By Carol Kasujja Adii
At exactly 7:00am, gates to the Harvest Money Expo were open to the public to attend Uganda’s biggest agricultural exhibition. The three-day event is taking place at Kololo Independence Grounds under the theme, “Farming as a Business: Post-Harvest Handling and Innovations.” Entrance is sh10,000 per day; if you intend to also attend training sessions, you will pay another sh10,000.
This year’s expo is focusing on teaching Ugandans how to make money from agriculture. “We want people to make money, get better, and improve their lives through agriculture,” Vision Group Chief Executive Officer, Don Wanyama, said. Wanyama has noted that the attendees will be able to learn about new enterprises and recent innovations in agriculture with regard to technology and product making.
Jackie Bukuku, a piggery farmer who came as early as 7:00am, said she has come for this year’s expo to see what she is not doing well because all her piglets died. “This is my first time attending the expo. I started keeping pigs last year, but in January this year, all my piglets died, yet I had dewormed them. I want to see what I am not doing right,” Bukuku said. Bukuku also said that she has come to the expo to see where she can get money to finance her new projects. “I want to start planting passion fruits, but I do not have capital. I have come to see how I can finance my projects; I want to get out of employment,” Bukuku noted. Trainings today include coffee, growing mushrooms, poultry, urban farming,
The expo is organised by Vision Group in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy, with other sponsors being National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Tunga Nutrition, Engineering Solutions (ENGSOL), Techo Serve, Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Uganda Warehouse Receipt System Authority, KOICA-K-ABIC, DFCU Bank, Private Sector Foundation Uganda, AKVO International, Pepsi, and State House.
