By Watango Janey

Young farmers in Zombo District have raised alarm over the persistent supply of counterfeit and substandard agricultural inputs, particularly Irish potato seed tubers that fail to germinate even under favourable weather conditions.

The concerns were voiced during a stakeholders’ dialogue organised by the Young Farmers’ Federation of Uganda (UNYFA) at the Zombo District headquarters on 9 July 2026. 

The forum allowed young farmers’ groups to present a position paper highlighting key constraints affecting youth engagement in agriculture across the district.

Participants identified poor quality and high cost of agricultural inputs, limited access to agricultural finance, and low awareness of available financing opportunities as major bottlenecks to increased productivity and profitability in crop farming.

Deogratious Okweda, Zombo District Youth Chairperson, noted that insecurity in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan continues to disrupt cross-border trade and threaten farming livelihoods.

He said the two countries remain critical markets and economic partners for the district’s agricultural sector. 

Okweda further cited illegal roadblocks, harassment, and volatile market prices as additional barriers hindering smooth agricultural marketing and progress.

Mungu Acel Mario, Chairperson of the Zombo District Farmers Association (ZODFA), called for the integration of the youth farming agenda into the district development plan.

He urged young farmers to utilise the official platform provided by ZODFA offices to address their challenges and advised them to take advantage of the existing Irish potato market linkage offered by Samz in Kampala.

“I urge you the youths to alleviate poverty through hard work. We have many ways through which we can,” Mungacel said.

Agriculture contributes approximately 70 percent of Uganda’s GDP, and greater involvement of young people in the sector is seen as a direct strategy to tackle high youth unemployment while improving rural livelihoods.

Herbert Mawejje, Project Officer with the Young Farmers’ Federation of Uganda, explained that UNYFA is an umbrella body for young farmers in the country.

Established in 2016 and formally launched in June 2017 as a member-based organisation, the federation has over 72 member associations, including district young farmers’ groups, youth agro-based initiatives, and school agricultural clubs, representing more than 41,000 individual young farmers.

UNYFA operates across six regions of West Nile, Northern, Far Eastern, Eastern, Central, and Western with a mission to foster a holistically transformed youth in agriculture for a sustainable economy.

Its target age group is youths aged 12 to 39 years engaged in rural or urban agro-enterprises, whether in or out of school.

The calls come amid worrying national statistics. According to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), 30 to 40 percent of seeds sold in Uganda are counterfeit. 

A Feed the Future survey indicated that over half of seeds on the market are fake. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has linked counterfeit pesticides to productivity losses of up to 43 percent, while fake cassava cuttings have caused production drops of 35 percent in affected areas.

A young farmer in Oliri Village, Alangi sub county weeds her garden.

Mike Rwothomio is news editor at Zoomer Africa your number one grassroot information hub for African news trends and updates.