Busia Farmers Urged to Leverage Border Location for Commercial Agriculture

Residents of Busia District are being called upon to transition from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, capitalizing on the district’s prime location along the Uganda-Kenya border. This strategic positioning offers unparalleled access to wider markets across East Africa, according to National Resistance Movement (NRM) National Treasurer Barbara Nekesa.

Speaking at the inaugural Busia District Agriculture Expo, Nekesa emphasized that Busia’s border status presents significant opportunities for market access, both domestically and internationally. She noted that while Busia hosts one of East and Central Africa’s largest cereal trading centers, much of the produce sold there currently originates from other regions, indicating a missed opportunity for local farmers.

Nekesa also cautioned against the detrimental practice of land fragmentation, which she identified as a major impediment to increased agricultural productivity. She urged farmers to focus on high-value crops, citing coffee as a prime example. According to her, cultivating a single acre of coffee could yield upwards of Shs27 million per season, a stark contrast to the significantly larger land requirements for similar returns from crops like maize.

Former tourism minister Godfrey Kiwanda Ssuubi provided practical training on coffee cultivation techniques, highlighting optimal land preparation and spacing for maximum yield. The expo also showcased success stories from beneficiaries of the government’s Parish Development Model (PDM). Participants demonstrated how small loans invested in ventures like piggery and poultry have led to substantial income generation and business expansion, underscoring the program’s positive impact.

Busia District LC5 Chairperson John Charles Namayindi pledged to make the agriculture expo an annual event, recognizing the valuable knowledge gained by farmers from interactions with agricultural experts. The exhibition aimed to serve as a vital platform for farmers to display their enterprises and engage directly with specialists, fostering growth and development within the district’s agricultural sector.

This information was derived from the Daily Monitor.