Uganda: Direct Sales Give Eastern Uganda's Cotton Farmers a Stronger Hand
[Bird Story Agency] Cotton farmers in eastern Uganda are bypassing village middlemen and selling collectively or directly to ginneries. The emerging model is giving growers greater control over weighing, payment and market access - and helping women turn seasonal cotton earnings into education, land, homes and productive assets.
Cotton farmers in eastern Uganda are gaining more control over their livelihoods by bypassing traditional middlemen and selling their cotton directly to ginneries or in collective arrangements. This shift is empowering farmers, particularly women, to invest their earnings in assets such as houses, education, and productive assets like oxen.
Nighty Acen, for example, sold her cotton directly to Iki-Iki Cotton Ginnery, which allowed her to avoid low prices and subpar weighing scales often imposed by middlemen. The model is gaining traction within a sector that supports 150,000 to 200,000 smallholder households across 75 districts, contributing to UGX1.045 trillion in farmer income and US$348 million in lint exports over the past decade.
While challenges such as unreliable weather, pests, and fluctuating prices persist, direct market access is providing farmers with greater control over the post-harvest stage of cotton production.
Brief written by urgent.news from AllAfrica's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
