Young Women Rewriting the Story of Rural Agriculture

Lok-Oroma Gloria

📍 Nwoya District, Northern Uganda

Gloria travelled from Nwoya District as one of 25 young women representing her area at the Expo. Like many of her peers, she came with limited exposure to modern farming techniques and few connections beyond her local market. Over the three days, she moved through exhibition stalls and training sessions covering poultry rearing and vegetable production, paying close attention to methods she had never seen before — including growing vegetables in repurposed bottles, a low-cost technique well suited to the limited land many young women in her group work with.

For Gloria, the value of the Expo was not just in what she learned, but in what she now plans to do with it. She sees herself not only applying these new methods on her own plot, but carrying them back to the Pima Farmers Group so the whole group benefits.

I am grateful to Omia Agribusiness for bringing us here to learn many things about agribusiness. I have learnt about poultry farming and vegetable farming using bottles, which knowledge I will cascade to my group members.

Drichiru Zulieka

📍 Yumbe District, Northern Uganda

Zulieka was one of 53 young women who travelled from Yumbe District, the largest single group at the Expo. Among the techniques that stood out most to her was the idea that crops could be successfully planted in pots — a method that opens up farming possibilities even where open land is scarce or contested.

What stayed with Zulieka most was not just the technique itself, but how clearly she could see herself replicating it back home. She left the Expo with a specific plan: apply the new methodology on her own farm exactly as it was demonstrated, then bring the United and Peace Farmers Group into the process so the benefits are shared rather than kept to herself.

We also learned that crops can be planted in pots. When I get back home, I will replicate the training and incorporate the new methodology into my farming, just as it was taught to me. I also plan to share everything we learned with the other group members so that we can apply it together and bring development to our group.

Urinji B Young Women Group

📍 Urinji Village, Lodongo Sub-County, Yumbe District

In mid-2025, a group of determined young women in Urinji Village united to form the Urinji B Young Women Group, motivated by a shared desire to break free from cycles of poverty and subsistence farming. With guidance from Field Extension Officers, the group went through a structured enterprise selection process and identified cabbage production as a promising enterprise with strong market potential and nutritional value.

Before the SIYEP Programme intervention, the group struggled with limited technical knowledge that often led to failed or rotted crops, financial losses, and food insecurity. Many members had relied on unpredictable traditional field crops such as cassava and beans, which offered little income and kept them in survival mode. The intervention changed that trajectory through hands-on training covering the full production process from land preparation and nursery bed management to pest control, harvesting, and marketing.

On just a quarter-acre demonstration garden, the group generated UGX 1.5 million, their first major success in commercial horticulture. The achievement has sparked both collective and individual momentum: the group is now planning to scale up into larger cabbage and onion production, while several members have started personal enterprises, with two already purchasing cabbage seeds to replicate the model on their own land.

I used to focus on field crops that repeatedly brought losses. The SIYEP training opened my eyes to the potential of horticulture. With regular monitoring by extension officers and the skills I’ve gained, I am optimistic and dream of expanding to large-scale production that can support my family and inspire others.

— Maliko Shamira, Group Member

The knowledge from this demonstration garden goes beyond farming techniques, it is empowerment. We are now farming as a business, ensuring food sustainability for our households and contributing to the community’s resilience.

— Abiria Sherifa, Group Chairperson

Asibazuyo Farmers Group

📍 Oraba Village, Kei Sub-County

Driven by a desire to acquire new knowledge and venture into farming as a business, the women of Oraba Village joined hands to form the Asibazuyo Farmers Group after being identified and mobilized by their Local Council Chairperson (LC1). With guidance from Omia under the Sustainable Inclusive Youth Employment Pathways (SIYEP) Programme, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and AFARD, the group was profiled and guided through an enterprise selection process that led them to cabbage production — a way to maximize the value of even small pieces of land.

Their first planting germinated well, and encouraged by that early success, the group transplanted seedlings onto an initial quarter-acre, then opened a second quarter-acre when they found they had surplus seedlings in the nursery bed. Despite facing a pest infestation along the way, the group showed remarkable resilience in nurturing their crops through to harvest.

Across the two quarter-acre plots, the group expects to earn at least UGX 1,000,000 from their cabbage harvest, and they are already planning to expand production onto one or more acres by venturing into maize and watermelon. For most members, who had never grown vegetables before due to a reliance on traditional field crops like beans, cassava, and maize, the experience has brought a new sense of confidence and a sustainable path to improving their families’ livelihoods.

Asibazuyo Farmers Group is determined to become a model of women’s empowerment in their community, and members are committed to sharing the skills they’ve gained with other women not yet part of the group.