeholders in the farming sector together under one roof,” said Barbra Kaija, Editor in Chief, Vision Group.
Vision Group went out and sought support from several partners including the Embassy of the Netherlands, who had earlier supported the best farmer’s competition.
Vision Group CEO, Don Wanyama refers to the years of the successful expo as perhaps one of the biggest contributions of Vision Group to the agriculture sector.
“This is by far the best-organized agriculture event in the region. People come, meet, buy and change the face of their farms,” he said.
This year’s event will start on February 14 and end on February 16, 2025.
Don’t miss the machinery
It is not every day that a farmer approaches a tractor dealer and asks about the prices. Kololo offers you easy access to them because they will be away from their lavish offices. Once you arrive at Kololo, this fear will simply evaporate. Your courage to finally buy a tractor will become stronger than a 4WD farm tractor.
Over 10 tractor dealers will be laid before your eyes! The companies include Engsol, The Cooper Corporation (CMC), Mahindra, Dura Motors, NEC Tractor project, Mas Corporation Ltd, China Huangpai Machines etc.
Engsol has even made a discount of 30% on all machinery through the duration of the 2024 Expo.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, at the moment, less than 3% of commercial farms in Uganda have got any form of mechanisation, compared to around 12% in Kenya, 30% in South Africa and 90% in most farms in Europe.
Engsol’s Marketing Manager, Medi Mwiri explains that one of the reasons why Ugandan farmers are not mechanising is lack of exposure to equipment.
In terms of farm tractors according to the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), there are an estimated 1,400 tractors in Uganda, against a basic need of around 6,000 tractors.
18 Dutch companies
You have heard about the legendary ‘Kyuma Kya Mudaki’ slogan? The slogan was coined in reference to the toughness of machinery made in the Netherlands.
The Dutch are known for fabricating some of the best equipment for your farm including tractors, dairy processing equipment, food processing units of any size etc. Of course, one of the reasons Ugandans may not have access to this equipment is the distance from here to the Netherlands. But now, the expo has brought the Dutch near to you.
They will exhibit innovative agri-solutions for both crop and livestock specifically in dairy, horticultural, poultry, potatoes, livestock feeds, soil, crop and animal health, solar energy and irrigation.
This development should excite Ugandan farmers because the Netherlands is one of the best farming countries in the world, with the most adaptable farming technologies and research.
“The Netherlands are the second largest exporter of agriculture produce in the world. They are also manufacturers of some of the best agri-equipment with a lot of good history,” Josephat Byaruhanga, the Agriculture Policy Officer at the Embassy of the Netherlands says.
He explained that the Dutch are bringing this technology to Uganda.
When the sun rises and gets hotter during the dry seasons, for farmers, this is a very bad period because crops are not happy at all, animals are not getting enough food and water and dry season diseases are knocking all over farms.
However, at the expo, measures have been arranged to show you how you can create your own rain! Over 10 companies that help farmers create rain on their farms have already set up to show you how.
Among these include Adritex, Davis and Shirtliff, Adritex, Industries, Amaica, Tom Tom Distributors, Power Products, Prime Power, etc.
Prices of these products start at as low as sh600,000 for a pedal pump.
Training sessions
Learning never stops even for experienced farmers. At the expo, there are 27 sessions which touch on nearly every aspect of the agriculture chain.
The trainings are tailored in such a way that both starters and experienced farmers benefit. Of course popular enterprises like poultry, piggery, coffee, goat keeping, vegetable farming, passion fruits, commercial insect production, local chicken, dairy management and dairy including setting up a bio-gas system.
Government is there too!
The government is the father of all agriculture in the country. All along you have had burning questions about the operations of key government agriculture entities. Burn your brains no more, because all of them are at the expo.
Value addition!
Ugandans are fond of ‘donating’ their agriculture produce by selling it off as raw materials. And yet according to experts, value addition improves average earnings from any produce by over 40-80%. For example, while a kilogram of raw coffee beans costs sh3,000, the same quantity of processed crop goes for over sh30,000!
This is why the expo has brought together companies that can help farmers learn how to add value to their products, for better earnings. At the expo, several companies are exhibiting simple equipment that can help farmers add value to their products.
Equipment includes simple milking machines, juice processors, honey presses, dough mixers etc. Such companies include Frank Farm for Dairy equipment, Staunch Machinery, Makiga Appropriate Technology, Makerere University etc.
Livestock issues solved!
Feeding and livestock health are the major challenges facing livestock farmers today.
You know that feeding accounts for 80% of livestock management. As long as a farmer solves feeding issues, then his animals will be okay.
At the expo, there are over 10 feed processing companies, that will not only show genuine feeds but will also explain to farmers how to feed their livestock for a profit.
These companies include Kuku feeds, Ugachick, Tunga Nutrition (Trouw nutrition), Biyinzika feeds international, Kaffika feeds/ Koudjis Nutrition BV, Conversion feeds, URUS, Kisombwa Ranchers, Kalf Rabbitry, Bukoola, Quality chemicals, vet farm equipment etc.
