Kayunga — A pilot project on agricultural information has been launched to benefit farmers.

The farmers' information management pilot project was launched by the Uganda National Farmers' Federation (UNFFE).

It is intended to help farmers access agricultural advisory services such as markets for inputs, outputs and weather advisory information by using Information Communication Technology (ICT).

"This is to help rural farmers make informed decisions on what, when and in what quantities to produce, and where to sell the produce without being exploited by the middlemen," Mr Chebet Maikut, UNFFE's President, said at the launch at Kayunga Youth Centre on Saturday.

He said the project is piloted in Jinja, Luwero, and Kayunga districts and is being implemented by UNFFE, Information Communication Technology for Agriculture and Rural Development in partnership with the National Meteorological Department.

It is funded by Syngeta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture based in Switzerland. The pilot districts each received a computer and a world space radio connected to the ranet system.

Selected farmers' groups have been given village mobile telephones to help farmers seek information on long-term weather forecasts, market pricing, agronomical practices on high-income crops and livestock from the District Farmers' Associations.

Through the sale of airtime, each village will repay the loan used to purchase the telephone kit and raise money to help another village buy a kit.

Each kit of a village mobile phone costs about Shs45,000.