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Uganda’s ambition to create 4.4 million new jobs under NDP IV will naturally draw attention to numbers. But a harder question sits behind that target: what kind of jobs will those be?

Employment that provides an income today may still offer little security, limited opportunity for skills growth or few prospects for higher productivity. As artificial intelligence, automation and digital platforms reshape occupations, the difference between simply having work and building a stable livelihood is becoming increasingly important.

World Bank findings from East Asia and the Pacific give that question greater urgency. Decades of economic growth have lifted millions out of poverty, yet many households that crossed the poverty line have struggled to move into lasting economic security. The evidence points increasingly towards the quality and productivity of employment, not employment alone, as part of what separates vulnerable households from those able to build more secure lives.

That distinction opens a much wider research space at Busitema University. It invites researchers to look beyond employment rates and examine which skills, technologies, industries and forms of work are actually helping people progress economically, and which may leave them vulnerable even when they are technically employed.

East Asia and the Pacific offers an unusual setting for asking these questions because of how far the region has already travelled. Roughly one in three people now belongs to the middle class, while China’s middle-class population grew from about 11 per cent in 2010 to around 40 per cent in 2021. Yet progress outside China has been slower, and urban residents remain about twice as likely as rural residents to reach middle-class economic security.

Jobs have played a major role in that progress, but the World Bank finds that the type of work matters considerably. About 59 per cent of people in the region’s middle class are in salaried employment, compared with poorer and more vulnerable groups who remain more concentrated in agriculture, unpaid work and self-employment.

The figures do not mean that self-employment or agriculture cannot provide strong livelihoods. They point instead to the importance of productivity, reliable earnings and the ability to withstand economic shocks.

That is an important distinction for Uganda, where employment discussions often move quickly towards the number of opportunities created. The Fourth National Development Plan, covering 2025/26 to 2029/30, seeks higher household incomes, greater monetisation of the economy and employment for sustainable socio-economic transformation. Strengthening the private sector to create jobs and improving productivity are among its stated objectives.

The challenge is that labour markets themselves are changing while countries pursue those goals.

World Bank analysis shows that employment rates in East Asia and the Pacific remain high by global standards, but productivity is below the global average in most economies outside China and Malaysia. Workers moving away from agriculture are increasingly entering lower-productivity services rather than the higher-productivity manufacturing activities that previously helped many households move into the middle class. Informal employment also remains widespread.

Between 2018 and 2022, the adoption of robots across five major economies in the region was associated with around two million new jobs for skilled formal workers, while approximately 1.4 million low-skilled workers performing routine manual work were displaced. The technology produced more jobs than it displaced overall, but the benefits did not reach everyone in the same way. Education and digital skills increasingly determined who could move into the new opportunities being created.

A curriculum may prepare a student for an occupation that still exists five or ten years later, but the tasks performed within that occupation may have changed considerably. Artificial intelligence can automate some activities while increasing the value of others. Digital tools may allow one worker to accomplish tasks that previously required several people. Entirely new roles may also emerge around technologies that were barely present when current professionals began their training.

Research can help universities understand those changes before they become severe skills gaps.

At Busitema University, this could involve studying how employers’ expectations are changing across engineering, computing, agriculture, health, education and other sectors. Graduate tracer studies could also move beyond establishing whether former students are employed and explore what happens afterwards: whether graduates are working in areas related to their training, whether their incomes and responsibilities improve, what additional skills they have had to acquire, and how technology is changing their work.

The questions also extend beyond graduates.

Agricultural researchers, for example, could examine whether technologies that increase production also improve farmer incomes and create opportunities elsewhere in the value chain. Engineering innovations could be studied for their ability to strengthen local production and support new enterprises. Researchers working on digital technologies could investigate not only whether a system performs effectively, but what it means for the people expected to work with it.

Busitema University’s current research agenda already provides room for such thinking. The 2026/27 Busitema University Research and Innovation Fund call includes transformative education, entrepreneurship and job creation among its priority areas, alongside agriculture and animal production, appropriate technologies and clean energy, environmental sustainability, STEM and digital transformation. The fund also places emphasis on research capable of generating measurable societal impact and translating scientific solutions into practical applications.

