A 3.9 Billion Shillings project to support youth and other vulnerable groups dealing in agriculture has been launched.
The project funded by GOAL International with support from the Master Card Foundation will support 300,000 beneficiaries in 18 districts. The target groups include young women and men, refugees and youth with disabilities.
Under the project, groups will access financial services, agriculture skills training, access and participate in the farm activities and increase their participation along the agriculture value chain. The project will be implemented by Kabarole Research and Resource Centre.
Speaking on Friday at the launch of the project in Kasese, Aloysius Tulinabo, the market systems specialist at GOAL says that the major objective of the project is to skill youths to improve their livelihoods and incomes. He adds that they also want to train young farmers on how they can use technology to expand their product market.
Richard Tusiime, the project assistant Young Africa Works: Markets for a youth project, says they will focus on value addition, marketing and interest the youth to take agriculture as a business.
In Kasese, the project will be implemented in Hima, Rughendabara, Ibanda-Kyanya, Kicwamba and Karusandara sub-county.
Queen Asiimwe the gender focal person in Kasese District says that young people have not fully embraced agriculture because they lack knowledge and support.
The Kasese LCV Chairperson Eliphaz Muhindi is hopeful that lessons learnt from the selected beneficiaries will be replicated across the district.
He asks implementers to work with all local stakeholders for effective monitoring and evaluation of the project.
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