By Ojok Robert Mone

Gulu City

The International Trade Centre, has launched a 5-year project to enhance disaster resilience and competitiveness of agribusinesses and smallholder farmers in 10 districts in the greater Northern Uganda. 

The project funded by Korea international cooperation agency is targeting value addition in selected crops like shea, cassava and oilseeds.

The project named “Strengthening Agribusiness Resilience and Competitiveness(STAR)” shall be implemented in the selected districts of Lira, Oyam, Pader, Lamwo, Kitgum, Agago, Abim, Karenga, Kaabong, Kotido that started last year and shall end in December 2026.

The chief of Green and inclusive value chain at international trade centre, Vanessa Erogbogbo said the selected crops have high market and health values
According to Vanessa, the project shall extend support to 60-small and medium enterprises and one thousand households with focus to build competitiveness and resilience to natural disasters, linking them to local and external markets through improved quality and productivity. 

Waithera Muriithi, the Chief Executive Officer of TUA-Uganda involved in cassava value addition based in Lira thinks this project shall help in the extension services and financial literacy. “We believe that such partnership and intervention will help us address some of the challenges being faced by small holder farmers, as a company we want to see our farmers look at their activities as a viable business”, Muriithi said

Meanwhile, Leonora Abalo Okello a processor of shea butter in Pader town council is looking at the partnership to build storage and linkage to external market. He said as Pader Shea butter cooperative society, they are able to process shea in large quantity but the challenge is around storage and linking them to market. “As Pader Shea butter cooperative we are processing shea butter in large quantity but we are having the challenges of storage and market”, she noted.
 
The country director Korea international cooperation Agency (KOICA), Ahn Jihee, thinks that the project aims at propelling women and youth into the value addition chain making them to move away for the idea of selling their produce as raw materials.

Frank Mwebesa, the minister of Trade industries and cooperatives believes that this project will help in addressing poverty in the region.
Acholi Subregion has the highest poverty rate 68% compared to the national average rate of 28%.

The region is an agro-based with high reliance on rudimentary farm tools, lack of irrigation facility, poor post harvest handling including storage and packaging, limited access to market among others.  
   
STAR project seeks to enhance the capacity of local disaster risk management committees to respond to the challenges posed by climate change by strengthening local Disaster Risk Management committees.

The project will also work with business support organizations and policymakers to better support small and medium-sized enterprises and producers institutionally focusing on enhancing the socio-economic development of partner countries through various projects and initiatives.

COVER PHOTO: L-R ITC official, Minister of trade Frank Mwebesa and KOICA official at the launch By Ojok Robert Mone