By Joshua Kato
Until 2024, women’s performance in the annual Best Farmers Competition had been negligible.
“For the past eight years, we have had only 33 women among the 111 best farmers winners, and only one woman overall winner,” lamented competition judge Victoria Sekitoleko at one of the awards ceremonies.
“This is not good at all, especially considering that we all know women do most of the farming,” she added at the time.
In 2014, there were only three women out of 10 winners. These included Dr Emma Naluyima (Wakiso), Judith Bakirya (Jinja), who emerged second overall, and Hellen Kongai (Ngora).
The following year, 2015, there was only one female winner — Prof. Diana Nambatya Nsubuga — among 13 winners.
“This prompted the sponsors to create a special category for female farmers in the 2016 competition,” Sekitoleko said.
So, in 2016, there were six female winners — three in the special category and three in the main category. The second overall winner, Teddy Wabomba, was also a woman.
Other women winners included Clara Anzoa (Moyo), Celia Kansiime (Wakiso), Hadijah Nakazzi (Mpigi), Florence Kayaayo (Kabarole), and Joy Mugisha (Sheema)
In 2017, the number of women remained at three: Rachel Amol (Wakiso-Kampala), Margaret Mbaga (Sheema), and another winner. In 2018, the number of women rose to four, but for the first time, the overall winner was a woman — Betty Mbaziira Kasabiiti.
The other women included Faridah Lutale(Arua), Shamim Napakol (Bukedea) and Joyce Acan (Gulu). In 2019, the number stayed at three.
However, none of the women was among the top three overall. One of the women, Rebecca Azza, came in the special category.
The others were Grace Kwach (Nebbi) and Regina Wabwire (Busia). In 2020, the sponsors once again declared women as a special category.
However, there were still two women in the main category of 10, including Immaculate Akullo, who emerged second overall, and Gloria Rwamafa, who won in Kampala/Wakiso.
The others in the special category were Jacent Namyalo (Masaka), Prossy Kazibwe (Jinja) and Maureen Nyakato (Fort Portal). During the 2022 Best of the Best (specifically focused on previous winners) competition, three women emerged among the winners — Teddy Wabomba from Soroti, Dr Emma Naluyima from Wakiso and Clara Anzoa from Moyo.
In 2023, there were four women winners: Fiona Acayo (Lira), Agnes Akello (Soroti), Dr Pamela Bakabulindi (Mukono) and Phoebe Kagambe (Kyenjojo).
Overall, in the previous eight years, there has been one overall female winner and three second-place female winners. Men have dominated the competition.
Then, 2024 happened! When the winners were announced, Rachel Kibwiika from Luwero, a mixed farmer, emerged as the overall winner, followed by Brendah Tusiime (Kabarole — pumpkins/maize) and Meridah Nandudu (Budadiri — coffee), who completed the top three.
Other female winners included Allen Atuhaire (Sheema — dairy), Janny Winfred Oyella (Gulu), Joyce Amiat (Bukedea — livestock), and Emmanuella Oroma (Nebbi — apiary).
The three men who survived the female onslaught included Tom Okao (Lira), Abbas Ssekajja (Mukono), and Apollo Gabazira (Luuka).
The performance of women now brings the total number of female winners since 2014 to 40 out of 124 winners.
“There was no affirmative action at all. The women openly competed with their male counterparts on equal terms,” Sekitoleko said.
In the west, where Tusiime emerged as the winner, she competed against five other farmers, including one other woman.
“All the judges agreed, without any prejudice, that she beat them hands down,” Naluyima said.
Tusiime is engaged in an enterprise that many dare not attempt — growing and processing pumpkins into various products.
“She thinks outside the box. Her unique enterprise made her stand out above the rest,” Josephat Byaruhanga, another judge, observed.
In the central region, where Rachel Kibwiika emerged as the winner, she competed against six men — whose farms were also impressive.
“Kibwiika has an eye for detail. Her farm has so many enterprises, but all of them are clean and well-managed. Her processing facilities are also spotlessly clean,” Byaruhanga noted.
In the mid-east, which includes Elgon and Bukedi areas, Nandudu emerged as the winner after competing against five men.
Engaged in the coffee value chain, the judges pointed out that Nandudushowed a lot of resilience in a male-dominated field.
“She faced marital issues, and when she returned to her parents, they gave her a piece of land on which she set up her farm,” Naluyima said.
Rather than work alone, she mobilised other farmers to produce more coffee.
Numbers still low
According to the 2024 population census, 68% of Uganda’s population relies on farming. With a national population estimated at 45.4 million people, this means at least 35 million people depend on agriculture. Ninety per cent of farm work in Uganda is carried out by women.
