Officials have said the Scaling Solutions for Food Loss Reduction in Africa program (RE-GAIN) which is being implemented by AGRA and the Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Finance will begin with Eastern Uganda
The program is expected to reduce food loss in the agricultural sector by supporting farmers with affordable technologies, such as solar dryers and hermetic storage, and creating an enabling environment through policy alignment and improved access to climate finance and data systems.
Speaking on Friday, David Wozemba the AGRA Uganda Country Director said the program that will run from February 2025 to February 2030 will begin with Eastern Uganda areas of Busoga, Bugisu and Sebei but the coverage will be scaled up as the project takes shape.
“This area nears the Kenyan border and South Sudan border and we have been having quite serious challenges without grains that cross those borders. The recent studies we have done have shown losses are significant in that area,” Wozemba said.
“We are basing on this area being a trade corridor which ends up supplementing our trade relations with other regions but to also help those farmers reduce the losses they have been incurring over the last couple of years.”
As part of this climate change program, Uganda will receive USD14 million and it will benefit about 400,000 smallholder farmers in Uganda out of a total target of 2.6 million across the participating countries in Africa.
The AGRA Uganda Country Director explained said on Friday that the program will assist farmers in post-harvest handling relating to storage and transportation of their products.
“We are doing this because over the years, farmers have faced major challenges relating to the way they handle their grain from harvesting, from storage and transportation and all these at any level will experience loses as a result of weather, pests and diseases, or bad handling. So, this project comes in to provide solutions that are private-sector led. We are intending to scale up these solutions, avail them to farmers, traders and processors to have sufficient technologies to manage the challenges they are facing now,” Wozemba said.
Dennis Mugagga, an official from the Ministry of Finance’s climate financing unit said they have come up with strategies that are green in nature to address climate change but also ensure farmers make money.