This year marks 11 years since the Best Farmers competition started. However, because it did not occur in 2021 due to the COVID-19 lockdown, we shall be running our 10th edition.
In the past nine editions, we have produced 124 winners.
The competition has been running across 10 sub-regions demarcated within the country, each producing one winner.
This year, 13 winners will be selected, 10 of whom will win financial rewards, in addition to travelling to the Netherlands, while the other three will only travel to the Netherlands.
Medium, small-scale farmers
Eligibility
This is the category that the competition has been focusing on for the last 10 years. This category still stands.
“This group comprises the majority of farmers in Uganda, and so they should not be left out of the competition,” Vision Group editor-in-chief Barbara Kaija says.
To qualify for this;
- The farmer should be engaged in farming as a business/main source of income for at least two years
- Should have proper records of accounts (bookkeeping)
- Should have a clear succession plan/involving the family in the business
- Should be practising proper post-harvest handling
- Must be engaged in value addition, either at the farm or elsewhere
- Should have a marketing plan
- The farm must respect environmental concerns
- The farm should have a communal benefit, etc.
Eligibility
One of the aspects affecting Ugandan agriculture is a lack of collaboration. And yet, from the Best Farmers’ trips to the Netherlands, one of the most important lessons is that Dutch farmers thrive through co-operatives.
Co-operatives help ease most of the challenges that farmers face.
These include access to cheaper and genuine farm inputs, lower interest financing, bulk marketing, access to extension services, and many more.
This is why the 2025 Best Farmers Competition will focus on profiling agriculture co-operatives as a special category.
Uganda, according to the agriculture ministry, has over 32,000 active agriculture associations scattered across the country, including Karamoja.
Some are single enterprise co-operatives, for example, focusing on coffee, maize, dairy or potatoes.
Others are multi-enterprise groups.
- All co-operatives/ associations and unions are welcome to compete under this category.
- Minimum number of members is 30. The profiled union must have clear evidence of verifiable member lists.
- A clear farmer-led leadership chain: It must clearly show how it is working to alleviate common farmers’ challenges, including access to farm inputs, markets, post-harvest handling, financing, etc.
- The association should have a visible process of protection against exploitation by economic forces too strong for the individual to withstand alone
- Co-operatives should show how they help ease the challenges that farmers face. These include access to cheaper and genuine farm inputs, lower interest financing, bulk marketing, access to extension services, etc.
- Helping farmers access financial support
- Help farmers with packaging/branding
- Access to genuine farm inputs
- Access to low-interest financing
- Access to better storage facilities and processing
- Bulk marketing, hence ensuring better income
- Having a visible process of protection against exploitation by economic forces
Eligibility
Previously, the competition targeted medium and small-scale farmers, leaving out large-scale farmers.
However, for the 2025 competition, large-scale farmers have been allowed to compete. These will be in addition to the small- and medium-range farmers that the competition has been focusing on, plus the co-operatives.
To qualify for the newly introduced large-scale farmers category, participants must meet some of the following criteria:
Ownership and compliance:
- The farm/business must be Ugandan-owned, this is irrespective of the farmer’s race. It can be in any region of the country.
- Must be regulatory-compliant, including registration with the various farming bodies and registration as a business.
Investment requirements:
- Minimum investment of sh1b verified through financial records, rather than declarations.
- Have some level of mechanisation
Productivity standards:
High production capacity, such as:
- Poultry: Rearing over 50,000 chickens (judging considers poultry classification).
- Dairy: Producing at least 1,000 litres of milk per day.
- Piggery — at least able to breed 2,000 pigs a year.
- Fish farming
- For crops like coffee, tea, cocoa, cereals, and fruits; acreage is not a limiting factor; turnover per acre or farmed space is the key determinant.
- Consistently maintaining these productivity levels for at least five years.
Employment, community impact:
- Must have a significant number of permanent employees.
- Engages out-growers in their supply chain.
Attributes of value addition
The farm should be adding value to some of the produce.
Produce selection/grading
Most farmers do not grade their produce before putting them on the market. For example, fruits of different sizes, such as passion fruits, oranges and mangoes, are packed in the same sack and sold off.
However, if a farmer takes a step further and grades the fruits according to size, then that is value addition. This applies to all produce, including livestock, coffee, beans and so on.
Processing
This entails adding value to a raw product by taking it to at least the next stage of production. The more complete, the better. Examples include:
- Fruits into juice or wine
- Dried fruits
- Processing cassava into flour, bagiya, etc
- Maize into flour or feeds, corn into ethanol
- Slaughtering livestock or poultry and dressing it
- Milk into yoghurt, etc
- A livestock farmer who has an outlet for selling finished products, such as dressed chickens and slaughtered pigs, is adding value.
- A farmer who turns livestock waste, such as dung, into bio-gas or processed organic fertilisers is also adding value.
- Maintains sustainable production volumes suitable for export, including support from outgrowers.
- Certified organic, where applicable.
- Holds a quality seal from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.
- Strong social impact and contribution to the agricultural community.
Market and trade potential:
- Proven ability to access marketing opportunities, including trade and export-quality production.
- Utilisation of mechanisation to enhance efficiency and scalability.