Connecting those areas to employment could produce research that looks beyond the immediate success of an innovation.

A new agricultural technology might increase yields, but does it also increase farmer earnings? A digital platform may make services easier to access, but does it create sustainable work or mainly short-term opportunities? A manufacturing innovation may reduce production costs, but what new skills will workers require as a result? These questions connect technological progress directly to the livelihoods it is expected to improve.

Digital platform work makes that connection even more complicated. The World Bank notes that platforms have widened access to employment in East Asia and the Pacific, including through e-commerce and gig work. But such opportunities often lack benefits associated with formal employment, including pensions, health coverage and job security. Someone can therefore gain access to work without necessarily gaining the economic protection needed to withstand a major setback.

This opens up another area worth studying. As more Ugandans turn to digital work, researchers can look at how stable these livelihoods are, the skills people need to keep earning, and whether workers have clear opportunities to move into better-paying and more secure roles over time.

The World Bank identifies investment in education, health and training, a stronger environment for businesses and wider social protection as important parts of building economic security. Skilled workers need productive firms capable of employing them, while businesses also need a workforce with the knowledge required to grow and innovate.

That relationship between skills and opportunity sits close to the role universities already play.

Uganda’s NDP IV Human Resource Development Plan acknowledges this challenge directly. Alongside the target of creating 4.4 million new jobs, it seeks to build a skilled and competitive workforce and improve the responsiveness of education and training to labour-market needs. The plan also recognises unemployment, underemployment, skills mismatches and the large number of young people working in informal activities as significant challenges.

The target that begins this discussion therefore becomes more interesting when viewed from the other end.

Four million new jobs would represent millions of individual working lives. Some could lead to growing incomes, stronger businesses and new professional opportunities. Others could remain insecure, low-paying or vulnerable to technological change. Research can help reveal the difference.

Busitema University researchers have an opportunity to contribute evidence on where productive employment is emerging, which skills are becoming more valuable, how innovation affects livelihoods and what enables people to adapt when industries change.

Ultimately, 4.4 million may be the figure that attracts attention. The deeper measure of success will be what those jobs allow people to become: more productive, more skilled and more economically secure.

Source: This article was developed from the World Bank feature, “Beyond poverty: Why growing the middle class is a different challenge

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More than three million downloads in just a few months have turned an agricultural chatbot in India into an interesting case for researchers looking at how artificial intelligence can move beyond laboratories and into everyday farming.

The tool, MahaVISTAAR-AI, allows farmers in Maharashtra to ask agricultural questions by voice or text using their own languages and local dialects. Instead of requiring farmers to search through different websites, offices or technical publications, the system draws from trusted sources, including agricultural research institutions and India’s Department of Agriculture, and returns short responses tailored to the farmer’s location.

According to the World Bank, farmers can use the chatbot to seek information about pests and crop diseases, local weather conditions and expected market prices. The system can translate questions where necessary and also indicates where the information used in its responses comes from, an important feature when agricultural decisions depend on the reliability of advice.

The approach is part of what the World Bank describes as “small AI”, artificial intelligence designed to address specific problems using relatively accessible technology. Rather than depending on massive computing systems, these tools are being developed for basic smartphones and for environments where internet connectivity may be unreliable.

Another example is taking shape in Kerala through the Kerala Agriculture Technology Hub and Information Repository, KATHIR. The platform is being developed by the state government with World Bank Group support and combines agricultural information with satellite imagery, remote sensing and AI-powered analysis.

KATHIR already contains data on more than three million farmers and maps more than 1.1 million hectares of crops. When fully rolled out, it is expected to provide localized weather alerts, sowing guidance and support for identifying crop diseases. Farmers will also be able to submit photographs of damaged crops and receive AI-assisted information about possible diseases and treatments.

The platform is also being designed for use beyond individual farms. Agricultural authorities can use its data to map crops, estimate yields, identify areas requiring support and improve responses to disasters. Verified farm information could also help cooperatives, banks and agribusinesses better understand farmers and develop services suited to their needs.

These developments make India’s experience relevant well beyond India.

