LIRA– Equity Bank Uganda in partnership with SunCulture Uganda has launched a loan facility to help smallholder farmers in Lango and Acholi sub-regions to acquire solar-powered irrigation equipment.
The loan partnership launched on Friday at Junior Quarters cell in Lira City will enable farmers in the two sub-regions to engage in agricultural production throughout the year.
Speaking during the launch of the loan facility, Virginia Ssemakula, the manager, energy, environment, and climate change at Equity Bank said farmers in Uganda and the rest of Africa can no longer rely on rain alone to carry out farming.
“As Equity Bank, we have seen that farmers are just struggling to farm due to scarcity of rain. That is why we have come together with SunCulture to offer a solution,” she said. SunCulture supplies solar-powered systems for irrigation.
She asked farmers to acquire the irrigation system by offering an initial payment of 10 percent and later clear the remaining balance within a period agreed with the bank.
She said the loan for irrigation is part of Equity Bank`s financing for clean energy and facilitates adoption of climate-smart agriculture.
Anne Kayiria, the national manager SunCulture Uganda, said farming during the dry season is profitable since very few farmers who have the means to irrigate their farms remain active, as the rest have to wait for the next rainy season.
Some of the smallholder farmers this reporter talked to welcomed the initiative by Equity Bank and SunCulture, saying it will boost agricultural production in Northern Uganda but also boost the incomes of households.
“We are happy that the loan facility will help us to get irrigation equipment for production during the dry season, and that means we will earn more money from selling our produce such as vegetables grown during the season,” a farmer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said.
According to experts, solar-powered system converts solar radiation directly into electricity at the farm and automatically fetches water from nearby sources. “It means farmers do not have to worry about erratic rainfall anymore, empowering them to grow crops faster and better.”
https://thecooperator.news/tororo-construction-of-shs-716mln-irrigation-scheme-launched/
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