By Vision Reporter
Organised by Vision Group, the biggest agriculture and agribusiness annual event — the Harvest Money expo — will take place from February 23 to February 25 at the Kololo Independence Grounds, Kampala under the theme: Farming as a Business.
Noteworthy is that the emphasis will be on value addition and innovations.
“The three-day interactive expo will bring together all players in the sector, ranging from Vision Group’s best farmers, agro-input dealers in seed, fertilisers, drugs, breeders, machinery, post-harvest handling as well as value addition and markets,” Joshua Kato, the Harvest Money editor, explains.
As usual, per day, the entry fee is sh10,000 and an additional sh10,000 for the trainings. The expo is the annual event that no farming player should miss.
There is a lot to learn and gain because it is one place that brings together every player — from government agencies, ministries as well as private and international companies, according to Fiona Tamale, head of events at Vision Group.
“We are booking exhibitors. All those interested should contact us at Vision Group to secure a stall and be part for the biggest agricultural event of the country,” Klaire Komakech, the business development manager at Vision Group, says.
More sponsors
A number of sponsors have already signed up for the 2024 expo. These include the Embassy of the Netherlands and Tunga Nutrition, a subsidiary of Trouw Nutrition from the Netherlands.
Other sponsors include government agricultural institutions, banks, farm machinery dealers, processors and non-governmental organisations.
Dr Samuel Ssewagudde, a veterinary doctor and an official with Tunga Nutrition, the producers Hendrix concentrate, distributed by Champrisa International, promises those who will visit their stall at the expo that they will walk away with many lessons and educational materials.
Tunga is already producing concentrates at their new facility in Ntinda, Kampala, and all these will be exhibited during the expo.
Their stall, Ssewagudde says, will host experts to explain to farmers the best feed mixing, mobile machines to check aflatoxins from feeds and also one that will check the quality of feed raw materials.
Training
There are 27 training sessions that will be held during the expo and are targeted at improving value addition, post-harvest handling, innovation and crop marketing for farmers.
Some of the new sessions include urban bee-keeping, management of milk goats, selection of good dairy and beef cattle, and a training session by secondary school students under the Gayaza Farm Camp.
The sessions have been organised to be more practical than previous ones. Some of the sessions are related to goats, cattle, piggery, poultry and fish farming, horticulture and urban farming.
There will also be training on management of milking goats, sessions for students, trees including hass avocado and macadamia. Previous expos attracted exhibitors from countries including the Netherlands, Tanzania, Kenya and Egypt.
On average, at least 250 exhibitors from all key agriculture sectors attend annually.
Bigger, better
The expo is expected to attract more exhibitors from the Netherlands than past editions.
The 2023 expo had 18 exhibitors from the Netherlands, but already more than that have expressed interest for next year’s event.
“We are already mobilising for this trade tour from the Netherlands. There are many confirmations,” Frank Buizer, the agricultural counsellor at the Embassy of the Netherlands, says.
The embassy is one of the main sponsors of the expo. One of the highlights of the expo will once again be the ‘Netherlands Village’ under which companies from the Netherlands exhibit.
Additionally, the village will also host Uganda’s best farmers.
“We shall have a business match-making exercise between Uganda’s best farmers and companies from the Netherlands during the 2024 expo,” Josephat Byaruhanga, the senior agriculture policy officer at the Embassy of the Netherlands, says.