At Busitema University, they raise research questions that sit naturally across several disciplines. Agricultural scientists could examine whether AI-generated recommendations are agronomically sound under Ugandan conditions. Computer scientists could investigate language models, image recognition, data quality and systems capable of working with limited connectivity. Environmental researchers could combine weather, land and crop information to understand how such tools might support farmers facing changing climatic conditions.

This kind of work aligns closely with the University’s emphasis on research that produces practical social and economic impact. Busitema University’s published research strategy identifies Digital Futures, agriculture and environment, and Transformative Technologies among the themes around which its research and innovation are built. It also encourages collaboration capable of improving the relevance and impact of university research.

The Indian experience also shows why developing an agricultural AI tool would require much more than adapting an existing chatbot. 

That creates room for research involving farmers themselves. Instead of being treated only as users at the end of the development process, farming communities could help researchers determine which problems deserve attention, how questions are normally expressed and whether the answers produced are understandable and practical.

The possibility of using photographs to identify crop problems is another area that could attract research interest. Building reliable image-based systems requires locally relevant datasets. Images of crops, diseases and growing conditions collected elsewhere may not always represent what farmers encounter in Uganda. Developing and validating local agricultural datasets could therefore become an important research contribution in its own right.

Questions of trust would be equally important. Agricultural advice can influence decisions about planting, irrigation, pest management and the use of farm resources. Researchers would need to establish when an AI system can provide guidance confidently, when it should direct a farmer to an agricultural specialist, and how the source of its information should be communicated.

India’s experience therefore presents a useful research case on how artificial intelligence, agricultural science, environmental knowledge and local participation can be brought together around practical problems.

The World Bank is supporting this broader direction through its AgriConnect initiative, which aims to improve opportunities for 300 million smallholder farmers while strengthening productivity, employment and food security. Small AI and other forms of digital agriculture are among the approaches being explored.

The opportunity for universities such as Busitema is not necessarily to reproduce what India has built. A more valuable starting point may be to study what makes these systems useful, where they fall short and how similar ideas could be redesigned around Uganda’s own agricultural realities.

That could turn India’s experiment with small AI into something much more relevant locally: a starting point for new interdisciplinary research, student innovation and technologies developed with the farmers they are ultimately intended to serve.

Source: This article was developed from the World Bank Group feature; Small AI Transforms Farming in India

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In Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley, the return of reliable irrigation has changed what some families can grow and earn from their land. Fields that had struggled because water could not reach them are producing again. In Usmonobod village, a family growing raspberries has moved from barely one harvest a year to two, with better-quality fruit now reaching the local market. Nearby, an orchard that had been dry is back in production.

Behind those changes is a much larger effort to repair an irrigation system that had become increasingly inefficient. The Ferghana Valley is home to about 10 million people and is one of Uzbekistan’s most important agricultural regions. Yet ageing infrastructure, water losses and the effects of climate change were putting growing pressure on farming. At the furthest points of the canal network, water supply could fall about 30 per cent below demand, particularly between April and June when crops needed it most. More than one billion cubic metres of water were being lost each year. 

The second phase of the Ferghana Valley Water Resources Management Project has rehabilitated about 365 kilometres of canals, repaired nearly 1,500 water-control structures and drilled close to 500 irrigation wells. More than 100,000 hectares now have improved irrigation and drainage, benefiting almost 65,000 farmers. Better water delivery is saving an estimated 130 million cubic metres annually. 

Those figures make the scale of the investment clear. What makes the story particularly important to agricultural research, however, is what happened after the infrastructure began working better. More reliable water changed crop production, land use, household income and the choices farmers could make about what to grow.

That is also where the experience becomes relevant to Uganda.

Uganda’s Fourth National Development Plan places increased access to water for agricultural production among its agro-industrialisation priorities. NDP IV calls for investments that include solar-powered irrigation, groundwater systems, gravity-flow irrigation, multipurpose water infrastructure and micro-irrigation for farmer groups. As the country expands these systems, the challenge is not simply to install more irrigation equipment. Decisions have to be based on evidence about where irrigation is most suitable, how much water is available, which crops make the best use of it and whether farmers can afford to operate the systems over time.

