Heifer International has unveiled a five-year Signature Programme targeting one million smallholder farmers, with a focus on helping them increase production, access markets and finance, and turn agriculture into viable businesses.
The programme, launched on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at Sheraton Kampala Hotel, is part of Heifer’s efforts to strengthen Uganda’s agri-food system and support the transition of smallholder farmers from subsistence production into the monetised economy.
Heifer Country Director in Uganda William Matovu said increasing production alone would not be enough to improve farmers’ incomes unless they were also connected to reliable markets.
“We need collective energy to support smallholder farmers to fit in the money economy. One of the critical roles we play at Heifer is linking farmers to markets,” Matovu told journalists.
He said farmers could increase production but remain economically vulnerable if they lacked reliable buyers or were forced to sell their produce at poor prices.
The programme will focus on dairy, poultry, horticulture, oilseeds and swine value chains among others, which Matovu said provide relatively low barriers to entry, particularly for young people and women.
Under the programme, Heifer plans to organise farmers into viable producer organisations, improve production and productivity, link them to agricultural advisory services and quality inputs, and strengthen connections to both input and output markets.
Matovu said partnerships with government, financial institutions, private-sector players and development organisations would be critical to achieving the programme’s target.
“We note and notice that without partnership, we cannot be able to achieve that goal,” he said.
Finance remains a constraint
Last while at Heifer Head Office in Kampala, Ronald Wabwire, Technical Lead of the Signature Programme Forum, said limited access to finance remains one of the biggest constraints to farmers seeking to expand their businesses.
“We have understood that finance is the major challenge affecting the progress of farmers. We therefore engage financial institutions to support these farmers through collaborations,” Wabwire said.
Small-scale producers often struggle to obtain affordable capital to expand production, acquire equipment, improve their farms or invest in processing and value addition.
The financing challenge is particularly significant as Uganda seeks to commercialise agriculture and move more households from subsistence farming into the monetised economy.
The National Development Plan IV targets an increase in agricultural and agro-industrial exports from $2.45 billion to $4.76 billion by the financial year 2029/30.
The plan also prioritises high-value value chains, including coffee, vegetable oil and fish, while promoting irrigation, storage, value addition and access to affordable agricultural credit.
However, poor market linkages, price fluctuations, limited access to credit and inadequate processing capacity continue to affect the returns farmers receive from their produce.
Youth agribusiness
Matovu said there are also signs of growing interest among young people in agriculture, citing the Stimulating Agribusiness for Youth Employment (SAYE) initiative in Busoga, which targets more than 250,000 young people.
He said some beneficiaries are engaged in poultry, tomato production, juice manufacturing and other enterprises.
“We have a number of them undertaking poultry, tomatoes, manufacturing juice and other enterprises,” he said.
Some young entrepreneurs, Matovu said, have moved beyond individual production to establish businesses that employ other people in their communities.
“We have gone to villages and found nothing. But now they have a billion-shilling enterprise that is employing a number of people at the village. This is really a significant transformation,” he said.
He, however, said such businesses require continued access to markets, finance and other forms of support if they are to survive and grow.
Government backs initiative
State Minister for Agriculture Bright Rwamirama, who officiated at the launch, welcomed the programme, saying Heifer has worked alongside government programmes to address gaps in transforming smallholder farmers into commercially viable producers.
“The way we work with them is that they ride on government programmes and they very fast cover the gaps,” Rwamirama said.
He said agriculture remains central to Uganda’s economy, with more than 70 per cent of the population directly involved in the sector.
Rwamirama said Uganda has the potential to double or even triple agricultural production but needs to address productivity, financing, quality and market access.
“We have the opportunity to double, even triple, our production. The only way you can capture the international market is you must have good quality products, sustainable supply and a policy that supports the system,” he said.
He said Uganda’s favourable climate and scientific capacity provide a foundation for increased production, but farmers need more capital to scale up.
Rwamirama also stressed the importance of value addition and preservation, warning that increased production would have limited economic benefit if products could not maintain their quality long enough to reach distant markets.
For Heifer, the programme marks a shift from simply helping farmers produce more to helping them build enterprises that can participate in markets and generate sustainable incomes.
The organisation has operated in Uganda since 1982, supporting farmers in value chains including dairy, poultry, oilseeds and horticulture.
The bigger test for the programme will be whether increased production can translate into stronger market access, better incomes and sustainable businesses for the one million farmers it targets.
