Beyond the crown: Tracing Oyo’s cooperative legacy in Tooro
FORT PORTAL, October 15, 2026 — For more than three decades, the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV was known as the world’s youngest reigning monarch after ascending the Tooro throne at the age of three. Yet beyond the crown, royal ceremonies and the weight of tradition, King Oyo increasingly sought to associate the institution of monarchy with the social and economic transformation of his people. Agriculture was at the heart of that vision.
In a region where farming remains the main source of livelihood for millions of people, Oyo repeatedly encouraged his subjects to embrace agriculture as a business and as a pathway out of poverty. But one question this prompt is: Did King Oyo also see organised farmers, cooperatives and collective enterprise as part of the journey towards economic transformation? Evidence from his public engagements, agricultural programmes, and the experiences of farmers and cooperative leaders suggests that collective economic action featured prominently in the broader development philosophy promoted during his reign.
According to former Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire, King Oyo was passionate about seeing his people overcome poverty, particularly through agriculture.
“King Oyo also loved encouraging people to organise themselves in groups. Through his advice, most clans have SACCOs that bring them together to pull resources.”
A call to farmers to work together
In 2016, King Oyo advised farmers in Rwimi Subcounty, Bunyangabu District, to come together and form cooperatives. The message was significant in a region where many farmers traditionally produced and marketed their crops individually, often leaving them with limited bargaining power, poor access to markets and little control over the value chain. A decade later, that message appears to have gained renewed relevance. In 2026, coffee farmers from across Tooro began organising themselves under the proposed Tooro Coffee Cooperative Union, with the aim of increasing production, strengthening their bargaining power, promoting value addition and improving access to markets.
The farmers say they were inspired, in part, by the agricultural demonstration work associated with King Oyo’s model farm. The proposed union brings together stakeholders from Kabarole, Kyenjojo, Kamwenge, Kyegegwa and Bunyangabu, reflecting the regional character of Tooro’s coffee industry. For some farmers, the initiative is not simply about coffee. It is about building the kind of collective economic institution that can help farmers move from individual production to organised participation in the agricultural value chain.
Agriculture as a development strategy
Agriculture occupied a central position in the Tooro Kingdom’s development agenda during King Oyo’s reign. The kingdom’s Vision 2045 identified agriculture as one of its key areas of focus, with an emphasis on food security, poverty eradication, employment and wealth creation.
In 2022, King Oyo established a model farm in Bugaaki, Kyenjojo District, intended to demonstrate modern farming practices and provide farmers with practical skills. Rwomiire says the kingdom later planned to establish model farms across Tooro’s nine counties.
By 2025, the Bugaaki farm had become a symbol of the kingdom’s agricultural ambitions, featuring enterprises such as coffee, bananas, poultry, goats and cattle.
“During all king Oyo’s agricultural tours and public engagements, he would encourage his subjects, particularly young people, to embrace farming as a business rather than merely a means of subsistence,” Rwomiire explained.
During his tours across Tooro, the King described farming as a pathway to fighting poverty and increasing household incomes. He also directed the kingdom’s leadership to fast-track the distribution of coffee and cocoa seedlings to farmers.
Where do cooperatives fit?
Producing more is only one part of the agricultural equation. For farmers to benefit from farming, they must also have access to affordable inputs, finance, information, processing facilities and reliable markets. This is where cooperatives and farmer organisations become important. By working collectively, farmers can bulk their produce, negotiate prices, access financial services, share information and reduce some of the disadvantages associated with selling individually.
The principle was evident in earlier efforts to promote farmer organisation in Tooro. In 2019, for example, the Tooro Kingdom and the Government entered into a partnership focused on banana research and value addition. Kingdom officials referred to the establishment of Kabarole Tooke Cooperative Society, through which banana farmers would market their produce. The initiative reflected a growing recognition that agricultural transformation would require farmers to move beyond individual production and marketing. King Oyo expressed interest in and support for such collaborations.
A new generation of cooperatives
The cooperative question has become even more relevant with the kingdom’s increasing focus on youth and agriculture. In 2025, the Tooro Kingdom launched agricultural and youth-empowerment initiatives targeting young people through coffee and cocoa production, entrepreneurship and skills development. Youth incubation centres were established, including a facility in Kyaka County, Kyegegwa District, equipped to support agricultural and entrepreneurship activities.
The initiatives were linked to the kingdom’s wider development plan and sought to provide young people with practical opportunities to build sustainable livelihoods. The approach also attracted government attention. In September 2025, President Yoweri Museveni met King Oyo and kingdom leaders to discuss the agricultural youth-empowerment programmes. The discussions highlighted the importance of organising farmers so that they could benefit from agricultural interventions. The President specifically referred to farmers organised under savings and credit cooperative societies [SACCOs], illustrating the intersection between the kingdom’s agricultural agenda and Uganda’s broader cooperative-based approach to grassroots economic development.