Agriculture, water resources, engineering and environmental management already meet within the University’s academic strengths. The Faculty of Agriculture and Animal Sciences specialises in crop production and management, agribusiness and agricultural extension, among other areas. The Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences brings expertise in land resources, environmental planning, natural resource economics and environmental management, with academic work extending into fisheries and water resources management and climate change. Busitema’s Faculty of Engineering and Technology also covers irrigation, agricultural mechanisation, water resources engineering and agro-processing.

A crop scientist may establish that reliable irrigation improves a particular crop’s yield, but that finding becomes more useful when the amount of water required, the cost of delivering it and the effect on the water source are also understood. An engineer may design an efficient pumping system, but farmers still need to know whether the additional harvest will cover its energy and maintenance costs. Water-resource specialists may establish how much water a catchment can support, while agribusiness researchers examine whether the crops grown with that water have dependable and profitable markets.

Studied together, these factors provide a much stronger basis for deciding whether an irrigation investment is genuinely worthwhile.

The Ferghana project itself demonstrates why technical efficiency matters. Twelve irrigation wells were equipped with solar systems with a combined capacity of nearly 500 kilowatts. They now pump more than four million cubic metres of water each year while lowering operating costs and reducing carbon emissions. 

Solar irrigation has particular relevance to Uganda because NDP IV specifically identifies solar-powered systems among the technologies intended to increase access to water for agricultural production. Yet the fact that solar pumping works in one setting does not automatically make every installation a good investment elsewhere. Local research is needed to understand the relationship between the size of a farm, the water source, crop choice, pumping requirements, initial costs and the farmer’s ability to maintain the equipment.

Eastern Uganda provides a useful setting for such work because the answers will vary across landscapes and farming systems. A solution that makes sense for a horticultural farmer may not be appropriate for a farmer growing a lower-value crop. Groundwater may be suitable in one location while surface water or water harvesting makes more sense elsewhere. The economics also change depending on the size of the farm, the reliability of the market and the value of the additional production.

Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences becomes particularly important when these choices begin to affect the natural resource itself. Irrigation can reduce farmers’ exposure to unreliable rainfall, but poorly planned expansion can also increase pressure on rivers, wetlands and groundwater. Busitema’s research in natural resources, water management and climate change can help establish how much water is available, how demand is changing and how agricultural use can be balanced with other needs. 

The Faculty of Engineering and Technology can address another part of the problem: getting water to the farm efficiently. Busitema’s Department of Water Resources Engineering covers irrigation, drainage, hydrology, hydraulic structures, flood control and environmental water management, giving researchers and students a strong technical base for examining how water is captured, moved and conserved.

The University already has evidence of interest in these questions. Research in its institutional repository includes work assessing irrigation potential using surface-water availability, while FNRES research has examined climate variability and its effects on crop production in Eastern Uganda. Building on such work could produce more detailed evidence about where irrigation is viable and how water systems should respond to changing climatic conditions.

The Uzbekistan experience also shows that infrastructure alone does not solve the problem. Almost 12,000 people were trained in efficient water use and improved agricultural practices alongside the investment in canals, wells and pumping systems. That matters because even a well-designed system can lose much of its value if water is poorly managed once it reaches the farm.

Busitema’s extension expertise can help close that gap. Working with farming communities would allow researchers to see whether recommended irrigation practices are practical, what prevents farmers from adopting them and how training can be improved. Students could take part in field studies measuring water use, crop performance, pumping costs and farmer experiences, turning irrigation schemes into places where learning and research respond to real agricultural problems.

The results would also have value beyond the University. MAAIF and the Ministry of Water and Environment are among the institutions responsible for NDP IV interventions aimed at expanding water for agricultural production, alongside other national and local actors. Evidence from universities can help such institutions judge which systems are suitable, where resources should be directed and how irrigation investments perform after installation.

Farmer organisations and private companies also have a stake in those findings. An irrigation technology may work technically but still fail to spread if the cost is beyond the reach of farmers, spare parts are difficult to find or maintenance requires skills that are unavailable locally. Research that considers those practical realities early can prevent promising technologies from ending as demonstrations that farmers cannot sustain.

