One of the biggest hurdles the nation’s agricultural sector has faced is attitude among young people towards it. Even when they’re aware of the potential it has and the benefits of food security, they have ditched it for white collar jobs and other startups.

MTN Pulse interacted with Brian Byaruhanga, a youth who has decided to tap into the potential of commercial agriculture after a 2 year internship opportunity in Israel.

Briefly tell us about yourself.

My name is Brian Byaruhanga. I am an agriculturalist by profession. I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Dairy Industry and Business from Makerere University, and I have two diplomas in Advanced Applicable Agriculture of Agrostudies Israel.

I am a Director at AutoAgri Technologies Ltd, a company founded in October 2021, to empower farmers to produce year-round sustainable optimum production through provision of efficient, affordable, and quality irrigation systems.

Interesting. What motivated you to take that route? I know youths who studied Agriculture and decided to do different things after campus. Why did you persist?

While in Israel, I was impressed by how the country managed to transform from desert land to arable land.

Despite being a desert, Israel not only managed to create a remarkable agricultural transformation, securing national food security and establishing thriving export industries, but also emerged as a global leader in agriculture and water management. Israel has managed all this by use of smart irrigation systems.

Uganda is more blessed naturally. Imagine what we can be if we exploited our full potential! That’s what motivated me.

Farmers in Uganda depend on unpredictable weather patterns. This leads to inadequate harvests. In order to give farmers capacity to predict when and how much to produce, we pride ourselves in availing irrigation systems to them.

How special is that system you’re talking about?

Our systems are automated, and do not require use of electricity to run them.
They can be programmed to open and stop water for a required amount of time automatically.
These systems help save water because just the right amount of water will be released. (Unlike when you hand water, when you can easily use more water than you need.)

Your company is just one month old. Have you made any strides towards using your systems and helping farmers better their yields? Are there any challenges?

We are in the phase of training farmers about how these systems work, and we are happy about how farmers have embraced the idea.
Our challenge is inadequate funds to approach more farmers to educate them about how irrigation can help to increase their output and have year-round production.

What’s your advice to young people out there that are trying to make ends meet in life?

By 2050, Uganda’s population is anticipated to clock 100 million. This means the country will grapple with hunger management. I encourage youths to engage themselves in farming so as to promote sustainability in food production.

Sustainability improves the quality of our lives, protects our ecosystem and preserves natural resources for future generations.

To have this conversation with Byaruhanga and other prospects in Agriculture contact him on brian.bb444@gmail.com or call him on +256787725272. His WhatsApp number is +972552725118. On Twitter, he is @briovc and Instagram @bryan_herder

WATCH a video of Byaruhanga’s work at AutoAgri Technologies here;

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