AgriTech - MAAIF Financial Inclusion project.

The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) has received funding from World Bank towards the development of the Agriculture Cluster Development Project (ACDP). The main objective of ACDP is to raise on-farm productivity, production and market volumes of Beans, Rice, Maize, Cassava and Coffee in 12 geographical clusters making up 57 districts.‍

The World Bank partnered with the MAAIF in selecting M-Cash Uganda as winner, in the Financial Inclusion category, of the 2019 Disruptive Agricultural Technologies challenge.

MCash, winner of the Financial inclusion category, is coming on board as a parallel system to the e-Voucher Management system to support enrollment of farmers in the roll-out districts in selected clusters.

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MCash Uganda developed a new, secure database for the e-voucher management system working in parallel with the ACDP e-voucher management system. The project involves the training and equipping of the MAAIF staff, agricultural officers, and farmers to use the new system that provides a well monitored ecosystem for farmers to have access to industry-approved farming goods and services at affordable prices.

Guide on Financial Inclusion System

MAAIF contracted MCash Uganda Limited to supply and install a financial inclusion system that comprises of three sub modules:

1. e-KYC
2. e-Voucher
3. e-Commerce

These facilitate the issuance of subsidized inputs to farmers in 22 districts.

The Financial Inclusion system, powered by MCash, has 192,000 farmers enrolled with the capacity to expand to 450,000 farmers. The system is aimed at creating a direct linkage between farmers and trusted agro-input dealers since the enrolled farmers will be able to easily make orders of farm inputs and subsequently redeem their orders on delivery. This will be done using Web, and USSD for those without smart phones, and Mobile app for those with smart phones, and the use of POS machines through MCash agents.

The enrolled farmer will be saved the burden and cost of travelling long distances to and from the agro-input dealers' stores since inputs will be delivered to an agreed point nearest to the farmer.