This approach matches Busitema University’s published strategic framework, which prioritises high-impact research, innovation and entrepreneurship, identifies agriculture and environment among its research themes, and encourages a systems approach to research. It also promotes partnerships and undergraduate participation in research. 

The Ferghana Valley does not provide Uganda with a blueprint. Its canals are being rebuilt within a different climate, economy and water system. What it does provide is evidence of how much can change when reliable water reaches farmland and when investment in infrastructure is supported by better management and farmer knowledge.

That is the more useful starting point for Busitema University. Irrigation research in Eastern Uganda can move beyond asking whether a pump, canal or solar system works. It can establish whether the water source can sustain it, whether the crop makes good use of the water, whether farmers earn enough to keep the system running and whether the surrounding environment can absorb the increased demand.

Reliable water can bring land back into production and give farmers greater control over what and when they grow. The research challenge is to make sure those gains are not temporary.

As Uganda expands access to irrigation under NDP IV, success will depend not only on the number of systems installed, but on whether they continue delivering water, better harvests and worthwhile returns without exhausting the resources on which future farming depends.

Source: This article was developed from the World Bank feature, Irrigation Investment Revives Farms in Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley   

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One year after AgriConnect was launched, its work across Africa is beginning to show that improving agriculture takes more than helping farmers produce more. Roads, storage, finance, reliable markets, extension services, technology and sound policies all influence whether a good harvest eventually improves a household’s income.

The World Bank Group and the International Fund for Agricultural Development launched AgriConnect with other development and private sector partners to connect 300 million family and smallholder farmers worldwide to markets, finance and agricultural services by 2030. Half of the first ten AgriConnect country compacts have been launched in Africa, and the two institutions say their targeted investments have already reached at least 10 million farmers on the continent.

A year of implementation has also brought a clearer understanding of where agricultural progress can stall. Africa still faces major gaps in irrigation, energy, finance and digital services, and the World Bank estimates that closing the continent’s agricultural investment gap will require about US$180 billion. AgriConnect is responding by looking at the wider system surrounding the farmer rather than treating production as an isolated activity.

Angola provides one example of how this approach can work. The 1,300-kilometre Lobito Corridor links the mineral-producing areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to Angola’s Atlantic coast, but it also passes through major farming areas. AgriConnect is examining how farmers and cooperatives along the route can use the corridor to reach storage facilities, processors and wider markets more easily.

The broader lesson is that infrastructure can do more than move goods or provide services. When roads, transport networks, energy systems and other investments are planned with farmers and agribusinesses in mind, they can strengthen market access, lower costs and create opportunities across the agricultural value chain.

The Angola example also has relevance in Eastern Uganda, where higher production does not always translate into better returns. Research at Busitema University’s Faculty of Agriculture and Animal Sciences can help explain what happens between the farm and the market, including how storage, processing, pricing and access to buyers affect the value farmers ultimately receive from their crops and livestock products.

An improved variety or farming practice may increase production, but the benefit to farmers will also depend on whether the additional output can be stored safely, whether buyers are available, whether processing adds value and whether farmers can sell at a time that gives them a fair return. Research of this kind can complement work on crop and animal production with a stronger understanding of agribusiness, markets and extension.

Access to finance is another challenge AgriConnect is trying to address. In Togo, the initiative is seeking to mobilise more than US$100 million in private capital and increase agriculture’s share of bank lending from about 1.2 per cent to 5 per cent. Digital farmer registries, agricultural insurance, warehouse financing and credit guarantees are among the measures being used to make agricultural lending more workable.

Uganda’s circumstances are different, but the underlying difficulty is familiar. Farmers and agricultural enterprises often depend on seasonal income and operate in a sector exposed to weather, price changes and other risks that conventional lending may not accommodate well. Agribusiness research at Busitema can help establish where financing difficulties arise and which approaches are better suited to different categories of farmers and rural enterprises. Evidence on cooperatives, insurance, agricultural credit and other financing arrangements could inform decisions by farmers, banks, government agencies and organisations investing in agricultural value chains.

AgriConnect’s first year has also drawn attention to who is actually reached when agricultural services expand. The initiative stresses the importance of improving access to infrastructure, finance, markets and services for small-scale farmers, women and young rural entrepreneurs. In Ethiopia’s lowlands, a programme cited by the World Bank helped 825,000 pastoralists receive training and advisory support, while 2.7 million people gained broader access to markets and social services.

