By Mulengera Reporters
The Bank of Uganda-managed Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF) has channeled a significant share of its financing through a handful of participating financial institutions, with Stanbic Bank alone accounting for Shs493 billion, or 28% of total ACF funds disbursed, an independent evaluation has found.
The National Planning Authority (NPA) evaluation report, commissioned by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and released in May 2026, shows that the distribution of ACF money is heavily tilted towards institutions handling high-value loans.
Stanbic was followed by DFCU with 13% of total funds, PostBank with 12%, ABSA Bank with 9%, Equity Bank with 8%, Bank of Baroda with 7%, while UDB and Centenary Bank each accounted for 6%.
The figures reveal a significant concentration of ACF financing among the leading lenders, with the biggest shares going to institutions that generally serve borrowers requiring substantially larger amounts of credit.
The average loan sizes reinforce the pattern.
ABSA recorded the highest average ACF loan at Shs3.93 billion, followed by Bank of Baroda at Shs3.34 billion and Stanbic at Shs2.64 billion.
UDB’s average loan stood at Shs1.66 billion, while DFCU averaged Shs250 million and Housing Finance Bank Shs191 million.
At the lower end of the scale, PostBank recorded an average loan of Shs119 million, Equity Bank Shs103 million, Centenary Bank Shs91 million and Pride Microfinance Shs26 million.
Opportunity Bank had the smallest average loan among the listed institutions, at just Shs6.6 million.
The contrasting figures show that the ACF’s money is moving through two distinct channels — large-value lending through major commercial banks and smaller-ticket financing through institutions with stronger microfinance and rural outreach.
Opportunity Bank illustrates the difference most clearly.
Although it accounted for 52% of ACF borrowers, or 6,197 clients, it represented only 2% of the total value of funds disbursed.
Stanbic, on the other hand, accounted for 28% of the money, despite serving a far smaller proportion of the ACF’s total borrowers.
The NPA says this disconnect between borrower numbers and loan values reflects a clear segmentation in the ACF portfolio between PFIs serving large-scale corporate clients and those focused on smaller and more inclusive lending.
The model, according to the evaluation, has enabled the facility to support both corporate and mass-market lending, giving different categories of borrowers access to agricultural finance.
However, the concentration of money among a relatively small number of PFIs presents a challenge for diversification and inclusive access.
As of December 2024, the ACF had cumulative data from 24 PFIs, although four — Crane Bank, Imperial Bank, Mercantile Credit Bank and Gold Trust Bank — were no longer operational.
The evaluation says this highlights the need for continuous institutional risk monitoring as the Bank of Uganda works through financial institutions to deliver the facility.
The NPA particularly recommends expanding the role of public financial institutions in ACF lending.
While PostBank ranks among the leading PFIs by both outreach and the value of financing, UDB, Housing Finance Bank and Pride Microfinance recorded comparatively lower levels of participation.
The evaluation argues that stronger participation by public and mission-oriented financial institutions could help redirect more ACF financing towards groups that are often underserved by conventional commercial lending.
These include smallholder farmers, women, youth and rural enterprises.
The NPA recommends setting minimum participation thresholds for public financial institutions, aligning ACF implementation with their policy mandates and providing targeted institutional support to improve their performance.
It also proposes performance-based financing, technical assistance and institutional strengthening to build the capacity of weaker public PFIs.
The objective is not necessarily to reduce the role of major commercial lenders, but to create a more balanced financing structure in which large banks continue to provide substantial capital while smaller and public-oriented institutions expand access to underserved borrowers.
The distribution of ACF funds therefore presents a picture of a facility capable of moving large amounts of agricultural credit, but with much of the money concentrated among institutions whose average loans are considerably larger.
For the NPA, broadening the network of institutions able to deliver ACF financing will be critical to ensuring that the facility’s financial strength translates into wider development impact under Uganda’s 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).
