Sironko Woman MP Asha Mafabi Nabulo Urges President Museveni to Back Smallholder Farmers

Sironko District Woman Member of Parliament, Hon. Asha Mafabi Nabulo, has appealed to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to give deliberate policy guidance on the mobilisation and organisation of Uganda’s smallholder farmers to enable them to participate effectively in commercial agriculture.

Sironko District Woman MP Hon Asha Mafabi Nabulo(on mic) gives her submission.

Hon. Nabulo made the submission while addressing the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Parliamentary Caucus at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, where President Museveni, who is also the NRM National Chairman, was engaging Members of Parliament on their role in implementing government programmes and improving the livelihoods of Ugandans.

Nabulo said she supports the Government’s emphasis on commercial agriculture but noted that the majority of Ugandan farmers are smallholders who require deliberate organisation and coordinated support if they are to move from small-scale production to commercially viable farming.

“My issue is on commercial agriculture. We appreciate the concept, we want to be part of the journey, but Your Excellency, 89% of Ugandan farmers are smallholder farmers,” Nabulo told President Museveni.

She asked the President to issue guidance that would enable MPs and other leaders to return to their constituencies and deliberately mobilise smallholder farmers to work together, rather than operating as isolated individual producers.

“I therefore request that you give us an instruction, a deliberate instruction so that we go back and deliberately mobilise our smallholder farmers to work together so that we can produce at commercial scale,” she said.

Nabulo proposes agro-ecological zoning

Nabulo proposed the use of agro-ecological zoning as one of the mechanisms through which smallholder farmers could be organised into commercially productive groups.

She argued that different parts of Uganda have varying agricultural conditions and that farmers should be guided towards crops and enterprises that perform well in their respective areas.

According to Nabulo, identifying specific crops suitable for specific areas would enable farmers to specialise and increase the scale and efficiency of their production.

“And this can be achieved through agro ecological zoning of specific areas, identifying specific crops which do well in specific areas,” she said.

She further proposed the establishment of farmer service centres to provide farmers with a wide range of services required throughout the agricultural value chain.

The centres, she explained, should provide technical knowledge, agricultural inputs, logistics and links to markets, allowing farmers to access several critical services from coordinated points.

She said the proposed approach should provide “the full spectrum of support to small farmers,” rather than focusing only on financing or agricultural inputs.

Calls for strategic use of PDM and Emyooga resources

Nabulo also pointed to existing government programmes, particularly the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga, as possible channels through which the proposed agricultural transformation could be supported.

She told the President that resources are already being provided through these programmes, but argued that their deployment could be made more deliberate and strategic to strengthen organised commercial production at community level.

“Your Excellency, the resources are actually there. And that is through the Emyooga program, the PDM,” Nabulo said.

“We can use the same resources, but more deliberate and strategic in how we disperse them to the communities.”

Her submission therefore focused not only on increasing agricultural financing but also on how existing government resources can be better coordinated around organised farmers, suitable enterprises and identified markets.

Focus on smallholder farmers

Nabulo's intervention placed smallholder farmers at the centre of the commercial agriculture discussion, arguing that Uganda's agricultural transformation must take into account the realities of the farmers who currently dominate the sector.

Under her proposed model, farmers would be mobilised to work collectively, with agricultural activities guided by the suitability of particular crops and enterprises to specific areas. 

The model would then connect organised farmers to technical expertise, inputs, logistics and markets through farmer service centres.

Such an approach, she argued, could help address some of the challenges faced by individual smallholder farmers when attempting to participate in commercial agriculture, including limited access to information, inputs, transportation and reliable markets.

Nabulo's proposal also fits into the broader government agenda of moving households from subsistence production towards income-generating and market-oriented activities.

Museveni urges MPs to monitor government programmes

Nabulo made her submission at a time when President Museveni was urging NRM legislators to strengthen their engagement with voters and take a more active role in monitoring government programmes in their constituencies.

The President called on MPs to spend more time interacting with communities, understanding the challenges facing households and following up on the implementation of government initiatives designed to improve household incomes.

He emphasised the importance of leaders ensuring that government programmes translate into tangible economic benefits for citizens.

Nabulo's call for more deliberate mobilisation of smallholder farmers therefore seeks to give MPs a more defined role in helping communities organise around productive agricultural enterprises and make better use of existing government support programmes.

Nabulo pledges continued support

At the conclusion of her submission, the Sironko District Woman MP thanked President Museveni for listening to her concerns and reaffirmed her commitment to serving the country and supporting the NRM's development agenda.

“Thank you so much, Your Excellency, for listening to me. I remain your humble servant and dedicated leader,” Nabulo said.

Her submission highlighted the need for a coordinated approach to commercial agriculture in which smallholder farmers are organised, production is guided by local agricultural conditions, and government support is linked to technical expertise, inputs, logistics and markets.

For Sironko and other predominantly agricultural communities, the proposed model would place greater emphasis on collective production and market access as part of efforts to increase household incomes and strengthen the contribution of smallholder farmers to Uganda's commercial agriculture agenda.