The experience highlights the difference between reaching farmers and improving their circumstances. A training programme may attract many participants, but its value becomes clearer when farmers are able to apply what they learned, afford the recommended technologies and see improvements in production or income. Research that follows these outcomes can help extension providers, local governments and development organisations understand where support is working and where farmers are still being left behind.

Academic staff and students at Busitema can contribute to that evidence through fieldwork in farming communities across Eastern Uganda. Such research can strengthen community engagement while giving students experience with problems that cut across agriculture, business, technology and public policy. Busitema’s published strategic framework already places emphasis on high-impact research, innovation and entrepreneurship, stronger partnerships and greater involvement of students in research. Agriculture and environment are also identified among the University’s research themes.

Environmental conditions are equally important. Agricultural growth depends on land, water and ecosystems that can come under greater pressure as production expands. The Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences brings expertise in water resources, environmental planning, natural resource economics and climate change, helping to establish whether agricultural gains can be sustained over time.

An irrigation investment, for instance, may increase production but still depend on the amount and reliability of available water. Changes in land use can create new economic opportunities while placing pressure on wetlands or other ecosystems. Climate variability can also affect the suitability of crops, livestock systems and agricultural investments. Combining agricultural and environmental research can give farmers and decision-makers a fuller picture of the benefits and risks involved.

AgriConnect’s approach also leaves room for expertise beyond FAAS and FNRES. Its wider model includes digital and agricultural technologies, infrastructure, finance, farmer organisations, research, skills and policy reform. Engineers can contribute to irrigation, energy, processing and storage solutions. Computing researchers can work on agricultural data, digital advisory services and tools that connect farmers to information or markets. Economists and other social science researchers can examine markets, institutions and rural enterprises.

Uganda’s Fourth National Development Plan makes this kind of interdisciplinary work especially relevant. NDP IV seeks to raise household incomes and employment through sustainable industrialisation, while its agro-industrialisation priorities include higher agricultural production and productivity, better harvest and post-harvest handling, stronger value-addition infrastructure, improved market access, and greater access to agricultural finance and insurance.

The Plan also identifies skills gaps across the agro-industrialisation value chain, including agricultural extension, engineering, risk management and finance, agronomy and livestock nutrition. Busitema University is among the institutions contributing graduates to Uganda’s agricultural workforce, giving the University a role that extends beyond producing research. Teaching, student research and community engagement can all contribute to the knowledge and skills needed to move agriculture further into value addition and commercial production.

Partnerships will also matter if research is to influence what happens beyond the University. MAAIF, NARO, district local governments, farmer organisations, financial institutions, processors, technology companies and development organisations each work with different parts of the agricultural system. Collaboration with these actors can help Busitema researchers identify practical problems, test possible solutions and ensure useful findings reach the people making decisions.

AgriConnect’s first year does not provide a ready-made formula for Eastern Uganda. Angola’s transport infrastructure, Togo’s financing arrangements and Ethiopia’s work with pastoral communities were shaped by their own circumstances. Their value lies in the questions they raise about what farmers need beyond production.

Eastern Uganda needs its own evidence. Research can show where farmers lose value after harvest, why finance and markets remain difficult to reach, which technologies work under local conditions, and how production can grow without weakening the land and water resources on which farming depends.

Answering those questions would give Busitema University’s researchers something more valuable than a model borrowed from elsewhere: evidence that farmers, government agencies, businesses and development partners can use to make better decisions.

If AgriConnect’s first year has shown anything, it is that producing more is only part of the journey. The harder task is making sure that what farmers produce leads to better incomes, stronger rural enterprises and livelihoods that can last.

A promising agricultural innovation can prove itself in a laboratory or field trial and still never reach the farmer who needs it. Moving from research to regular use takes money, production capacity, business skills, strong management and, often, partners willing to invest for the long term.