The King Oyo effect
Perhaps the clearest indication of the King’s influence can now be found among the farmers themselves. The formation of the proposed Tooro Coffee Cooperative Union in 2026 came after years in which the King Oyo model farm had been used to promote modern agricultural production. Farmers involved in the initiative say the demonstration farm inspired them to think beyond production and consider how collective organisation could help them address some of the challenges facing individual farmers.
Jonathan Kule, a coffee farmer from Karangura Subcounty in Kabarole District, says the idea of forming a coffee cooperative union is timely, particularly at a time when coffee is earning farmers better returns.
“Coffee has been my source of income for many years, and coming together as farmers in one union will help us join hands and add value to our coffee, have strong bargaining power and, in turn, earn us more money.”
He said the Oyo model farm had been an inspiration to farmers because of its practical, hands-on approach to modern farming.
“When I visited King Oyo model farm in Kyenjojo, I found many enterprises, including coffee, cocoa, tea, bananas, dairy and other enterprises supporting thousands of households. We shall live to remember King Oyo for this initiative.”
Yet farmers continue to face challenges, including fluctuating prices, limited value addition, inadequate access to finance, pests and diseases, limited market information and weak bargaining power. Strong farmers’ cooperatives could potentially provide part of the solution.
Was King Oyo a cooperative champion?
The evidence suggests that King Oyo supported the principle of collective organisation, particularly where it could strengthen the economic position of farmers.
However, it would be inaccurate to portray him as the sole architect of Tooro’s cooperative movement.
The region had cooperatives and SACCOs long before his reign. Instead, his contribution appears to have been in placing agriculture, youth empowerment, collective development and wealth creation within the kingdom’s broader development agenda.
His calls for farmers to organise into cooperatives, his support for agricultural value-addition initiatives, the establishment of the model farm and the kingdom’s subsequent agricultural programmes all form part of that legacy.
Sliver Kyamanywa, General Manager of Kihondo Tukwatanize Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited, says King Oyo’s contribution to cooperatives was mainly through mobilisation.
“King Oyo didn’t contribute directly to the cooperative movement. However, his contribution was felt through mobilisation and his strong contribution to agriculture. Most of our SACCO members are farmers,” Kyamanywa said.
He added that cooperative leaders were often invited to kingdom activities, giving them opportunities to interact with communities and encourage more people to join cooperatives.
For Enosi Muthahinga, Manager of Kabonero Coffee Cooperative Society in Bunyangabu District, the King’s agricultural initiatives also created opportunities for farmers to learn from one another.
He said members of his cooperative visited the King Oyo model farm in Bugaaki, Kyenjojo District, to learn modern methods of coffee production.
“Farmers learn from each other, and the king establishing a model farm in Kyenjojo was a gesture that he loved his people and encouraged them to work hard by acting as an example. I hope his legacy will live for generations to come.”
Inspired by what they saw at the model farm, Muthahinga said coffee farmers began considering the formation of a cooperative union that would give them stronger bargaining power.
A legacy that could outlive the King
King Oyo died on August 27, 2026, at the age of 34, bringing to an end a 31-year reign that began when he was only three years old. His death has triggered a national conversation about his legacy, including his contribution to development, youth empowerment, agriculture, health and environmental conservation. His agricultural agenda may prove to be one of the areas in which his development legacy becomes most measurable. The challenge now is whether the institutions, programmes and ideas promoted during his reign can survive beyond him.
For cooperatives, the opportunity is particularly significant. If farmers can organise successfully, improve quality, move into value addition and negotiate collectively, the cooperative movement could become one practical way of translating the King’s development philosophy into sustainable household incomes. The proposed Tooro Coffee Cooperative Union may therefore be more than a farmers’ organisation. It could become a test of whether some of the development ideas promoted during King Oyo’s reign can be transformed into sustainable institutions owned and driven by the people themselves.
Prominent coffee farmer Happy Tusingwire from Bunyangabu District was appointed interim chairperson of the proposed union and tasked with providing leadership during its establishment phase.
“The union will also make it easier to identify and organise coffee farmers across the region. I encourage more farmers to join the coffee value chain and benefit from the opportunities within the sector,” Tusingwire said.
For a King who repeatedly urged his subjects to view agriculture as a pathway out of poverty, the success of organised farmers may ultimately become one of the most tangible measures of the economic legacy he leaves behind. Beyond the crown, the lasting impression may not be whether King Oyo was personally a cooperator. It may be that he helped create a culture in which Tooro’s farmers increasingly understood that working together can be as important as farming itself.
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