However, rather absurdly, when hunger and famine strike, it is the women and children who suffer the most, compared to men.
This is largely because women do not have control over the sale of the produce.
“It has everything to do with the way traditions dictate ownership of property. Tradition makes men dominant, so even if a farm is ideally run and operated by a woman, the man who owns the land also claims to own the farm,” Sekitoleko said.
She said when judges visit, they conduct deep probes into ownership, but some wives keep the truth hidden for the sake of their marriages.
“We have had cases where women have been nominated, but their husbands have stopped them from contesting,” Sekitoleko said.
Although women contribute the most to the agricultural workforce, less than 30% of them own the land on which they farm.
In fact, out of the seven female winners, only two permanently own the land on which they farm.
The land either belongs to their husbands or parents. This means they may not be nominated for the competition.
It is not surprising that out of over 350 nominations received on average each year, approximately 70 are from women — less than 20%.
However, for the 2024 competition, the quality of the nominated women was far better than that of the men.
Difficult to access bank loans
Joyce Mugwanya, like most women, does not own the land on which she practices farming. The land is owned by her husband.
The fact that most women do not own the land reduces their ability to control the earnings from that land and, worse still, to access loans to improve their farming. Margaret farms on land allocated to her by her husband.
However, the allocation was verbal, meaning her husband still technically owns the land. This prevents her from using it as collateral to obtain money from banks.
“Even if I wanted to get a bank loan, I cannot, because I do not own the land on which I am farming,” she said.
If Mugwanya had security, she would try to access the Agriculture Credit Facility, for example. All she would need is security and a good farming plan.
In most cases, security is the land on which the farmer practices farming. Unfortunately, she does not own this land.
According to the 1998 Land Act, there are five recognised land tenure systems in Uganda: Mailo land ownership (where the owner has a land title and owns the land indefinitely), the customary tenure system (where land is owned communally), the freehold system, the leasehold system, and public land ownership.
The law does not discriminate against men and women regarding land rights.
However, it is traditional beliefs and cultural practices that alter the equation. Traditionally, land ownership is seen as a sign of strength in society, and yet women are not seen as strong members of a traditional society. In many tribes in Uganda, women do not own land.
“It is ironical that women own only a third of the land they use for agriculture,” said Stella Tereka, a gender researcher.
This means that women cannot make major fi nancial decisions about the money from the land.
Favour men
As far as farm labour enhancement is concerned, the ground still favours men.
There has been a gradual distribution of tractors to farmers across the country.
Agriculture minister Frank Tumwebaze said at least 600 tractors have been given to farmers in the last three years. The offer of tractors includes training for the operators.
However, less than 10% of the trained operators are women. In November 2019, out of 38 tractor operators who were trained, only three were women.
This pattern was also observed with those in Hoima who were trained last week.
A field diagnostic study conducted in Uganda by various groups, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation, noted some relevant patterns in the division of labour in agriculture: Men tend to dominate the more remunerative activities.
It was also noted that the division of labour can be influenced by changes in technology: Men may take over when certain tasks are mechanised or animal traction is used.
There can be many reasons for this, including the cultural association of such technology with males, the targeting of required training towards men only, and the status benefits from using the technology.
Other tasks, such as weeding, bagging, and crop storage, are almost equally undertaken by both women and men.
It is estimated that women do 85% of the planting, 85% of the weeding, 55% of the land preparation, and 98% of all food processing.
However, decisions about marketing are usually made by men (70%) or made jointly (15%).
Some tasks are almost exclusively undertaken by men, and others by women. Predominantly male tasks include felling trees, plowing with oxen or tractors, digging holes, purchasing and using chemicals, looking for markets, and selling produce.
Women usually undertake sowing, harvesting, head-loading of produce, crop-drying, winnowing, seed selection, pig and poultry rearing, and bartering sunflower seeds for oil.
Now that the tractors being given out are primarily for plowing — an activity largely done by men — women will continue planting and weeding using hand hoes, while men drive the tractors.
Success stories
Some of the most successful former winners of the Best Farmers Competition are women.
“Many of our female winners have gone on to grow even further. Teddy Wabomba, a winner in 2016, is an example of this progress,” observed competition judge Victoria Sekitoleko.
In August 2019, Dr EmmaNaluyima won the prestigious African Food Award.
In 2017, two years after winning the Best Farmers competition, Prof. Diana Nambatya Nsubuga won the 2017 Women Champion Award for her efforts in training women in health and food security.
This year, Judith Bakirya, a 2014 winner, was named among the BBC’s 100 most influential women because of her work in adding value to herbs.
Other winners, like Betty Mbaziira, have also continued to grow their businesses.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Top three best farmers (L-R: Nandudu, Kibwiika and Tusiime) with sponsors.