That gap between a good idea and real-world impact is what makes a recent International Finance Corporation (IFC) experience worth examining at Busitema University. IFC, the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, has spent more than a decade working with Thailand-based private equity fund manager Lakeshore Capital, showing how investment can be used not only to grow companies, but also to strengthen the systems that allow them to create jobs and operate responsibly. 

IFC first invested in Lakeshore’s inaugural fund as an anchor investor in 2014 and has remained involved across subsequent funds. Its contribution has extended beyond finance to environmental, social and governance systems, climate policies, workplace standards and human-resource practices. The results are visible across Lakeshore’s portfolio: companies in its first two funds employ about 8,600 full-time workers, with more than 1,800 jobs added since investment. 

Dextra Group, a specialised manufacturer backed by Lakeshore, provides one example. The company employs more than 1,000 people, including over 200 positions added since Lakeshore’s investment, and its products are now used in more than 20,000 projects across 55 countries. IFC presents that growth alongside improvements in technical capability, workforce development and responsible business practices rather than as a story of capital alone. 

Dextra manufactures construction products in Thailand, not agricultural technologies in Uganda. The value of its experience to Busitema lies elsewhere. It demonstrates what can happen when an idea or capable enterprise has access to finance and, at the same time, develops the management, skills, standards and partnerships required to grow.

Busitema’s Faculty of Agriculture and Animal Sciences works in fields where research can have immediate practical value to farmers and agricultural businesses. Crop and animal production, agribusiness, post-harvest management and related areas can produce knowledge and innovations capable of improving productivity or opening new commercial opportunities. Yet evidence that something works is only one stage in getting it into farmers’ hands.

A researcher may develop a promising product, technique or service, but moving it beyond trials raises a different set of questions. Can it be produced consistently? Will farmers be able to afford it? Is there a viable market? What standards must be met? Who takes responsibility for manufacturing or distribution? What happens when research funding ends?

Those questions matter especially in Eastern Uganda, where agricultural communities are not short of problems that research can help solve. Farmers continue to deal with productivity constraints, post-harvest losses, changing weather conditions, access to inputs and difficulties reaching profitable markets. Solutions developed through universities can contribute, but their impact remains limited when they cannot move beyond small demonstrations or short-term projects.

Private investment is one possible bridge. It will not suit every research output, and universities should not treat every academic project as a potential business. Some research is meant to improve understanding, inform public policy or strengthen teaching. But when an innovation shows genuine commercial potential, the IFC experience suggests that researchers may need to think about its route to scale much earlier.

That could mean working with agribusinesses during product development, building evidence about production costs and market demand, strengthening intellectual-property management, involving farmer organisations in testing, or working with investors and financial institutions once an innovation has demonstrated both scientific and commercial promise.

Busitema’s own published strategic framework points in this direction. The University identifies high-impact research, innovation and entrepreneurship as a strategic priority and lists agriculture and environment among its research themes. It also calls for stronger industrial collaboration, entrepreneurial capacity among staff and students, technology business incubation and systems that improve the impact of research. 

The same framework goes further by calling for partnerships with public, private and commercial organisations, increased translational research and stronger links with industry to support the commercialisation of research products and innovations. 

Seen against those ambitions, the IFC raises practical questions about whether potentially valuable Busitema research is being prepared not only for publication, but also for adoption, partnership and, where appropriate, investment.

The Faculty of Agriculture and Animal Sciences has an obvious place in that conversation, but agricultural growth cannot be separated from the resources on which it depends. Expansion in farming or agro-processing can increase pressure on land, water and ecosystems if environmental considerations are introduced too late.

That makes expertise from the Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences equally important. Responsible investment requires evidence about environmental consequences, climate risks and the sustainable use of natural resources. IFC’s work with Lakeshore placed environmental, social and governance standards alongside financial investment, a reminder that successful expansion cannot be judged by revenue and job creation alone. 

Closer collaboration between agricultural and environmental researchers could therefore strengthen innovations before they reach the market. A new agricultural enterprise should be able to demonstrate not only that its product works and has customers, but also that the way it grows will remain environmentally and socially sustainable.

