By Mulengera Reporters
Growing demand for agricultural financing is putting increasing pressure on the Bank of Uganda-managed Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF), with the programme receiving 801 loan applications against 95 disbursements in the quarter ending March 2024.
The figures highlight the scale of demand facing the facility as it operates with a team of only seven staff, according to an independent evaluation by the National Planning Authority (NPA).
The evaluation, commissioned by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and released in May 2026, says the existing team is handling a wide range of responsibilities, including project management, investment monitoring, advisory services and loan-related functions.
The 801 applications received during the quarter demonstrate the volume of requests that the small team is required to handle.
Of these applications, 95 loans were disbursed, representing about 12% of applications during the period. The evaluation notes that not all applications would necessarily qualify for financing, but says the significant gap points to the need for greater institutional capacity to process demand efficiently.
The assessment found that all sampled participating financial institutions (PFIs) reported slow response times, which they attributed either to staffing constraints or the complexity of the loan application process.
Rather than questioning the ACF’s lending mandate, the evaluation points to the need to strengthen the facility’s human resources so that BoU can respond more effectively to growing demand and maintain service standards.
The NPA estimates that the ACF would require at least 43 operational staff to process an average monthly workload of about 244 applications, assuming a processing rate of 1.5 days per application.
After adding management positions and accounting for estimated staff attrition, the recommended establishment rises to 48 employees.
That would significantly expand the facility’s capacity from its current seven-member team.
The evaluation says additional staffing would allow the ACF to improve turnaround times, strengthen engagement with PFIs and provide closer monitoring of funded projects.
It would also give the facility greater capacity to undertake functions that are central to development finance, including advisory services, financial literacy and tracking the socio-economic impact of agricultural lending.
The evaluation notes that the ACF currently has no dedicated team responsible for identifying and testing automation opportunities that could further improve efficiency and reduce processing times.
It also lacks a dedicated fundraising team responsible for mobilising resources from government, international organisations and private investors, with these responsibilities currently handled informally by the wider ACF team.
The NPA says strengthening these functions would help the facility build on the resources and institutional platform provided by BoU while improving its ability to respond to future demands.
The additional capacity would also position the ACF to pursue emerging priorities such as green finance, agricultural value-chain development and gender-responsive financing.
The evaluation recommends expanding the ACF team to at least 48 staff, describing appropriate staffing as essential to positioning the facility as a stronger catalyst for agricultural transformation.
With a larger and more specialised team, the NPA says the ACF would be better placed to support PFIs, meet service delivery benchmarks and sustain a development-oriented lending approach.
The findings therefore present staffing expansion as an investment in the facility’s ability to build on its existing mandate and respond to the growing financing needs of Uganda’s agricultural sector.
For BoU, strengthening the ACF’s human-resource capacity would provide the institutional support needed to turn rising demand for agricultural credit into faster processing, stronger oversight and greater development impact under Vision 2040. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
