Stanbic Bank Uganda and the Buganda have launched Ssemaduuka, a one-stop agricultural business centre designed to expand access to structured credit for farmer-owned savings and credit co-operative organisations, strengthen governance and formalise coffee value chains.
The initiative was launched at Mayors Gardens in Mubende Municipality.
For more than a decade, Frank Nyanzi, a 57-year-old coffee farmer from Madudu sub-county in Mubende district, has struggled with declining yields, which he attributes largely to climate change.
Prolonged dry spells, rising temperatures and persistent pest and disease outbreaks, including coffee wilt disease and the coffee berry borer, have reduced his harvests and household income.
“We have been trying our best to manage our farms, but we have been limited by a lack of long-term, reliable financing. We have struggled to access investments like irrigation systems and often end up buying substandard inputs,” Nyanzi said.
Ssemaduuka seeks to address such constraints by linking farmer SACCOs to financing, farm inputs, aggregation centres, digital payments and export markets. The programme is being implemented through the Buganda Cultural and Development Foundation.
Tunde Thorpe, head of business and commercial banking at Stanbic Bank Uganda, said the model is intended to support the entire agricultural value chain, from inputs to export markets.
He said the programme would strengthen SACCO governance, formalise payments and improve access to structured markets.
Robert Waggwa Nsibirwa, the second deputy Katikkiro and minister for Finance, said the initiative is aimed at improving household incomes and promoting commercial agriculture.
“Wealth will not find you in your house, it finds you in the garden. Agriculture is the backbone of our people’s prosperity,” Nsibirwa said.
He urged farmers to embrace organised production and transition from subsistence farming to sustainable agribusiness.
According to research data cited at the launch, more than 70% of members of PEWOSA SACCO are women, highlighting the role of the initiative in supporting women-led enterprises.
Emmanuel Naigombe, head of agribusiness at Stanbic Bank Uganda, said the Buganda Cultural and Development Foundation would recommend qualifying SACCOs for support. The bank would then assess them and extend structured credit facilities where appropriate.
Under the model, farmers will access inputs through designated Masaza stores, while produce will be aggregated and linked to organised buyers. Transactions will be digitised through the bank’s One Farm platform to facilitate trade finance and export flows.
Coffee remains one of Uganda’s leading cash crops and a major source of income for rural households. However, production has been increasingly affected by climate variability, pests, diseases and limited access to affordable financing.
The partners say the new model is intended to make coffee farming more resilient and commercially viable by improving access to finance, inputs and markets.