The Fourth National Development Plan, covering FY2025/26 to FY2029/30, seeks higher household incomes, employment and sustainable socioeconomic transformation. Among its five objectives are increasing value addition and strengthening the private sector to create jobs. Agriculture is particularly important because NDP IV identifies it as the main livelihood for most Ugandans and describes value addition to agriculture as the foundation of agro-industrialisation, with stronger productivity needed to support industry, jobs and exports. 

That places research universities within a much larger economic chain. Farmers identify problems through experience. Researchers can investigate those problems and test possible solutions. Agribusiness specialists can determine whether those solutions make economic sense. Environmental scientists can examine whether they remain sustainable as their use expands. Industry can provide manufacturing and market access, while finance can provide the resources needed to move from a promising pilot to wider production.

A technology that reduces post-harvest losses could support a local manufacturing enterprise. An animal-production innovation could become a product used by farmers beyond the communities where it was first tested. A processing solution could add value closer to where crops are produced, keeping more income within farming communities. A university-linked enterprise could also create technical jobs for graduates whose skills might otherwise struggle to find an outlet.

None of those outcomes is guaranteed simply because private capital becomes available. The experience highlighted by IFC shows why investment has to be matched with capable people, good governance, environmental responsibility and strong institutions. 

Busitema already has researchers, students and communities working on problems with economic and social importance. The next challenge is ensuring that the strongest ideas have somewhere to go once the research proves that they work.

Some will move into further study. Others may inform government or farming practice. A few may be strong enough to become products, services or enterprises capable of reaching many more people than a university project ever could.

Creating clearer pathways between research, industry and responsible investment would give those ideas that chance. It would also bring Busitema closer to an ambition already reflected in its strategic framework and in NDP IV: turning knowledge and innovation into visible improvements in productivity, employment and sustainable development.

Source: This article was developed from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, feature “Building Infrastructure, Strengthening Workforces.” 

The Uganda policy context draws on the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV) FY2025/26–FY2029/30, published by Uganda’s National Planning Authority.

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The Directorate of Information and Communication Technology Services (DICTS) at Busitema University has successfully implemented a modern, sustainable power backup system to ensure uninterrupted operation of the university’s server infrastructure.

This new power solution integrates solar energy, lithium battery storage, and grid (hydro) electricity into a seamless and intelligent system designed to guarantee reliability, efficiency, and resilience.

How the System Works

The setup consists of 38 solar panels that harness clean energy during the day. This solar power directly supports the server room operations while simultaneously charging a high-capacity lithium battery system.

At night, the system automatically switches to grid (hydro) power as the primary source of electricity. In the event of a grid power outage, the lithium battery—charged during the day—instantly takes over, ensuring continuous power supply to critical systems.

All transitions between power sources are managed by a smart inverter, which enables automatic, seamless switching without any interruption to services.

Key Benefits

• Uninterrupted Services: Ensures continuous availability of university digital systems and services.
• Energy Efficiency: Maximizes the use of solar energy, reducing dependence on grid power.
• Sustainability: Promotes green energy adoption and reduces the university’s carbon footprint.
• Reliability: Provides a robust backup mechanism in case of power outages.
• Automation: Eliminates manual intervention through intelligent power switching.

Supporting the University’s Digital Mission

This initiative reflects DICTS’ commitment to strengthening the university’s ICT infrastructure and supporting teaching, learning, research, and administrative functions through reliable technology services.

By adopting this hybrid power solution, Busitema University continues to demonstrate leadership in leveraging innovative and sustainable technologies to enhance institutional efficiency and service delivery.

In an effort to ensure a smooth transition into university life, first-year students at various campuses received a comprehensive orientation on University systems. The orientation, held on between 7th of September to 15 of September 2023, provided newcomers with valuable insights into the array of systems and resources available to them throughout their academic journey.

The orientation covered a wide range of essential topics, including:

• The Admission System
• Students Portal System
• Varous websites including the main University Site
• Introduction to eduroam internet

Among others

The orientation sessions were led by experienced faculty and staff members who were available to answer questions and provide guidance. Attendees were also given access to online resources and handouts for future reference.

Busitema Universoty, Directorate of ICT remains committed to supporting the success of its students and believes that a strong understanding of campus systems is crucial for a successful academic journey. This comprehensive orientation serves as a crucial first step in helping first-year students make the most of their university experience

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