Agriculture remains the backbone of Uganda’s economy, but its full potential is still hindered by various challenges. These include underfunding, inaccessible inputs, climate change, limited market information, and failure to modernize.
Even with all this happening, there is renewed hope as technology continues to aid the conceptualization, development, and roll-out of platforms to address these ills.
One such platform that is enabling thousands of farmers to get better yields from their gardens and ultimately earn more from agriculture is ETG Inputs.
According to Ponsiano Byansi, an agronomist at ETG, ETG Input is part of the wider Export Trading Group (ETG) that has been in operation since 1967. He says ETG Inputs specifically deals with the importation and distribution of fertilizers, crop protection products, and extension services.
“We are also in the digital space to ensure that farmers are not left behind in the digital era. We address this through our ETG one-stop solution APP that ensures that farmers have access to finance services, market information, and crop protection information. Not every farmer knows what chemical is used to kill what pest. So, through the ETG One-Sop Solutions APP, we ensure that this information is readily available to farmers. So, a farmer can make a diagnosis of their crop using the ETG one-stop solution APP. S/he can be able to know what disease they have in the garden and through the APP, they can contact an agronomist who is ready to provide real-time advice on what product the farmer should use,” Mr Byansi said.
He added: “The APP also provides the farmer with a financial management and expenses tracking platform that enables them to track down their expenses for a particular season. In addition, the APP allows us to collect Know your customer (KYC) information for customers and thus enables us to extend credit to big commercial farmers and Agro-dealers.”
Byansi noted that the ETG APP is available on Google Play store, readily accessible and usable by all farmers.
“Our vision is to offer 360 happiness and create a sustainable impact in the lives of farmers. We have about 500 Agro-dealers spread across Uganda. We have so far reached over 100,000 farmers from across Uganda.”
ETG Inputs has featured on Day 19 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.
Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.
With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.