KOLOLO: The Vice President Maj. (Rtd) Jessica Alupo, has flagged off the distribution of 109 vehicles and 1,034 motorcycles as part of the government’s efforts to strengthen agricultural extension services across the country.
The vehicles and motorcycles were handed over to 69 districts implementing the Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project (UCSATP) with the main objective of increasing productivity,improve market access and resilience of the value chains.
The six-year initiative is funded by the World Bank and being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
This comes within a broader national investment of USD354m, targeting 3.9m direct beneficiaries across 69 districts, including refugee-hosting communities.
Speaking at the flagging-off ceremony on Tuesday, 21st April 2026,at Kololo Independence Grounds, VP Alupo that these 109 vehicles and 1034 motorcycles with their accessories are key tools in strengthening our capacity to deliver services to farmers, improving project implementation efficiency, and accelerating Uganda’s journey towards climate-smart agricultural transformation.
She highlighted that today’s handover represents the fulfilment of Government’s commitment to equip front-line extension workers and technical teams to effectively serve our farmers.
“For a long time, limited mobility has constrained last-mile service delivery. These vehicles and motorcycles will now enable our extension staff to reach farmers more efficiently, provide timely technical support, strengthen monitoring, and enhance accountability in the use of public resources,” the vice president said.
As she handed over these assets, Alupo emphasized the importance of proper management, maintenance, and accountability.
“I urge all district leaders and users to use these assets strictly for official government and project activities, ensure proper maintenance and safeguarding, and Uphold transparency and accountability in their utilization,” she urged.
She further warned that these are public resources entrusted to you to serve our farmers and there should be no more excuses not to serve the farmers.
Alupo stressed that as Government, they remain committed to strengthening the implementation of the Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project to ensure it delivers tangible benefits to the people.
She called upon all implementing agencies, districts, and stakeholders to intensify efforts, improve coordination, and accelerate execution of planned activities so that we achieve the project development objectives within the set timelines.
In the same vein, the VP called on the World Bank to continue supporting effective implementation of UCSATP, providing technical guidance, and fast-tracking the AgriConnect initiative, which presents a great opportunity to unlock further investments in key areas of the agricultural sector like mechanization, irrigation, value addition, and market access.
“The success of this project depends on our collective commitment as Government, development partners, and district-level implementers. Let us use this opportunity to deliver results, transform livelihoods, and build a resilient agricultural sector for Uganda,” Alupo said.
The VP noted that through the Minister of Agriculture, and his technical team, the agriculture sector has made remarkable strides in terms of employment contribution, exports, and income generation for majority of the population.
Uganda is now the number one coffee exporter in Africa, earning the country USD 2.4 billion for the last 12 months. These earnings also reflect growth in household incomes among the coffee producing households.
On his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Frank Tumwebaze, noted that it remains the ministry’s policy objective to ensure all extension workers have adequate means of transport to carry out farm outreaches, advisory services, and data collection.
He also appealed to local leaders, including Members of Parliament, LC5 chairpersons, Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), District Internal Security Officers (DISOs), and councillors, to ensure the deployed tools are put to good use and maintained properly.
Tumwebaze thanked the World Bank for prioritising agriculture in its funding and lending framework.
The flagged-off vehicles and motorcycles will serve as the logistical backbone for field-level extension staff operating in the 69 targeted districts.
The UCSATP is a system-transforming intervention addressing the real constraints in the agricultural sector including low productivity and limited access to quality inputs, weak extension services and farmers outreach, climate shocks and unreliable rainfall, poor market linkages and post-harvest losses.
Others are; low mechanization and high dependence on manual labour. To address all the above, the project is investing across the entire value chain in terms of climate-smart research, seeds, and breeds, mechanization centres, irrigation, and water for production, livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture development and institutional strengthening including the mobility assets like the ones handed over today etc.
