Agricultural finance

Commercial banks, credit institutions and microfinance deposit-taking institutions held UGX 3,371.9 billion of loans to agriculture in August 2026, about US$892 million, against UGX 403.8 billion at the end of 2010¹². Agriculture's share of their lending rose from 7.1% in December 2010 to 13.6% in December 2019 and was 11.8% in August 2026¹. Commercial banks accounted for UGX 2,843.0 billion of the August 2026 total, 10.5% of their loans¹.

In dollar terms the stock rose from US$175 million at the end of 2010 to US$854 million at the end of 2025 and US$892 million in August 2026 (own conversion), as the shilling's year-end rate moved within a narrow range after 2016¹³². Part of farm credit is in dollars. Commercial banks' foreign-currency loans to agriculture were equivalent to UGX 1,133.2 billion in August 2026, 39.9% of their agricultural loans (own calculation), and UGX 955.5 billion of them financed processing and marketing¹.

Lending for farm production, including crops, livestock, poultry, fishing and forestry, rose from UGX 820.3 billion in December 2019 to UGX 1,794.9 billion in August 2026, and overtook lending for processing and marketing in 2025¹. Survey data show that farm households borrow mainly from informal and community lenders. Among agricultural households that received credit in 2019, 48.3% borrowed from self-help groups, 21.1% from SACCOs and 6.3% from commercial banks⁵. In 2023/24, 15.3% of adults accessed a loan, 51.0% of them from savings groups and 10.6% from commercial banks⁶.

Loan quality in agriculture weakened in 2015–2016. The sector's non-performing loan ratio at commercial banks rose from 5.6% in December 2014 to 16.2% in December 2015, mainly in foreign-currency loans, and was 17.4% in June 2016 on the Financial Stability Report basis⁷⁸. It fell to 9.1% in June 2019, when agriculture still held 30.4% of all non-performing loans⁹. The Bank of Uganda has not published a sector ratio since then. The ratio for all loans fell from 10.47% in December 2016 to 2.61% in June 2026, and the June 2026 Financial Stability Review reports a decline in the agricultural ratio without a figure¹⁰¹¹. During COVID-19, UGX 652.9 billion of agricultural loans, 33.9% of the sector's loans, were restructured by June 2020¹².

The Bank of Uganda lowered its Central Bank Rate from 23% at the end of 2011 to 6.5% in June 2021, raised it to 10% in October 2022 and held it at 9.75% from October 2024¹⁷. At a special meeting on 14 October 2026 it raised the rate to 12.0% and set the bank rate at 16.0%, after increasing the cash reserve requirement to 13.5% from 24 September 2026¹⁸. Commercial banks' average shilling lending rate was 17.90% in August 2026 and the foreign-currency rate 7.46%¹⁷. Agriculture paid an average of 20.1% on shilling loans in FY2025/26, against 20.3% for electricity and water and 15.7% for transport and communication⁴. Credit to the private sector was 14.3% of GDP in 2024¹⁹.

The Agricultural Credit Facility, set up in 2009 and administered by the Bank of Uganda, co-finances 50% of eligible loans with Government money at no interest to the lender and caps the borrower's rate at 12%, or 15% for grain working capital²⁰. By 30 June 2026 it had financed 15,313 projects with UGX 1.52 trillion, about US$414 million at the end-June 2026 rate, and disbursed UGX 288.3 billion in FY2025/26, and companies and groups held 74% of the cumulative value²⁰². From FY2022/23 the Government budgeted UGX 100 million a year for each parish SACCO under the Parish Development Model, for lending to households²¹²². By December 2025 it had released UGX 50 million of Parish Revolving Fund money to each of 10,589 SACCOs for the first half of FY2025/26²². The Auditor General found that UGX 3,258.9 billion had been released to SACCOs by June 2025, of which UGX 2,750.3 billion had reached households²³. Among beneficiaries who received Parish Revolving Fund loans by December 2022, whose 24-month grace period expired in December 2024, the Auditor General recorded voluntary repayments of UGX 9.34 billion by 18,105 beneficiaries in 709 SACCOs in 30 local governments²³. The Ministry of Finance reported that PDM SACCOs had cumulatively collected UGX 1.706 billion in loan repayments from 6,829 beneficiaries by the end of April 2026²². Emyooga, run through the Microfinance Support Centre, had capitalisation of UGX 760 billion and 7,148 SACCOs in June 2026²⁴²².

The Uganda Development Bank, a state development bank, had total assets of UGX 2.26 trillion at the end of 2025 and approved UGX 79.91 billion for 35 primary agriculture projects in that year²⁵. A Large-Scale Commercial Farmers Financing Scheme pays the interest for farmers of grains and animal feeds on more than 50 acres, and 186 farmers had borrowed UGX 169.1 billion under it by June 2026²⁴.

The Uganda Agriculture Insurance Scheme, started in 2016 and run by the Agro Consortium of insurers, subsidises premiums at 50% for small-scale farmers, 30% for large-scale farmers and 80% in disaster-prone areas²⁹³⁰. It insured 102,785 farmers in FY2024/25, with sums insured of UGX 879.79 billion, premiums of UGX 13.88 billion and claims of UGX 5.56 billion, and 1,010,256 farmers cumulatively by September 2025²². The insurance regulator recorded 106,374 agricultural policies in 2024, and penetration of all insurance was 0.87% of GDP³¹.

FinScope found 81% of adults financially included in 2023 and 68% formally included, 62% in rural areas, with mobile money the most used formal service³². Global Findex shows 72.8% of adults with an account in 2024, while 10.8% borrowed from a formal institution³³³⁴. Registered mobile money customers reached 59.84 million in July 2026³⁵. The Security Interest in Movable Property Act of 2019 allows movable assets to be used as collateral through a registry run by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, and the Bank of Uganda has licensed four credit reference bureaus³⁶³⁷³⁸.