Centenary Bank has been ranked the top agriculture financer of 2021 during the Annual Agriculture Sector Awards.
The awards were organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and partners.
The award was handed over by the state minister for Agriculture and Patron of the awards, Kyakulaga Bwiino who appreciated Centenary Bank for supporting the farmers and commended their efforts in ensuring the sector’s growth.
“I am honoured to hand over this maiden grand award of agriculture financer of the year award to Centenary bank and I continue to implore you to support the agriculture sector through enabling flexible access to agriculture finances by our farmers and agriprenuers," Bwiino said.
The awards are aimed at setting a culture of appreciating good service and ensuring good motivation for all players.
Receiving the award on behalf of the bank, Emmy Paul Opolot the manager, Linkage Banking, thanked the agriculture sector for recognising the bank saying the bank was committed to ensuring agriculture products are scaled out to reach the farmer.
"We appreciate this award, we believe it is well deserved since Agriculture is one of the areas, we prioritize at our bank. Our agriculture portfolio continues to grow bigger and this will go a long way to inspire and motivate the bank further," Opolot said.
According to the international Trade Administration, in the fiscal year 2020/2021, agriculture accounted for about 23.7% of GDP, and 31% of export earnings and UBOS statistics estimate that about 70% of Uganda's working population is employed in agriculture.
Centenary bank beat five other institutions which included Post bank, Stanbic bank, Pride Microfinance, Equity Bank, and Opportunity bank to the award.