Farming Pharaohs Serve Jobs, Inspires Commercial Farming in Madi Okolo

At a remote farm, in Madi-Okolo, a remote district in northwestern Uganda, an Egyptian businessman prepares bananas for a visiting team of Arab origin. 

“Go ahead and try them,” Muhamed Ismail beacons his guests as they rush toward the goat’s pen. 

His visitors have come from Egypt to “just see how we are fairing here and to assess the potential of this area”.

Ismail is the Production Manager at the over 150-acre establishment. It is owned by Alwadee For Investments Limited – an Arab investment company that is leveraging Uganda’s fertile soils to make a footing in Agribusiness. 

The company is investing into large scale agriculture in the west nile region, with farms in Pakwach, Nebi, and Madi Okolo.

However, it is not a sole entity. But many investors operating different projects under the same establishment. 

Alwadee finds the farms, leases the land, and invites interested parties to come and tryout different ventures. 

On this farm, over 17 different parties have merged capital to try their luck on livestock, bananas, vegetables, fruit farming among other things. 

In this approach, Alwadde is also inspiring other Arab potential investors to try luck in Uganda’s agricultural sector, using the success stories that have started to come through. 

“We have investors from Egypt, Qatar, Saud Arabia, United Arab Emirates and many other countries,” Ismail says, he says adding that “we are convincing others to come here and we are the ones that are managing their investment.”

Agriculture is Uganda’s biggest economic activity, employing about 75% of the population. However, it only contributes about 40% to the GDP.  

The reason is that agricultural production is limited by reliance on natural weather conditions, use of traditional methods and equipment and lack of resources at farmers level to increase production.

Over the years, the government has been pushing for greater commercialization of agriculture by encouraging the use of irrigation and mechanized farming. 

Elizabeth Balyejusa Kizito, a professor in plant breeding and the Director of Research, Partnerships, and Innovation (DRPI) at Uganda Christian University, admitted that commercial farming is not as cheap as many may anticipate. 

“You need an initial amount of capital to do commercial farming which most local farmers have limited access to …  If you use a tractor to open up the land, one would need to part with cash for that,” she says. 

Also, although many investors have dared at commercial agricultural production in the country, the sector is way below in terms of attracting foreign direct investments. 

Alwadee is one of the few for example making attempts at the rocky and rugged yet fertile terrain of the northwestern region. It is leveraging the extensive use of tractors to till large swatches of land. 

“Our tractors save us a lot of time and they are very efficient at what they do,” Ismail notes. 

At a community level, the farm is serving decent employment to its young and energetic whose ability to make much from the land has been thwarted by resource constraints 

The Company employs about 100 workers in the farms and this number can always triple to 300 according to the season.

It is also encouraging farmers to venture into production of vegetables like Okra production, and supports them in finding market outside the country. 

Sirage Mohammed, 22, has dedicated himself to Alwadde Farm, nurturing a dream of one day owning his own farm. 

“On top of a job, I have gained skills in agriculture and I now want to work with the farm as an out-grower,” he says. 

However, he remains weary whether his preexisting conditions can facilitate the dream. 

Professor Balyejjusa says for such farmers, the only powerful solution to break the cycle of unproductivity is to uniting for a common agenda. 

“By collaborating, they gain significant advantages and enhanced bargaining power when negotiating with middlemen,” she explains.

Elizabeth also notes that most government  and non government supported projects, usually benefit farmers organized in collectives.