By Nanteza Ruth Walusimbi
MAYUGE
Government on Friday 10th October, 2025 launched the National Oil Palm Project with Equity Bank managing a credit facility aimed at supporting smallholder farmers in the Busoga region.
The launch took place at Mayuge District Headquarters, with Fred Bwino Kyakulaga, State Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, presiding over the ceremony joined by Equity Bank Director for Public Sector and Social Investment, Catherine Psomgen.
Under the arrangement, Equity Bank is handling the disbursement of funds and providing capacity-building support to farmers.
Oil Palm seedlings take 18 months before they can be ready to plant and according to the bank, within two years, 896 farmers have been able to benefit from these funds, so far totaling Shs1.2 billion. Farmers have been educated on how to dig proper holes, supported with pesticides, fertilizers and have been given seedlings which are ready to plant.
Psomgen told the press during the project launch on Friday that the move will go a long way in transforming the people of Busoga from the chronic poverty which has affected them for so long.
Minister Kyakulaga, in his remarks noted that so far, the project is at phase one with; Buvuma, Mayuge, Bugiri and Namayingo as the first beneficiaries with the other parts of; Kamuli, Iganga, Jinja City, Bugweri, Namatumba, Luuka and Kaliro set for next year.
To benefit from this, each farmer or a group of farmers is supposed to have five hectares of land to which each will receive Shs25million, or those who don’t possess that much land but have half of that land will also get half of that money.
However, for appropriate use, not all the money is transferred directly to the farmer’s account. The largest chunk is managed through the Bank as the Ministry has suppliers who it directly pays to deliver pesticides, fertilizers, trim the trees and also educate the farmers on maintenance, the rest is then remitted to the farmers account and followed up for accountability.
“Uganda alone minus exporting has ready market for Palm oil, soap, cosmetic products and various items which require palm oil as a raw material. At harvest, each farmer will be directly earning UGX 2.5m monthly and that runs for about 25-30 years. So, the Government of Uganda has answered the Busoga poverty and job crisis issue with this National Oil Palm Project.” Said Kyakulaga.
