Helping Farmers Hold on to More of What They Grow: Omony Polycarp’s AgroHope Journey

For farmers, months of hard work can be lost in just a few days.

In Northern Uganda, smallholder farmers often face significant post-harvest losses because they lack reliable ways to dry and preserve their produce. Traditional drying methods leave crops vulnerable to rain, pests, and contamination, often leaving farmers with a difficult choice: sell quickly at low prices or risk losing part of their harvest.

Omony realised how these losses were affecting farmers’ livelihoods and food security and set out to help farmers preserve more of what they grow and gain greater value from their hard work.

A Mastercard Foundation Scholars alumnus, social entrepreneur, and Founder and CEO of ADEM Agro Company Ltd, Omony understands that supporting farmers means looking beyond the point of production. It means helping them protect the value of what they have already worked so hard to grow.

As Project Lead of AgroHope Uganda, one of 10 projects awarded the AL for Agribusiness Co-Creation Fund, Omony and his team are introducing solar drying technology to farming communities in Omoro District. The initiative is particularly focused on supporting women farmers and rural households to preserve their harvests for longer, with the goal of reducing spoilage by up to 70% and extending shelf life to more than six months.

For a farmer, that extra time can mean a great deal. It can mean less food lost, more produce available for the family, and the freedom to wait for a better price rather than selling out of necessity immediately after harvest.

The team has already identified more than 300 beneficiary households through community sensitisation and engagement with local leaders and farmer groups. This approach is important to Omony because he believes lasting solutions must be built with communities, not simply introduced to them.

Through AgroHope, his vision is to help farmers experience agriculture not only as a means of survival, but as a more secure and rewarding livelihood.

By helping farmers keep more of what they grow, Omony is addressing a challenge that affects both household food security and income. His work is a reminder that sometimes meaningful change begins with a simple question: How can we help people get more from the work they are already doing?

For the farmers AgroHope serves, the answer could mean fewer losses, greater resilience, and a better chance to turn a harvest into lasting opportunity.