Kitgum farmers struggle to meet co-funding requirement for govt project

Kitgum, Uganda | URN | Failure by farmers in Kitgum District to raise co-funding contributions is threatening their access to support under the Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project (UCSATP), district officials have warned.

Barnabas Opiyo, the Kitgum district focal point officer for the project, said only three out of 211 registered farmer groups have fully met the required co-funding threshold. The six-year project, funded jointly by the Government of Uganda and the World Bank, supports farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices through a cost-sharing arrangement. Under the programme, the government meets 80 percent of production costs, while farmers contribute the remaining 20 percent.

“We have registered 211 farmer groups across different enterprises, but only three groups have fully co-funded. The remaining groups are still struggling with the problem of co-funding,” Opiyo said. According to district records, the registered groups include 117 crop farmer groups, 45 apiary groups focusing on beneficial insects, 10 groups working with black soldier flies, eight fisheries groups, and 31 livestock groups.

Officials warned that failure to raise the required funds could lock out many groups—especially crop farmers—from benefiting during the current planting season. “We are worried about crop enterprises because they are affected by seasonal limitations. Those who have not contributed may miss the first season, but they should work hard to be ready for the second season,” Opiyo said.

He explained that farmers can benefit from the project only once, making the initial co-funding contribution critical. Opiyo attributed the low compliance to financial constraints, noting that many farmers are struggling to balance household needs such as school fees and daily expenses.

“Some farmers have saved part of the money but have not reached the full amount required. Others had money but withdrew it after thinking the project had been delayed,” he said. He urged farmer groups to scale down their input requests to manageable levels in order to reduce the co-funding burden.

Officials said registration and funding compliance for the final batch of beneficiaries will remain open until September, giving groups more time to mobilise resources. Despite the delays, authorities emphasized that the project remains active and encouraged farmers to take advantage of the opportunity before the deadline.

“The project is real and ongoing. Farmers who complete their co-funding will benefit, but those who fail to meet the requirement will miss out,” Opiyo said. Geoffrey Oloya, a member of Gum Pa Lacwec Farmers’ Group in Kampala Anyuka Village, Labongo Amida Sub-county, said their group is among those that have failed to raise the co-fund.

Oloya said the group’s 34 members engage in soya bean and sunflower growing, but their crops have been devastated by floods over the past two seasons, affecting their ability to raise the required contribution. He suggested that the government consider allowing farmers to pay at least half of the co-funding amount.

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