Micro and Small Enterprises (SMEs) have been urged to embrace value addition to their agricultural products and use formal and modern management practices if they are to grow into larger and more profitable enterprises.
The call was made at the closure of the Agric development programme held at Uganda Research Institute (URI) that aimed at empowering all SMEs in value addition and financial literacy.
The training was organized by Federation of Small Medium Sized Enterprises in Uganda (FSME) in partnership with Post Bank Uganda to carry out capacity building in some of the selected areas.
Experts explained that some of the constraints hindering the commercialization of agriculture by SMEs and general development of the agricultural value chains include low levels of value addition, poor seed quality, low produce and lack of market access.
According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), agriculture is the most important sector of the economy as it employs more than one-third of the work force along the value chain and there are still other opportunities of making some money.
Speaking during the event, the State Minister of Finance for Investment and Privatization, Evelyn Anite said they are in an era and time when women should step up and come to the forefront economically.
She said such training empowers women to rise from being small medium to large enterprise owners.
